Advertisers know the frustration of watching their budgets cap out before their most valuable shopping windows even begin. Maybe your product is an evening staple, but your campaign runs out of budget by noon. Or worse—you're planning for a major event, and you need to be live during a very specific window, and can’t afford to waste spend outside of it.
That was the challenge Pepsi faced. They needed more control over when their ads appeared in order to make the most of their budgets—whether for everyday impulse buying or a high-stakes cultural moment. With DoorDash Ads’ new Dayparting feature, they found a solution: the ability to be live exactly when it mattered—and dark when it didn’t.
Owning the Moment: Pepsi’s Super Bowl Playbook
For Pepsi, the Super Bowl is more than just a big ad day - it’s a cultural tentpole.
In early 2025, Pepsi’s team was looking to find a more strategic way to shift their existing spend into high-impact windows. Based on the previous year’s historical data, they were finding that their campaigns were capping out before their key brand and category windows and they wanted to ensure their budgets were being optimized for this tentpole occasion.
Enter Dayparting.
Pepsi teamed up with DoorDash Ads for a first-of-its-kind approach with Dayparting: a two-pronged campaign strategy that balanced evergreen visibility with event-day focus. One campaign with Sponsored Products that ran before and after Super Bowl weekend – capturing planners ordering drinks early, and to capture the momentum from Pepsi’s national Super Bowl ad afterward.
The second campaign focused entirely on the weekend itself, with targeted Sponsored Brand activation tailored to the Super Bowl’s peak hours. The campaign showcased multiple Pepsi products and leaned into high-impact headlines designed to break through the noise.
Together, the campaigns helped Pepsi stay top of mind before, during, and after the game. And thanks to precise dayparting, they were able to do it all with a fixed budget and without going dark when it mattered most.
By strategically dayparting both campaigns, Pepsi was able to stay live during their most valuable time windows with their planned budget. The Sponsored Products campaign maintained strong ROAS and new-to-brand sales throughout the two-month flight, while the Super Bowl weekend Sponsored Brand campaign delivered immediate impact—driving a noticeable lift in CTR and incremental NTB performance during one of the busiest shopping moments of the year.
1.77%
Click-through-rate
3.69x
Return on Ad Spend
56.78%
New to Brand Sales
Pepsi Snacks Sponsored Product Campaign Results | Campaign Period: 2/7 - 3/31
Smarter Timing, Bigger Results
From evergreen campaigns to Super Bowl prep, Pepsi found success by aligning their ad campaigns to real-world behavior. With deeper insights into their customers’ peak shopping windows, they could feel confident that their campaigns were appearing when it matters most. Dayparting gave them the flexibility to spend smarter and meet their customers right in the moment.
Whether you’re looking to win everyday moments or own a single event, timing can be the key to making a meaningful impact.
Want to see what Dayparting can do for your brand? Try it out today in Ads Manager.
