Pepsi’s pursuit of its role in food is accelerating. The brand today is releasing a rough and stylish film showing pizza delivery vehicles being followed around Los Angeles by a rubber-burning blue sports car, which pulls up behind them and hands over Pepsi at the same time the pizza arrives at a consumer’s home.

“Pepsi Chase Cars,” from BBDO, is meant to remind pizza lovers that their next pie should be chased with a Pepsi. The creative comes off with considerable grit, with grainy door-cams and dash-cams capturing moments of conflict, set to “Startafight” by rappers Joey Valence & Brae. One flipped bird and two expletives are bleeped out.

The rough language is in line with spirit of the creative and the challenger mindset Pepsi has long embraced, Jenny Danzi, senior director at PepsiCo, said in an interview. Mark Kirkham, the newly named senior VP of marketing for Pepsi and sparkling brands, has also challenged Pepsi’s brands “step up to the plate,” Danizi added.

“I'd say we’re very front-footed in this content,” she added, “and soda should be fun.”

Pepsi has long showcased food associations through a creative program called “Better with Pepsi,” asserting that the brown spices and citrus flavors unique to Pepsi make it an ideal food pairing. “Chase Cars” is the first of an evolved campaign called “Food Deserves Pepsi,” Danzi said.

The program, which was teased with content on Instagram, Facebook, X and TikTok this week, comes with an offer of free pizza on Sept. 13 from four national pizza chains serving Pepsi products—Little Caesars, Papa John’s, Pizza Hut and Marco’s Pizza. The offers must be placed through DoorDash, include a Pepsi product and meet minimum order amounts set by the chains.

@pepsi

Sometimes giving pizza extra flavor requires being a little extra…

♬ original sound - Pepsi

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