Consumers are likely to notice something different when they connect to the Super Bowl this Sunday: a lot of advertisers they’ve never seen in the game before, many of whom have seen their business grow in the last year. during the pandemic.
A growing list of newcomers will reveal about $ 5.5 million for a 30-second ad to show off. These include: the Robinhood trading app; Fiverr self-employed platform; online food delivery company DoorDash; second-hand car company Vroom; Mercari resale platform; gardening provider Scotts Miracle-Gro; Employment site Indeed; online betting company DraftKings; Chipotle restaurant chain; Kimberly-Clark’s Huggies; and Hellile’s mayonnaise brand, owned by Unilever. Even more will come to the surface as the game gets closer this weekend.
Some pillars such as Coca-Cola, Pepsi and Budweiser refuse to buy traditional advertising time in the game.
Companies that advertise during this year’s game face risks due to the coronavirus pandemic. Derek Rucker, who teaches advertising strategy at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, said brands that are too serious could be perceived by consumers as a downer, but going too far in the other direction could be counterproductive.
“There’s a possibility that if you’re so irrelevant and so disconnected, consumers don’t really like it,” he said. “The stakes are high and some brands will understand well and I want to see how they handle this.”
Some of the newcomers were helpful to home consumers during the pandemic. The DoorDash ad, for example, will contain “Sesame Street” characters that highlight items such as paper towels (or yes, cookies) that it can deliver. The company began offering more convenience items, household items and other health and wellness products last year during the pandemic, when people tried to limit their trips to grocery stores.
Scotts Miracle-Gro said its Super Bowl announcement was meant to build on the momentum it gained during the coronavirus pandemic, CEO Jim Hagedorn told CNBC on Wednesday.
“We gained about 20 million new customers during the Covid period last year, and the goal is to keep them and grow the market,” Hagedorn told Power Lunch.
Hagedorn added that the Super Bowl is a way to reach those people and convince them to stay.
“The Super Bowl is an excellent platform for large, advanced types of messages for a company,” said Jim Nail, senior analyst for B2C Marketing. In a year like this, it could mean “How relevant is the brand in a pandemic-induced world?”
Nail said that Indeed is following this route and expects Fiverr to do the same in their commercials. The first said that his place will highlight the journey in search of a job in a challenging market when people face economic difficulties. The Fiverr announcement will discuss how small businesses needed to digitally pivot their businesses to survive and how independent Fiverr professionals could help.
Fiverr marketing director Gali Arnon said this was a “benchmark year” for the company.
“Everyone, freelancers [are] joining our platform, because of the situation, because of the pandemic and the high unemployment rate around the world, “she said.
Mercari’s spot shows a couple receiving two popcorn makers as gifts, then showing how one lists Mercari, then shows him in his new home. “Buy or sell almost anything online from home,” reads the voice.
Mercari CEO John Lagerling told CNBC that the company has begun to see an increase in activity since the spring closings.
“People wanted to turn unused things into cash, to manage their finances,” he said. On the other hand, they wanted to “break or optimize” their spaces while they were at home using second-hand objects.
In a normal year, people may have turned to Craigslist or old-fashioned garage sales to find or get rid of old items, but many people have tried to limit contact. And Lagerling said Mercari is a way for them to do that.
And because of the pandemic, real-life roommates and a real-life couple were thrown into the commercial, rather than strangers claiming to live together or married. The company collaborated with Rain the Growth Agency on advertising.
Another Super Bowl rookie, Vroom launched his IPO in 2020 and said it has seen a major increase as people have chosen to buy vehicles online instead of from a dealer. Although the company said it initially saw the disruption of its e-commerce operations due to the pandemic, consumer demand for used vehicles eventually returned to pre-emptive levels due to strong demand for e-commerce and contactless delivery.
“Especially in the early stages of the pandemic, some people were unable to physically reach a dealer because some of them had to close for obvious reasons,” said Peter Scherr, Vroom’s director of marketing. “We were an interesting alternative, a new one and an innovative one, which really captured the moment for consumers.”
The spot is part of a campaign with MDC Partners Anomaly. The campaign makes a comparison between the company’s offers and the traditional process of going to a dealer.
“There really isn’t a bigger stage in the world of advertising than the Super Bowl,” Scherr said. “We are delighted to reach a mass audience.”
Companies that perform well could very well launch themselves into the American consumer space.
“Some of these are companies that have grown significantly during the pandemic and are looking to take that momentum and use this Super Bowl moment as a launching pad to reach the next level of brand awareness,” said Lee Newman, CEO of US Interpublic Group MullenLowe “Traditionally, the Super Bowl has been a vehicle that has made this transition to becoming more of a household name, and this year will be no different.”
Consumers may be more attentive than ever to perceived insensitivity or act too cheerfully after a difficult year for the country. Many may be wrong to show how they were and can be valuable at this time, said Anjali Bal, a marketing professor at Babson College.
The topics will involve “this idea of union, how we survive the pandemic, how technology helped us in the pandemic, those kinds of things,” she said.
For those participating in this year’s Super Bowl, that decision can be a smart one in PR relations, as brands try to attract attention even if they are not in the game.
Coca-Cola said last month that it would not play a role in “ensuring that we invest in the right resources in these unprecedented times” and as it moves away from the financial impact of the pandemic. Pepsi said it is replacing its traditional Super Bowl advertising space with a new campaign to lead the break show with The Weeknd. And Budweiser, who will not be running a Super Bowl commercial for the first time in 37 years, is focusing on promoting vaccine awareness and distribution efforts.
But the PepsiCo brothers’ brands, including those in Frito-Lay’s portfolio, such as Doritos and Cheetos, are still in place. Also, other Anheuser-Busch InBev brands, such as Bud Light and Bud Light Seltzer Lemonade, will run spots.
“My perspective is that the headlines aren’t as drastic as the reality,” said Bill Wise, CEO of advertising software company Mediaocean. Budweiser, for example, gets a lot of attention because it doesn’t run an ad, he said. Wise also said that it seems that Bud is increasing its advertising spending before the game, including on digital channels.
“Complete those earned averages with higher paid averages, only in other types of media [outside] Super Bowl, “he said.” It could be argued that Budweiser is actually running an omni channel campaign better than anyone at the moment. “