While the Broncos dominated the Panthers in search most days leading up to the big game, Carolina actually held sway throughout most of the actual game – that is, until the Broncos walked away with the win. With ads costing a record $5 million for 30 seconds this year, the stakes are high to stand out from the 40-plus advertisers and be remembered. Last year’s Super Bowl was the most watched program in US television history, with an average of 114.4 million viewers in the USA watching, and peaking at 120.8 million. And this year, of the approximately 330 million views the ads have received so far, over 60% of the views came from mobile devices for the first time.
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Last year’s ad followed the NFL’s suspension (later overturned) of running back Ray Rice for punching his then-fiance in a casino elevator. Many advertisers release online teasers and other promotions in the weeks before the game in an effort to get the most out of the money they spend. T-Mobile launched a commercial featuring hip-hop star Drake receiving instructions on how to improve his hit, “Hotline Bling”.
Audi ran an ad that featured David Bowie’s “Starman”. The “Pokémon 20” TV spot has generated almost 17.5 million online views over the week, while Bud Light’s ad featuring Seth Rogen and Amy Schumer is over the 7 million online views mark. A spot for Heinz starred a stampede of wiener dogs, while a Budweiser commercial featured the famous Clydesdales. The ad shows how hard it can be to open up to your friends about abuse, and encourages viewers to learn more about intimate partner abuse and how to help loved ones experiencing it.
In addition to these online video trends surrounding Super Bowl 50, Visible Measures compiled data on the top ten campaigns with an in-game spot as well. This image provided by Mountain Dew shows a “Puppymonkeybaby” in a scene from the company’s Kickstart spot for Super Bowl 50. BMW’s Mini urged people to “defy labels”.
“There’s still a very strong theme – with a little bit of a twist this year – of goal, mission ideas, whatever you want to call it”, said Jim Stengel, a business consultant who previously worked as chief marketing officer at Procter & Gamble.
The Super Bowl is known for inspiring lots of eating and lavish spreads of food.
Instead of slapstick-focused ads or racy messages this year, advertisers are trying to break out with empowering and even heartfelt messages.
In the Internet age, watching the game is no longer a requirement to participate in the water-cooler talk about the biggest ads of the year.
Of course, the dollars-and-cents of it all is only one part of what makes a Super Bowl ad a good one. Another sought to raise awareness about “opioid-induced constipation”.
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“I think the real thing is having the people who need to see your messages see them”, said Lubars of BBDO Worldwide.
