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Super Bowl LVII: how did this year’s ads compare and what lessons did we learn?

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Super Bowl: it’s the annual advertising extravaganza where 30-second slots costing $7m (that’s $233k a second) and audiences top over 200m (or two-thirds of the entire US population).

Whilst the Kansas City Chiefs were victorious this year, much of the hype was off the field -  with the US’ biggest brands competing to produce the most effective ads. So how did this year’s ads compare – and what are the lessons we learnt? Jon Evans, Chief Customer Officer at System1, gives us his honest thoughts.

No Crypto ads

The regular players – auto manufacturers, alcohol brands and snacks – were once again present this year, but what about some of the more recent entrants? The ongoing crypto winter, including the collapse of FTX (which produced one of last year’s celebrity-backed ads) meant there were no crypto advertisers at all this year.

Big tech meanwhile – including the likes of Workday and Squarespace, as well as Apple, who sponsored the half time show – did advertise, which wasn’t a given considering current conditions.

Movie/TV homages

Super Bowl night sometimes felt more like Oscars night as brands like T-Mobile, Michelob ULTRA and Rakuten made ads riffing on classic movies. Popcorners joined in with a Breaking Bad homage, bringing TV into the mix.

Cultural references are a proven way boosting of emotional response, and thereby creative effectiveness, and as long as there’s a clear tie-in to the brand it’s hard to go wrong with them. We’ve seen plenty of these in the past, and we’d expect more in future. 

Playing it safe with celebrities

Only three of the Top 10 ads – Amazon, Jeep and The Farmer’s Dog – did without celebrities or star characters, and all of those filled that space with animals. A celebrity has become what a cute puppy or baby used to be – a safe bet. Celebrities can be used well, particularly when they exaggerate or refer to what they’re already known for, like John Travolta in the T-Mobile spot. 

That being said, with so many celebrities joining big game ads, it’s crucial that brands leverage them in the right way. Simply casting a celebrity doesn’t make a winning ad. Famous figures shouldn’t be easily replaceable. Rather, they should be the best choice for the storyline. They must also be given the freedom to portray larger-than-life versions of themselves.

Co-branding on the rise

As Super Bowl costs keep rising (ads this year cost $7m a slot – or $233k a second), we’re seeing more brands splitting the cost with co-branded ads.

The most creative this year came from Netflix and General Motors, recruiting Will Ferrell for a road trip through Netflix properties. But it didn’t score well, and illustrates the peril of this approach – it can just muddy your message and reduce brand recognition. 

Ads about ads are still a thing

We again saw meta-advertising – ads which are self-referential about being a Super Bowl ad. It’s easier to pull this off now that there’s a whole ecosystem of commentary and gossip around the big game. But not much cuts through the public.

Molson-Coors' fight between three beers and T-Mobile's pseudo- behind-the-scenes ad with Bradley Cooper didn’t work well, whilst the first half of M&M’s ‘spokescandies’ ad tested abominably, getting just 1-Star. The second ad, which was aired after the game did score extremely well however, and proved to be audiences’ most-loved food and beverage ad of the night.

TikTok

TikTok didn’t advertise at the Super Bowl but the fingerprints of the video-sharing app and its memes and challenges were visible in other ads. Bud Light’s on-hold music dancing felt like a TikTok challenge, and Kia’s “Binky Dad” looked at how quickly an ordinary person can become an internet celebrity. As the Super Bowl demographic keeps changing (only 17% of Gen Z was expected to watch the Super Bowl this year versus 60% of Millennials) we’d expect to see more TikTok influence creep into ads as a means of drawing new audiences.

Despite the cost of Super Bowl advertising suggesting more brands may have pivoted towards activations on TikTok using more niche influencers rather than widely recognized celebrities, State Farm was the only major advertiser who switched from traditional TV advertising to the social media platform. Ultimately, with the big game securing an audience of more than 100m viewers, television remains the best platform to reach the widest audience during and beyond the event.

The return of the 5-Star ad

We’ve seen the number of 5-Star ads (or those that deliver Exceptional long-term brand building potential) drop - from plenty ten years ago, to three in 2020, one in 2021 and none in 2022. This year saw the return of a 5-Star ad however, with Disney’s 100-year anniversary celebration crammed with famous faces and big moments.

The ads that score well (in the 3- to 5-Star range) are those that drive an emotional response in viewers. Adverts that make people feel happy – rather than negative emotions, such as sadness or fear – are on the right track and will have the greatest ROI. Why? Because it is these adverts that will build long-term brand awareness, a greater market share, and therefore greater commercial impact. This is opposed to an ad that offers a short-term spike - it may lead to an immediate sales boost but won’t deliver lasting brand-building effects.

Indeed, our research shows that if a brand gets the long-term brand awareness in their advert right, the short-term sales spike is also likely to happen. It’s a bit like a buy-one-get-one-free – but with the Super Bowl being such an expensive investment, it’s vital that brands test their creative to predict its impact and adjust accordingly to maximise their ROI. After all, there’s only about 15 to 60 seconds to make a mark – and it is the ones that hit emotional highs – such as Disney – that come away as brand-building winners.

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