How Did You Rate The Super Bowl?

The Super Bowl is many things:

• ?A primo “Battle of The Champions,” probably the closest thing in the world to the Coliseum in Rome.?
• An entertainment event starting the Friday before...with multiple parties and stars performing...leading to the Sunday pre-parties and then the incredible anthems...our parties at home ($17 billion worth of wings and such) culminating in the half-time show...this year, a triumph produced and directed by my friend, Baz Halpin.
• It’s a cultural event, reflecting all that's popular and relevant (or not)—a trend that began with Joe Namath and Farah Fawcet in the Super Bowl 3 and continued right up to this past Sunday with Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce...not to mention all the other stars in the stadium.

And, of course, Adland loves the Big Game…at $7 million for a :30 second spot, not to mention the millions in production, how could we not? And don’t get me started on the “we don’t do :30s” agencies who were present...?

In its best years, Super Bowl ads are a reminder that the “Big Idea” can have big commerce implications—if executed well, and in step with good brand practice. So when assessing the efficacy of this year’s Super Bowl ads, you should start, first, by asking yourself:

• What is the big idea??
• What were they trying to say??
• Can I describe a thought or is it just a lot of pyrotechnics?

KNEE JERK ALERT… I’ve never trolled the competition by taking down ads I didn't like; it’s not fair, and as they say, “Glass Houses.” I also never talk about our own ads—and we are proud, at Stagwell, that we had a few that made the top of the list.?

THREE THOUGHTS:

1. Start with the Big Idea. Execution follows:

What are the big ideas behind some of today’s best performing spots?

• STATE FARM – like a good neighbor, state farm is there; even if regional differences color the way, State Farm shows up. A great use of celebrity that stages the filming of the advertising in-spot, the creative does an exceptional job of reminding people of STATE FARM’s tagline, a simple branding exercise…while delighting them with humor and celebrity cameos to boot. This campaign is #1 in the USA Today Ad Meter.?
• CERAVE – The big idea is the mystery; where did this consumer-resonant facial product come from? Leaning into intrigue, the team behind the spot orchestrated a month-long lead-in to the Big Game across social channels, regularly teasing consumers around this fundamental premise. CeraVe has been lauded as one of the most universally accepted best-ads of the game. And no, it wasn’t created by Michael Cera.
• DOORDASH – The big idea is the product itself, and all the stuff you can get delivered. You’re already “doordashing” the Super Bowl as you corral the chips, soda, and other food that shapes the experience the way you’d “doordash” a late night snack. Why not “doordash” every other component of the Super Bowl??

Add your own views, PLEASE!!!

1. Don’t miss the forest for the trees with celebrities; they can be incredibly powerful vehicles if they are rooted in your brand’s value prop. And an expensive drag if not.

“To generate the same volume of impressions driven by Taylor Swift, the NFL would have had to produce and pay for four 30-second big game spots. Taylor Swift brings a ‘branded response’ to the NFL—driving incremental viewers to the sport based intrinsically on her interest in the sport and her relationship with her fans,” as analyzed and reported by AdVenture.

But not all celebrity plays are? equal.?

• Uber Eats commanded a standout roster of celebrities on its advertisement, but by the end of it, consumers might have still been scratching their heads wondering what brand was advertising, and whyy….. had it not been for the constant in-frame branding...that was good! The lesson? Celebrities are an underline on good brand strategy, not the strategy in itself.?
• Dunkin’s ad soared with an Oscar-worthy bench in tow because every second of the Dunkin’ ad reminded you of the brand that was running it with a story that was clear and funny.?
• The same with State Farm. If you’re sacrificing brand facetime in lieu of celebrity facetime (or some misaligned notion of creativity), you’re missing the point that a $20M investment in a Super Bowl ad is a play in scaling brand recognition, not platforming celebrities who are already the talk of lay consumers.?

Bottom line?

• Clear strategy
• Show your product?
• Highlight your brand
• Have a real story
• Be engaging!!!

1. Don’t X Out X?

For all the talk of this being Meta and Mark Zuckerberg’s year, engagement around the Super Bowl still skewed towards the incumbent player, X...formerly Twitter. Why? It’s a function of the purpose of platforms in our modern consumer ecosystem. You go to TikTok to iterate on brand creativity, to find the personal in an existential trend, or append your experience to a product vibe. You got X to litigate the timeliness of culture; to vie with brands for the pithiest word plays on in-game plays; and yes, reach virality off of a 280-word character. In the prophesying and soothsaying around the Big Game, folks missed the key insight: people want a town square, or a digital public forum, to see their reactions to culture amplified. We won’t see a platform dethrone X until it’s organized around the speed, diversity, and owned-to-earned potential of the site. TikTok requires iterative creativity that doesn’t map, naturally, to “the live.”?

Is the Super Bowl Worth It??

• Yes, if you are a food, beverage, or liquor, or consumer packaged goods company who can append your buzz to the full on, wherever you are, experience of the game. See Doritos, Pepsi, and Budweiser, who in a study powered by HarrisQuestDIY conducted before the Big Game were the top three brands listed by consumers by ad recall and purchase activity driven by their Super Bowl ads. And made huge sense for them to pre-tease.
• Yes, if you are a service Brand with a need to keep your brand name fresh.
• Yes, if you are a challenger brand with a great product and a big idea…Elf Cosmetics comes to mind.?
• No, if you are a challenger brand who’s not identified its secret sauce. Temu is an example of a brand whose media budget was cranked open for the Big Game but whose execution left much wanting in the creative department. If the overall goal is selling things—which, we’re marketers, let’s be real—then selling things aspirationally feels like a stronger hedge than selling things transactionally.?

The Big Game is evolving, sure, but some big truths still exist: your brand needs to loom large across Super Bowl advertising, not be relegated to second-subject in your content; a full omnichannel play will make the most of flashy ad buys; and wherever you are, whatever the brand, the big idea is the conduit to commerce.?

And, wait…we didn’t talk about the Kennedy Ad…what was that about? LOL…I thought someone took over the TV feed.

And lastly, have fun...gotta have fun.

What’s your view?