The Super Bowl is consistently one of the most-watched television programs of the year in America and advertisers continually pay big money for a TV spot on Super Bowl Sunday.

But that could be about to change.

For the first time in 23 years, Pepsi will not have any ads in the Super Bowl. Instead, the company will be spending $20 million on a social media campaign it’s calling The Pepsi Refresh Project.

Pepsi’s tight association with the Super Bowl has made this decision to shift to new media much more remarkable. Having spent $142 million on Super Bowl adverts over the last decade, Pepsi’s ads are often some of the most iconic, and the company has historically pulled out all the stops for the Super Bowl.

This is an interesting strategy; especially for a company that continues to spend much of its advertising budget on television but if Pepsi is hopeful that a $20 million social media campaign will be more rewarding than an advert during Super Bowl – what does this say about the future of marketing? What message is this sending out about social media?

If your company can effectively orchestrate a social media campaign, like Pepsi intend to do, then you can build brand awareness across the world. Whilst you won’t be spending as much as Pepsi (unless you have $20 million to spare!) you can still get the benefits of a buzz-generating ad campaign which will generate you plenty of business!