What this Year's Super Bowl Ads Say about Mixing Marketing and Politics

At $5 million plus for 30 seconds, this year’s Super Bowl ads will offer a pricey glimpse into how major corporate advertisers view the intersection of marketing and politics in a highly contentious election year. The message so far is clear: Celebrate America’s diversity, promote equality and encourage us to work together to build a better tomorrow. (Bloomberg and Trump are also running Super Bowl ads this year, which fortunately are outside the scope of this article.)

I call this overall theme “Live Better Together” after an ad campaign that Walmart released for the holidays on November 27. The ad featured Walmart associates and customers who shared ongoing acts of good and selflessness – from small gestures, like greeting a veteran, to big actions, like uniting the community to help a neighbor in need. Walmart showed how these efforts for good create a sense of community, hope and opportunity for everyone—a spark that feeds the kinds of communities we all want to live in and believe in. While you won’t see this ad in the Super Bowl, you will see some similar messages.

Let’s start with Budweiser. As it often does in at least one of its Super Bowl ads every year, Budweiser is echoing the theme of American diversity, kindness and triumph in an ad called Typical American. The scenes juxtapose negative and somewhat humorous stereotypes about Americans with images of everyday people doing good. Less impactful than some of Budweiser’s best emotion-invoking ads, the overall effect is to celebrate our differences and our common bonds as Americans. The tag line is “show what typical can do.”

Microsoft’s Be the One ad is a wonderful combination of American diversity and drive. It highlights Katie Sowers, Offensive Assistant Coach of the Super Bowl bound San Francisco 49ers—the first woman ever to coach in a Super Bowl. Katie’s photogenic commitment to being the best she can be, man or woman, makes the ad. As she says, “I’m not trying to be the best female coach. I’m trying to be the best coach.” You can read more about the ad here.

It will be interesting to compare the impact of "Be the One" with an ad by Proctor & Gamble’s Olay cosmetics brand. The teaser release from Olay shows three women astronauts on the way to the launch pad, with one tritely admitting she forgot the keys. Olay says it’s “hoping to reach women in a historically male-dominated space, with an entertaining, unexpected and humorous spot.” It’s an $5 million play to the huge number of women who watch Super Bowl ads that are predominately aimed at men. Stay tuned on how it turns out. It can’t be worse than some of the ads directed to teen age boys who are now 35, which is not exactly high praise.

Celebrating its 175th anniversary, New York Life is running its first Super Bowl ad in 30 years. It’s Agape ad explores the different types of love originating in the ancient Greek language. (Yep, it’s a bit intellectual for your usual Super Bowl ad, but it’s been 30 years, after all!) The spot focuses on the most profound type of love, Agape, or “love as an action.” The Company says the ad is designed “to remind Americans that they have the power to act on their love, whether through considerable hardships or the smallest and most personal gestures.” Good karma. What’s the tie to insurance? You got it: It’s one of the actions people take to protect themselves and their loved ones.

The edgiest ad is the NFL’s Inspire Change commercial that ran during the conference championship games leading up to the Super Bowl. Fueled by the NFL’s efforts to amp up its social justice messaging in the wake of the Colin Kaepernick controversy, the ad tackles the politically charged issue of police shootings of black men. The ad stars retired player Anquan Boldin sharing the story of his cousin, Corey Jones, who was tragically shot and killed in 2015 by a Florida police officer dressed in plain clothes, while Jones was waiting for roadside assistance. It’s a tough, disturbing ad about a serious problem that should not be a partisan issue. It may be an ad that only the NFL could run. It ends with a call to action to “inspire change,” presumably by working together. The promise that change is possible and the potential of achieving it by working together are what turn the ad from a dark portrayal to an inspiration of hope.

So, what do these ads say about the intersection of marketing and politics in this bitterly partisan election year? Five suggestions for marketing execs who want to move in that direction:

1.     Champion traditional American values of diversity, equality, charity, and working together.

2.     Avoid divisive themes that invoke identity politics and partisan anger unless your target market is so narrow and homogeneous that it’s worth the risk.

3.     As the election heats up further, anticipate some backlash from customers who are tired of the bitter politics permeating everything they see and read.

4.     Provide inspiration and encouragement. Rekindle the American dream. If you want to raise difficult issues, provide hope and show the value of working together to solve them.

5.     Stay away from the edges on both sides of the partisan divide.

In my recent novel, Intentional Consequences, one the characters is Rakesh Jain, a billionaire tech executive who wants to bring America together. His pitch resonates pretty well in our current environment: “We are all Americans. We made this country together. We’re not done yet. Join us. We still have more things to do to create that more perfect union.” Whether you use those words directly or use them as a guide for more subtle messaging, his ideas offer good food for thought.

You can find some additional thoughts in my article “If your Company could Sponsor America, would it?” here.