Take a Peek at the New Cracker Jack Float Before It Debuts at the Thanksgiving Parade

— -- About 3.5 million parade-goers. More than 1,000 clowns. Eleven marching bands. Hundreds of performers. No doubt the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is a big deal.

For Cracker Jack, this year -- the 88th -- is the most exciting yet. It will debut one of just five brand-new floats at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade Nov. 27. It's the first time the brand -- owned by Frito-Lay and a division of PepsiCo -- will have a float in the parade.

"It's a dream come true," said Ram Krishnan, head of marketing for Frito-Lay. The baseball-inspired float is, he said, "a marriage of two great brands."

At 36-feet long and as wide as three buses lined up end-to-end, the three-story baseball stadium, including infield, outfield and bleacher seats, features live-streaming cameras and an enormous LED screen that will show live shots of the parade, giving onlookers an opportunity to catch a glimpse of themselves on the big screen. It's a technological first in the parade's history.

Cracker Jack’s even older than the parade itself. At the ripe old age of 120, the brand needed to "reinvented itself to be relevant to millennials," Krishnan said.

And as a nod to this generation, the float will feature a family front and center taking selfies. "We need them to discover this brand and attract the next 100 years of fans,” Krishnan added.

But diehard parade fans need not worry that the steeped-in-history Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is trying to change things up to appeal to a younger crowd. "We can't be too cool," said Group Vice President Amy Kule of Macy's Parade and Entertainment said. "This is everybody's parade, from 2 to 200. We talk to the many generations in different ways."

Krishnan said the float was the culmination of the months-long “The Surprise Inside Project.” Using the familiar and expected prize inside the Cracker Jack box, the company gave away ways for families to spend time together, such a movie night or a picnic in a nearby park.

The baseball stadium float, he said, was a further nod to all-American family fun, much like the parade itself.

Parade-goers will see fireworks burst off the float as it approaches Herald Square and the live performance gets underway under a life-sized fully operational scoreboard "keeping score" of the live, staged baseball game taking place on the field.