Major brands dominate Super Bowl food and drink sales: report

Canadians overwhelmingly turned to category leaders for their food and drink during Sunday’s Super Bowl, according to the latest Big Game Report from research firm Field Agent Canada.

The annual report is based on a mobile survey of 798 Canadians, who provided feedback on which soda, snack and beer brands they purchased for the NFL’s marquee event.

PepsiCo’s Frito-Lay was the runaway leader in the salty snacks category, with its flagship Lay’s brand accounting for 17% of all salty snacks purchased for the game, followed by its Tostitos (16%), Doritos (13%) and Ruffles (10%) brands.

Despite Pepsi’s longstanding NFL sponsorship, Coca-Cola was the leader in the carbonated soft drinks category, with 28% of respondents indicating they purchased the brand. Sixteen per cent of respondents purchased Pepsi, while 14% purchased Canada Dry and 7% purchased 7UP.

Field Agent Canada general manager Jeff Doucette said carbonated drinks are typically at the core of any Super Bowl-themed store display, with strict rules forcing non-sponsors such as Coca-Cola to be creative in their merchandising efforts.

“Both Pepsi and Coke get great in-store merchandising, so it’s always a balance between Super Bowl merchandising and ‘Big Game’ merchandising or things with football helmets, but no NFL logo,” said Doucette.

Only 8% of 230 Ontarians surveyed said they purchased beer at supermarkets in advance of the Super Bowl, down from 11% in Field Agent’s 2016 survey. “It appears that beer purchases at supermarkets have levelled off as the novelty has worn off after more than a year in market,” said the report.

Half of all Ontarians purchased beer at The Beer Store, while 42% purchased beer at an LCBO outlet.

Coors Light accounted for 10% of all suds sales, with Budweiser accounting for 9% of sales and Bud Light 7%. Six per cent of respondents indicated they purchased Corona.

More than two-thirds (68%) of Canadians selected other beers, which Doucette attributed to regional availability and preferences – such as Alexander Keith’s in Nova Scotia and Pilsner in Saskatchewan. “The fact that Coors Light was able to get 10% of the market share is pretty decent considering they’re up against a huge number of competitors,” said Doucette.