Super Bowl 54 Commercial Review
Super Bowl Sunday has become one of the most important days for brands, having the chance to share a message with around 100 million viewers. Every year, big and small brands succeed in their commercials and are remembered for years, while others fail. Super Bowl 54 was no different, and the strategy was consistent this year: celebrities.
For this year’s Super Bowl, a major tactic for many brands was to use celebrities to gain attention, but this left the ad content itself underwhelming. A handful of ads would not have been as popular if celebrities were not present - from Charlie Day in the Tide spot, to John Cena and Jimmy Fallon in the Michelob Ultra ad. These were funny and engaging commercials, but the messaging would not have been as successful if these individuals were not involved. In the Sabra hummus commercial, using celebrities was their only tactic, as the entire 30 second spot was simply a parade of 19 different celebrities.
Another major theme among many brands was how heavily they relied on pop culture icons to deliver their messages. Some were completely unnecessary to the commercial, like the Kool-Aid man and Mr. Clean attending Mr. Peanut's funeral. But others were integrated very well, like MC Hammer jumping in to sing "Can't Touch This" when the main character in the commercial couldn't do anything because of the Cheetos orange residue on his hands.
Having celebrities recreate characters they've played in movies was another method that either succeeded or flopped depending on the connection with the brand. A successful example of this is the Groundhog Day reference with Bill Murray in the Jeep commercial. Bill Murray drives around with the groundhog in a Jeep, integrating the story and Jeep's messaging. This differs from the Mountain Dew commercial, that tried to incorporate a movie reference, but flopped in their execution. While understanding that Mountain Dew wanted to include a reference to The Shining, the commercial had little to do with Mountain Dew, and the connection between the product and the movie reference simply was not there.
Whether celebrities are used or not, the most successful Super Bowl ads every year are the commercials that pull at the emotions of the viewer. One of the most memorable Super Bowl 54 commercials was "Loretta" by Google. This ad brought tears to so many viewers' eyes, and it did not involve celebrities at all. Brands are able to create these emotional reactions with celebrities, tying together the feeling of nostalgia of a favorite movie or memory. But many brands did not attempt to go after a viewer's emotions, and simply used celebrities as a way to grab the viewers' attention.