Your Super Bowl Ad Cheat Sheet
The big game is Sunday! This year’s Super Bowl is sure to be entertaining both on and off the field. The game is predicted to be a nail-biter. As of today, Philadelphia is a 1.5-point favorite to beat quarterback Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs.
Off the field, there’ll be plenty of entertaining plays for the 100 million viewers. With a price tag of $7M for a 30-second TV spot, advertisers are focused on creating a multimedia experience that goes viral. That’s one reason why nearly two-thirds of this year’s ads feature celebrities. There’s a stickiness with seeing a star in an ad and advertisers leverage the celebrities’ influence to push their products.
Play #1: Apple Music is in. Pepsi is out.
After sponsoring the halftime show for the last decade, Pepsi is passing the torch, and the bill of $50 million a year, to the music streaming service. It’s a smart yet costly brand move for Apple to claim the most-watched musical performance of the year.
Apple picked Rihanna, singer, actress, and businesswoman, to star in the show.
Fun fact: Rihanna isn’t paid for her performance during the Super Bowl. The NFL covers production of the halftime show and travel costs.
Don’t worry, Rhianna’s making out okay. Apple Music has crafted a multi-touch campaign to promote the streaming service and the billionaire performer.
There’s a countdown to the show with a multimedia launch titled, “Rihanna’s Road to Halftime”, an eight-episode roundtable on the cultural impact of her music, and a collection of 32 playlists featuring favorite songs of the players from each NFL team.
Play #2: The Clydesdales have competition.
For the first time since 1989, the Super Bowl will feature alcohol ads made by companies other than Anheuser-Busch InBev.
This year, you’ll see ads from Rémy Contreau, Crown Royal, Michelob ULTRA, Bud Light, Busch Light, Coors, and Heineken.
Rémy Cointreau has had a sip of Super Bowl advertising and now wants a heavy pour. Two years ago, the French spirits company bought a 30-second ad for its Cointreau liqueur in 15 U.S. markets. This year, it’s going all in with a 60-second spot in the first quarter dedicated to Rémy Martin cognac.
Foo Fighters front man Dave Grohl is featured in Crown Royal’s debut Super Bowl ad. In a surprise move, the Diageo brand just extended the buy from 30-seconds to 60-seconds. Watch for the spot during the third quarter.
Anheuser-Busch bought three minutes of ad time for Bud Light, Michelob ULTRA, Budweiser, and Busch Light. They’ve enlisted big name celebs including Kevin Bacon, Paul Rudd, and Sarah McLachlan to tell their story. Celebs are replacing Clydesdales!
Michelob ULTRA’s Super Bowl ad takes place at Bushwood Country Club, the fictional course from the 1980 sports comedy Caddyshack. Nostalgia is another theme of this year’s ads. The 60-second spot, “New Members Day,” features Serena Williams as the future face of golf alongside Emmy-winning actor Brian Cox as a relic of its stodgy past.
Play #3: Fanduel shoots its ad live during the game.
Retired, four-time Super Bowl champion tight end Rob Gronkowski will attempt to kick a 25-yard field goal live during the third quarter.
If he makes it, anyone who places a bet of $5 or more using its platform will be eligible to win a share of $10 mllion in free bets on Fanduel.
Play #4: Got the munchies?
M&M’s, a Mars brand, tries to fill your candy bowl by taking an “indefinite pause” from its spokescandies.
You may remember last year when M&M’s unveiled a new look for its colorful candy. The intention was to give the candies a modern look. Among the changes? The green M&M’s go-go boots were swapped for hip sneakers.
People noticed, igniting memes and even controversy. So, the brand sought a spokesperson “America can agree on”. Their pick, Maya Rudolph, the comedian we know from Saturday Night Live.
Snicker’s, another Mars brand, leveraged the conversation with a related message: “thinking you can pass as another candy’s spokesperson?” It’s a clever approach to capturing eyeballs without shelling out $7 million.
Popcorners, a Frito-Lay’s brand, is resurrecting Breaking Bad’s Walter White character in an ad starring Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul.
Kellogg’s is bringing Pringles back for a 30-second sequel to last year’s ad where a hand gets stuck in a can reaching for a crisp and must live out life’s most endearing moments with it. This year, the hand belongs to a mystery celebrity reaching into a bedazzled can.
Avocados from Mexico returns for an eighth time in a decade with a 30-second spot with a QR code that links to a landing page integrated with ChatGPT, the popular AI tool. Hope it doesn’t crash their website like CoinBase’s QR code did last year after its Super Bowl ad aired!
Play #5: TurboTax skips the celebs with its emotional “not taxes” ad.
Back for its 10th consecutive spot as part of its new 2023 brand campaign, TurboTax urges people to do what they want to do and not do their taxes. Featuring vignettes of people of all ages doing what they love doing – not taxes – the high-quality production and emotional score make it a hard spot to forget.
A lot goes into making a memorable and effective Super Bowl ad. Will this year’s spots full of celebrities and light-hearted moments capture the eyes, hearts, and wallets of consumers?
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