Pepsi takes top honors in Twitter’s inaugural #BrandBowl

Hours after the Philadelphia Eagles were crowned the winners of Super Bowl LII, Twitter announced that Pepsi had won the first-ever #BrandBowl.

The soda marketer — and sponsor of the Super Bowl Halftime Show — took top honors as the most tweeted-about brand in Twitter’s inaugural competition. It can be argued that, as the sponsor of the Super Halftime Show, Pepsi would have had an unfair advantage since Twitter was supposed to count, in addition to the brand’s Twitter handle and official hashtag, other related terms people may include in tweets, such as the names of a brand’s celebrity spokespeople, i.e. halftime show performer Justin Timberlake. However, to keep a level playing field, Twitter made an exception in Pepsi’s case and did not count tweets related to the halftime show performance (“Justin Timberlake, “Prince,” etc.), according to a Twitter spokesperson.

Twitter did not release any stats for any of the awards, such as the percentage of brand-related tweets that mentioned Pepsi.

Announced last week, #BrandBowl marks the company’s attempt to formalize its association as the social network for Super Bowl advertisers, though it also honored brands that didn’t air spots during the big game. Winning brands will receive actual trophies, as well as access to exclusive Twitter ad products and consumer research.

Here is the full rundown of the #BrandBowl52 brand winners:

#MVP
Awarded to the brand that received the highest percentage of brand-related tweets.
Winner: Pepsi

#Blitz
Awarded to the brand that generated the most tweets per minute.
Co-winners: Doritos and Mountain Dew

#Quarterback
Awarded to the brand that received the most retweets on a single tweet.
Winner: Universal Pictures’ “Jurassic World”

#Interception
Awarded to the brand that did not run a national TV spot during the game but received the highest percentage of brand-related tweets.
Winner: Ally Bank

Twitter also recognized the most tweeted-about brands in several verticals.

Alcoholic beverages
Winner: Bud Light

Automotive
Winner: Ram Trucks

Consumer packaged goods
Winner: Tide

Dining
Winner: Avocados from Mexico

Entertainment
Winner: HBO’s “Westworld”

Financial services
Winner: E-Trade

Home and health care
Winner: No winner named (no home and health care brands enrolled in the competition)

Retail
Winner: Amazon Echo

Technology and telecommunications
Winner: T-Mobile

Travel
Winner: Tourism Australia

Check out many of these ads and teasers aired ahead of game day in our big roundup of Super Bowl LII ads.

About The Author

Tim Peterson

Tim Peterson, Third Door Media’s Social Media Reporter, has been covering the digital marketing industry since 2011. He has reported for Advertising Age, Adweek and Direct Marketing News. A born-and-raised Angeleno who graduated from New York University, he currently lives in Los Angeles. He has broken stories on Snapchat’s ad plans, Hulu founding CEO Jason Kilar’s attempt to take on YouTube and the assemblage of Amazon’s ad-tech stack; analyzed YouTube’s programming strategy, Facebook’s ad-tech ambitions and ad blocking’s rise; and documented digital video’s biggest annual event VidCon, BuzzFeed’s branded video production process and Snapchat Discover’s ad load six months after launch. He has also developed tools to monitor brands’ early adoption of live-streaming apps, compare Yahoo’s and Google’s search designs and examine the NFL’s YouTube and Facebook video strategies.