Pepsi Turns a Bodega Run Into a Knicks Ticket Lottery

Pepsi is sending fans on a five-borough scavenger hunt for a can, which is either a brilliant distribution hack or the most elaborate way to sell soda since the Pepsi Points catalog. The "Champions Deserve Pepsi" push hides limited-edition Championship Cans in bodegas and grocery stores across New York City; scan the QR code on one and you are entered to win free tickets to a Knicks game for the 2026-2027 season.

The number is the whole joke: 94 tickets, a reference to the Knicks' point total in Game 5 of last season's NBA Finals. Former Knick John Starks fronts the campaign, and the timing is no accident either, landing right as the championship season tips off on October 20. Pepsi's VP of marketing put it plainly: "Champions Deserve Pepsi is about carrying the incredible energy Knicks fans created last season into the championship season ahead."

It is a smart trick because it turns ordinary retail distribution, the can already sitting on a bodega shelf, into the media buy. No billboard, no 30-second spot, just a treasure hunt built on top of inventory Pepsi was shipping anyway. The risk is scale: a stunt this tightly geo-fenced to New York reads as a love letter to one fan base, not a platform Pepsi can run back nationally without finding 93 other reasons to count to something.

Source: Campaign US

Kyle Duford, Founder & Editor, BRNDWIRE. More from Kyle →