Frito-Lay kicks off NFL playoff season with Rob Gronkowski, Marshawn Lynch & Troy Polamalu

By Kendra Barnett, Associate Editor

January 8, 2024 | 5 min read

The former NFLers, who’ve racked up a combined seven Super Bowl victories, relive the exuberant feeling of victory with confetti-loaded snack bags.

NFL icons and Super Bowl winners Rob ‘Gronk’ Gronkowski, Marshawn Lynch and Troy Polamalu star in a new Frito-Lay ad campaign that will run throughout the league’s postseason and up to Super Bowl Sunday on February 11.

In a 30-second spot airing today, Lynch and Gronk lounge on a sofa with a table stacked with Frito-Lay snacks, from Tostitos and Doritos to Cheetos and Lay’s. “Trust me on this,” Lynch says, “Lay’s taste like winning the Super Bowl, bruh.” Gronk expresses his skepticism before going in for a bite, only to be met with an explosion of colorful confetti.

Viewers then see a montage of fans enjoying Frito-Lay snacks in their cars, at their homes or at vending machines and experiencing the same explosive sense of celebration and victory. Confetti rains down on former Steelers safety Troy Polamalu as he munches on Cheetos while getting his iconic hair styled at a barber shop. Fans whoop with joy.

“More than 90% of football fans enjoy snacks and beverages on gameday while they cheer their team on to victory,” said Tina Mahal, senior vice-president of marketing at Frito-Lay North America. “With this new commercial, we wanted to harness the power of our iconic brands to extend the victory celebration to viewers and bring the confetti to them.”

The ad, aptly titled ‘Taste the Victory,’ is the first installment of the brand’s NFL playoff season campaign, ‘Taste of Super Bowl.’ Though the ad went live today across social and digital channels, it won’t air on television until Saturday, January 13, the start of Super Wild Card Weekend, when it will debut on Fox. The multichannel campaign will run through Super Bowl LVIII on February 11.

“Snacks are a key part of gameday, especially when coming together to watch the Super Bowl, and no one does it better than Frito-Lay,” said Gronkowski. “I had a blast reliving some of those Super Bowl memories and creating that experience for the fans with Marshawn and Troy.”

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But the new campaign is just part of the $23bn brand’s NFL postseason plans. Beyond the ‘Taste of Super Bowl’ initiative, Frito-Lay will host an immersive fan experience, the Frito-Lay Chip Strip, in Las Vegas, Nevada, home to Super Bowl LVIII.

Open daily from February 8 until gameday on February 11 at Vegas’ famed New York-New York Hotel; the pop-up activation includes a ‘Snackpot’ game, a ‘hot’ ride and the romantic Cheetos Chapel – a nod to the city’s slew of iconic drive-thru wedding chapels.

Plus, to celebrate the season, the brand has also released a variety of limited-edition ‘Taste of Super Bowl’-branded products, available at retailers across the US.