The Super Bowl season is upon us and ad portals are showcasing many of the campaigns meant for airing during the event. A few of those and other campaigns caught my eye this week.
The Super Bowl: an advertising event
The Super Bowl is a unique marketing event in sports. It is one of the most expensive advertising property on television with a 30-second commercial set to sell for about $5.2 million this year. Marketers are keen to extract maximum mileage for their investments with an aim to keep their brand top of mind before & after the event. So they seek to evoke consumer excitement around their campaigns. The arsenal includes use of celebrities, humorous story plots (bordering on the bizarre), emotional stories which tug at the heartstring, topical scripts, big-bang jaw-dropping special effects and more.
Aside from the cost of media airing, there is the cost of film production and related campaign promotion costs. Many big brands with deep pockets do not see the high price tag as a deterrent. The ROI could be about increasing the brands desirability and the invaluable media buzz a popular campaign can create. The Super Bowl has also seen many startups and relatively unknown brands investing in campaigns. For them it is a ticket to fame especially if the campaign gets media attention. With social media thrown into the mix a campaign can effectively run for at least a month.
Amazon Echo: not everything makes the cut
This ad follows a time-tested self-deprecating tone of voice: there ‘could’ be potential downsides of our otherwise great product.
Agency: Amazon creative team and Lucky Generals
Audi: cashew
A few weeks ago, Audi unveiled its ‘Electric has gone Audi’ theme. In this humorous spot, the viewer is taken down the proverbial garden path only to be presented with a laugh-out-loud twist which has relevance to the product being advertised. Loved it.
Agency: Venables Bell & Partners
Toyota: RAV4
Even though I have zero interest or knowledge about American football I found the ad interesting as it draws a comparison between the hybrid car and the protagonist, Toni Harris a female football player.
Agency: Burrell Communications
Hyundai: the elevator
I liked the ad because it ticked all the boxes: use of celebrity as a character, a visual device to connote good or bad experiences smart, funny analogies and a clear message about the brand benefit.
Agency: Innocean, USA
Coca-Cola: a coke is a coke
A quote from the late pop-art icon, Andy Warhol is the inspiration for this animated ad. In his 1975 book, he said, ‘What’s great about this country is that America started the tradition where the richest consumers buy essentially the same things as the poorest,” Warhol wrote. “You can be watching TV and see Coca-Cola, and you know the president drinks Coke, Liz Taylor drinks Coke, and just think, you can drink Coke, too. A Coke is a Coke, and no amount of money can get you a better Coke.”. I am not a big fan of sugared water marketing but this is creative.
Agency: Weiden + Kennedy
Mercedes Benz: Say the word
A voice-activated command seems to be the latest must-have product feature in many categories. In a style similar to the Amazon Echo spot featured earlier in this post, this spot for Mercedes A-Class says ‘if only everything could listen to you as the A-Class’.
Skittles: Broadway Musical
The most non-advertising advertising idea of the Super Bowl would be that for Skittles. They are producing a musical, to be performed live on Feb 3. The proceeds will go to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS – a nonprofit organization. The one song being promoted heavily from the musical is ‘Advertising Ruins Everything’.
Which one was your favourite? Comment in.
