Pepsi Puts Real Knicks Fans on Billboards After 53-Year Wait

Pepsi is turning the Knicks’ championship run into real-time New York billboards.

The brand’s "WE OUTSIDE" campaign began after the Knicks’ 29-point Game 4 win against the San Antonio Spurs, the largest comeback in NBA Finals history.

The Knicks closed the series in Game 5, beating the Spurs 94-90 for their first NBA title since 1973.

The title raised the stakes of the whole campaign. A fast reaction to one comeback now sits inside a 53-year championship story.

Pepsi had already put real fan photos on digital billboards outside Madison Square Garden and in Times Square, using images from Game 3 and Game 4.

NYC photographers @shottinyc and Jack Underwood shot fans on street corners, inside bars, outside Madison Square Garden, and across watch-party settings.

The result gives Pepsi a local media system powered by real Knicks emotion, captured as the city moved from comeback shock to championship celebration.

Real Fans Power the Media Buy

Every face in Pepsi's creative is a real Knicks fan, caught in surprise, excitement, disbelief, and celebration.

There are no celebrities here, just the people who actually live and die with the team, which is exactly why the billboards feel like the city talking to itself.

The brand said the shots show fans with Pepsi in hand, connecting the drink to the city’s live reaction instead of a staged sports scene.

"'WE OUTSIDE' is Pepsi showing up for New York by celebrating the fans who define it," Pepsi Vice President of Marketing Gustavo Reyna told DesignRush.

"Game 4 captured a level of energy you can only find in this city, and we set out to reflect that in real time."

Using the crowd as the creative asset lets Pepsi match the speed of live sports.

Fan photography gives the work the texture of streets, bars, and arena exits while the story is still unfolding.

The campaign also builds on Pepsi’s recent brand activation, "Knicks Fans Deserve Pepsi" collector can scavenger hunt, keeping the brand inside New York's playoff run.

"Pepsi has been part of New York’s fabric for decades, and this campaign extends that presence by bringing fans onto billboards across the city during this historic run," Reyna added.

It also follows Pepsi’s "Soccer Deserves Pepsi" push with David Beckham and Guillermo Ochoa, which tied the soda brand to match-day food and summer soccer viewing.

Together, the World Cup and Knicks campaigns show the brand linking live sports to repeatable fan behavior.

OOH Moves at Playoff Speed

The rollout makes the campaign a citywide media loop.

Pepsi keeps updating the billboards with new fan imagery, so the OOH buy stayed alive across the Game 4 comeback and the Game 5 title win.

The update speed gives the creative a news-cycle advantage.

Madison Square Garden placements put Pepsi right next to the arena. Times Square adds tourist, commuter, and social visibility.

Subway, train, and yellow cab placements push the reach into daily city movement.

Pepsi can claim this turf because it already belongs to it.

The landmark Pepsi-Cola sign in Queens and nearly a decade inside Madison Square Garden have kept the brand close to Knicks fans.

The campaign gives brands three useful takeaways:

• Use the crowd as creative. Real fans can make sports OOH feel immediate and local.
• Match media to momentum. A fast-changing series needs ads that can update before the emotion fades.
• Put the brand in the city. Local media works harder when it reflects the places where fans are already gathering.

Refreshing physical billboards at social-media speed is the hard part, and it's what makes this OOH advertising feel as alive as the series itself.

Our Take: Could Any Soda Brand Have Pulled This Off?

We think that Pepsi earned its spot in the Knicks story over decades, through the Queens sign and its years inside Madison Square Garden.

So showing up on title night reads as belonging rather than crashing.

Coca-Cola, not Pepsi, became the NBA's official soft drink partner in March 2026, with Sprite back as the league's global brand.

Yet on the night New York actually won, it was Pepsi on the billboards.

Official rights bought Coca-Cola the badge, but it didn't buy the local standing that lets Pepsi show up as one of New York's own.

This kind of hometown credibility is the real brand power here, and it took years to build.

Pepsi spent years becoming part of New York, and the Knicks finally becoming the NBA champions after 53 years is when this investment paid off.

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