How brands approached this years Super Bowl Ads

Sporting events don’t come much bigger than the Super Bowl; Millions (even billions) of fans from around the world tune in to watch the US spectacle. 

I’m a huge sports fan, but I’ve never really got into NFL; But I love the Super Bowl, mainly because of the euphoric circus that takes place off the field. So whilst Brady was busy winning his 7th Super Bowl ring, I was more engrossed in what the brands were doing in the ad breaks, and even on the sidelines. The Ad space during the Super Bowl will set a brand back roughly $5.5m+ for 30 seconds, so no wonder every year there is so much hype around the commercials. And given this investment, it’s common for brands to try to extend their campaign each year, with many launching teasers or even longer form content in the days leading up to Super Bowl Sunday. 

But Super Bowl LV (55) was going to be very different to previous years - with everything that has happened over the past 12 months, especially in the US, I had been watching with bated breath over the past week to see how brands positioned themselves and how they would frame the message they wanted to share. And as expected, there were a lot of different themes that emerged as brands tried hard to integrate the trends, topics and feelings present in today's climate.

So if you’ve missed the Super Bowl this year, here are some of the best Ad’s and content that caught my eye.  

No Way Norway! 

MG combined celebrities, humour, patriotism (U-S-A), competitiveness and social purpose into their Ad that promoted their commitment to Electric Vehicles. 

Let’s just focus on Happiness, says Michelob

In a year that has brought us a lot of misery, beer brand Michelob decided to promote the feeling of happiness over winning. Using a range of sporting celebs, it was all about taking joy from the whole game, not just the end game. Something we can all take a lesson from.  

Nostalgia for the (s)win(g)

UberEats put happier times at the forefront of their campaign by reuniting legendary duo Wayne and Garth in the studio / basement of Wayne's World to really take the p*ss out of Super Bowl ads. Party on UberEats!  

More Nostalgia? It wasn’t me! 

Cheeto’s also went down the nostalgia avenue by re-writing the 2000 classic ‘It Wasn’t Me’ featuring Shaggy and celebrity power couple Mila Kunis and Asthon Kutcher. 

Let’s grab a beer

In a year where Mental Health has taken a hit, Anheuser-Busch created a brand Ad to encourage everyone to ‘grab a beer’. This simple social past-time encourages everyone to talk it out; a powerful yet subtle mental health message!

If life gives you lemons

Influencer Seth Philips, AKA ‘Dude With Sign’ was enlisted by Bud Light to promote their Seltzer range as an in game broadcast integration. The simplicity of this is brilliant, and really taps into influencer culture. 

This was of course integrated with a TVC that compared the events of 2020 to Lemons. 

Come together with M&M

Super Bowl stalwarts M&M’s picked up on cultural trends to make a heartwarming and humorous ad with people apologising and passing on the kindness by way of M&Ms.

And favourite from Super Bowl 2021…..

Stop feeling flat! 

2020 has been a tough year, and Doritos nailed the balance of context and humour with their ‘Flat Matthew’ ad starring the iconic Matthew McConaughey, all to promote their new 3D range 

It wasn’t all about the in-game Ad’s. 

This year it wasn’t all about the in-game Ads….

Many iconic brands synonymous with Super Bowl adverts decided not to get involved in this year's game, instead choosing to donate the money to help those more in need. The likes of Budwiser, Pepsi and Coca Cola were all absent from the Ad breaks. But the one that stood out to me, came from home improvement retailer Lowes. Even without an Ad spot, they were still front of mind across every advert, as viewers listened out for the word ‘Home’ during the breaks, with Lowes donating home renovations to frontline workers ( the real heroes of 2020) every time it was mentioned in another Ad. They were active throughout the game, pushing out influencer content and doing a live count throughout. (FYI - their were a total of 13 mentions across the game)

Here was their launch film on Twitter:

Finally....

So that's it for 2021. We've seen a lot of different approaches from the brands we love, all trying to cut through in their own unique way after one of the most challenging years we've ever seen. Amongst it all, and aside from celeb integration, nostalgia, positivity and togetherness were the themes that stood out for me this year.

There were 50+ Ad’s created for Super Bowl LV, so if you want to check out more, head to this playlist to watch them all:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxNxqveseyI&list=PL4zgwbuV1M66YJ5cANTUOhg8o5c5Ve-_9