Dive Brief: 

• PepsiCo has signed a deal giving the Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant chain "a full access pass to all that PepsiCo has to offer" — opening the way for a menu full of Pepsi-brand-flavor foods and drinks.
• The partnership links PepsiCo to one of the fastest-growing restaurant chains in the U.S. — a collection of television-filled sports bars with 650 locations.
• The move suggests PepsiCo sees growth potential for its snack brands amid declining sales for most of its beverages.

Dive Insight:

There's probably no place on earth we would be less inclined to spend an evening than at a Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant. But we're snooty, upper-class East Coast snobs who enjoy food and conversation. Sitting in a room full of overweight people while they chomp away on Frito-flavored fajitas or something and stare at dozens and dozens of television screens is our idea of hell. It's like Hooter's without the waitresses. It's like Guy Fieri's without the irony.

But we're not PepsiCo's target audience — which is why the PepsiCo-Buffalo Wild Wings partnership is marketing genius. It focuses on the only group of people who are drinking more of PepsiCo's products (young men who consume Mountain Dew), gives PepsiCo a chance at duplicating the miraculous success of the Doritos Locos Tacos, and links BWW's clientele with PepsiCo's sports and celebrity relationships.