Pepsi to keep Spice Girls for 98

Pepsi has signed a new deal with beleaguered pop band the Spice

Girls as part of a multi-artist music promotion next year.

The pan-European promotion, thought to be worth in the region of pounds

500,000, will run for the first five months of 1998 and coincides with

the Girls’ Pepsi-sponsored European tour.

Pepsi refused to comment on the plans, which it said were not yet

confirmed, but the package is thought to include three other pop

bands.

Robert Dodds, managing director of broadcast innovations, who brokered

the deal, said it showed Pepsi’s continuing confidence in the band,

which has been subject to media criticism since the departure of manager

Simon Fuller three weeks ago.

Pepsi’s promotional deal with the Spice Girls expires at the end of

1997.

Thought to be in the region of pounds 1m, it was signed shortly before

the band shot to fame.

The TV ad ’Generation Next’, through Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO, was the

first non-US Pepsico ad to get global distribution. Since signing up the

group, PepsiCo has increased its share of the European cola market by

1.6%.

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This article was first published on Marketing