This year the Super Bowl was watched by 112 million people. The game was won by the Los Angeles Rams but the broadcast is about much more than football.
Opinion: In 1984 Apple launched its new Macintosh computers through a 60 second advertisement in the Super Bowl. Their ad “1984” cost US$1 million to make, was directed by Ridley Scott and is still considered the most effective Super Bowl ad of all time – introducing their new product range of “Macs”.
In terms of advertising and effectiveness, the Super Bowl has always been in a league of its own. It’s no surprise that events drive viewing: a royal wedding might pull an audience of 30 million in the US (Meghan and Harry did), funerals too (Michael Jackson, Princess Di both averaged around the 30 mill mark also). But in today’s fragmented and on-demand world an "event " that pulls such a huge audience together at one particular moment, to share the experience together at the same time, is quite remarkable.
The numbers around the Super Bowl are still eye boggling. And, brands still pay a lot for those eyes.
A 30 second spot can cost up to US$7 million. So, let’s say you spend US$3 million on production (modest probably, but for the sake of this exercise) – that's US$10 million to reach approximately 100 million eyeballs with one play of your ad. Add amplified secondary opportunities. – including people rewatching (yes, rewatching!) ads online or reading about the ads through the millions of dollars in coverage that follows – and it is little wonder that the Super Bowl is considered the most lucrative commercial airtime in television.
Super Bowl is unique, not only for the audience size but also because every ad is exceptionally well crafted by the best in the business. They’re not just ads for the products but for the creatives, strategists, marketers and brand guardians who are trying to convert views to dollars. This event is also the Super Bowl of these.
Here, with so much hype and goings on, these brands are trying to cut through and most importantly entertain, leave an impression that generates a return, and, usually, in under 60 seconds. Not easy. Not cheap. For media nerds and brand fans it’s a treat to see such high quality productions and the best in the business showcase their craft.
That said, the opportunity for advertisers today is well beyond "in game" placement, with the secondary market – talk, coverage, social media amplification presenting a massive opportunity to double, triple, even multiply your return-on-investment by 10.
You’d be missing a trick (and if you have the money to advertise in the Super Bowl you’re probably not in the business of missing tricks) if you don’t strategically plan out your lead up material and follow on amplification as much as the delivery of the ad itself, releasing teaser spots ahead of the event, driving PR and social amplification off the back of it. Every time your spot is talked about, that is all part of the value that extends well beyond the 30 secs of airtime. The ‘play of the ad’ is really just the (very expensive) starting point of a Super Bowl campaign.
With such a significant audience, the Super Bowl is a worthy cultural indicator, capturing a moment in time – sentiment that millions of dollars of insights and research have unearthed and now reflected in creative development.
In 2021 brands played it relatively safe with issue alignment and vaccine messaging prominent. Budweiser replaced their famous Clydesdale spots with messaging to drive vaccines. Purpose hasn’t been left behind in 2022: even Dr Evil realises this year that he is #2 Evil thanks to the impact of climate change courtesy of General Motors.
But if we were to read the room based on clues delivered in Super Bowl themes this year, we could assume :
► We’re going to the future: Cryptocurrency, health technology, home testing, assistive technology and voice activation advertising all prominent.
► We’re traveling again: Online booking sites Expedia and Booking.com feeding our hunger to explore as borders lift.
► We’re driving: And it is most certainly electric. General Motors, Chevy, BMW and Kia all showcasing the latest EVs.
► We’re merging physical and virtual worlds: Cheeto delivered a stunt involving the premiere of a video on a chip no less, while QR codes linked viewers away from the broadcast to a site enabling the first step into crypto for many.
► We’re divided about metaphysical and reality: Salesforce countered hype around the metaverse with an ad about “the real world” cleverly aligning with the realest guy of all – Matthew McConaughey – and promoting hashtag #teamearth (which will no doubt connect with a significant market ).
Meta, of course, promoted the metaverse, suggesting a rather depressing alternative (laying discarded in a trash bin) if we don’t.
The Super Bowl advertisements showed celebrities are still in still in demand. Famous names featured in many of the commercials – Seth Rogen, Scarlett Johansson, Snoop Dogg, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Salma Hayek, Mike Myers, Lindsay Lohan ... to name a few. Talent fees alone would have soaked up millions of dollars of the production budgets.
But smart thinking sometimes beats a big budget. Possibly the most immediately successful ad in the Super Bowl was Coinbase and its relatively low quality looking QR code bouncing on the screen for one whole minute – delivering 20 million hits to the cryptocurrency exchange.
And finally, it’s clear some things never change.
However far into the future we go, whatever new frontiers we tackle, we’re still going to drink and eat chips. This year Budweiser's Clydesdales returned, Pepsi sponsored the full noise halftime show – and ads for potato chips and Doritos were of course part of the Super Bowl mix.
Which suggests that as interested as we are in space travel and exploring the metaverse, we’re also pretty comfy on the couch. Pass the corn chips please!
