The Super Bowl is the biggest television marketing event of the year. This year, for the first time since 1987, Pepsi will not be airing any commercials during the big game. Instead, the beverage giant is investing millions in a cause marketing program called the Pepsi Refresh Project.

The Pepsi Refresh Project is a grant program that will fund people’s ideas to improve their local communities. The purpose is to align Pepsi’s brand with social responsibility and build brand equity.

Starting January 13th, individuals and organizations can pitch their project ideas on Pepsi’s site, RefreshEverything.com. Based on the pitch and supporting media, site visitors vote on which ideas they’d like to see funded. The projects that receive the most votes will be awarded Refresh Grants, ranging from $5,000 to $250,000.

Each month in 2010, Pepsi will donate a total of $1.3 million to as many as 32 projects. Projects can fit into a wide variety of categories, such as Education, Health, and Arts & Culture. Want to start a local film festival or build modular homes? Get enough votes, and Pepsi will help you make it happen.

“The Super Bowl broadcast can be an amazing stage for advertisers if it aligns with their brand strategy; however, brands should not blindly anchor themselves to history,” said Frank Cooper, a senior VP of PepsiCo Americas Beverages, in a statement. “In 2010, each of our beverage brands has a strategy and marketing platform that will be less about a singular event, less about a moment, more about a movement.‪”

Thirty seconds of Super Bowl air time costs advertisers $3-million. Once the spot runs, it’s over. The impressions stop. The Refresh Project, on the other hand, will reach people on a longer term. Throughout the year, there will be new projects pitched, new grants awarded, and new Pepsi-backed community improvements affecting people across the country.

A 30-second commercial during this year’s Super Bowl costs three-million dollars. That’s a lot of money no matter what the state of the economy. MillerCoors decided it could get more bang – and viewer attention — for its buck, not by running a single 30-second ad, but by airing a series of ads lasting one second each.

The ads, which tout Miller High Life beer, feature Wendell, an opinionated High Life delivery man from the company’s current ad campaign. Wendell hams it up on a Miller High Life loading dock, stares into the camera and says things like: “Miller time!” “One Mississippi,” “Bonjour, Milwaukee,” “Back bacon,” and “Wojohowitz!”

According to a post on Consumerist.com:

“The brilliant use of the format dovetails perfectly with the beer’s brand identity. ‘Miller High Life is all about high quality and great value, so it wouldn’t make sense for this brand to pay $3 million for a 30-second ad,’ said High Life senior brand manager Kevin Oglesby, in a press release.”

By breaking from convention, MillerCoors is better serving its brand while creating an experience people are sure to talk about.