Super Bowl ads go to Comhar Catharsis

Many Super Bowl advertisers also use celebrities, a standard strategy, no matter what happens in the world. This year’s commercials show Amy Schumer selling Hellmann’s T-shirt; Michael B. Jordan playing Alexa for Amazon.com Inc .; Maya Rudolph as a four-quarter-size cowboy for later Klarna Bank AB’s purchase and payment service; a two-dimensional Matthew McConaughey throwing Doritos 3-D Crunch; and Post Malone and Cedric the Entertainer promoting Bud Light, along with commercials such as Bud Knight.

In addition to the Doritos ad, PepsiCo Inc

Frito-Lay is running a Cheetos ad that repeats Shaggy’s hit 2000 song “It Wasn’t Me,” starring Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher, and another multi-brand commercial featuring Super Bowl star players fighting for his snacks. .

“When we looked at the Super Bowl and tried to understand what consumers were looking for, it was this moment of joy and release,” said Rachel Ferdinando, senior vice president and marketing director of Frito-Lay North America.

Certainly, not all advertisers avoid the tensions they defined last year.

Jeep launches a grim two-minute ad with Bruce Springsteen and recognizes the division in the country. The last frame shows the US sketch with the expression: “To the United States of America”.

“I don’t think it’s funny or serious. I don’t care, ”said Olivier Francois, global director of marketing at Stellantis NV, a parent company for brands including Jeep and Chrysler. “I’m shooting for a long message.”

Advertisers coughed up $ 5.5 million for 30 seconds of airing during this year’s Sunday game between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Kansas City Chiefs, hoping to take advantage of one of the few remaining TV events that reaches a lot of consumers simultaneously.

This year’s game is the culmination of a season hit by the coronavirus, which forced interruptions, such as the delay of a scoring game scheduled for Thanksgiving due to an outbreak on the Baltimore Ravens.

The game is still expected to blow other TV shows out of the water. Last year, it reached about 100 million viewers.

While attempts at humor have always dominated the Super Bowl ad list, historically the ads have encompassed a range of themes and tones, including serious and emotional approaches. This year, there seems to be much less variation, said Tim Calkins, clinical professor of marketing at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.

“Advertising agencies reflect our behaviors and the lives we lead, but only in the most positive way,” said Prof. Calkins.

“Some of the ads that ran in the Super Bowl last year will never run this year,” he added, citing a 2020 Super Bowl ad for Google that featured an older man who lost wife and emotional publicity of New York Life about love an action.

This year’s challenge for advertisers was in two directions: to sell their products and philosophies to a border country, but also to stand out in a sea of ​​advertisements that feel good, the directors said.

“There’s more pressure this year,” said Eliza Yvette Esquivel, director of strategy for North America at brand agency FutureBrand. “Human beings are tired of the attack of what has happened to us in the last 12 months and there have been very few moments with a united eyeball in which we have been offered relief from this.”

Mountain Dew recruited actor John Cena for a playful Super Bowl commercial that promotes its Melon major flavor.

“A brand with a deaf tone is one that has no empathy for what consumers go through. I’ve spent a lot of time on this, “said Greg Lyons, marketing director for Father Mountain Dew, PepsiCo Beverages North America.” In recent years, with racial inequalities, with politics, it’s been harder to make sure you set the right tone. , and Covid just added that. “

While most brands have shunned serious or overly emotional stories, some have tried to promote their social responsibility efforts while maintaining a sunny tone.

General engines Co.

comedians Will Ferrell, Kenan Thompson and Awkwafina enlisted to fulfill their promise to use new electric vehicles; trio aims to warn Norway that America will break its EV record.

Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc.

features a boy talking about how a burrito can change the world, based on “how we plant things, water things and cultivate things …”

Chipotle planned a campaign this year to raise awareness of its food standards and support for farmers, but initially did not intend to buy a Super Bowl seat, said marketing director Chris Brandt.

When the chain’s advertising agency, Venables Bell & Partners, showed him the place, he changed his mind.

“We spent a lot of time on the tone of this place to correct it, not so seriously and depressingly, but a little optimism and talking about what we think about agriculture,” Mr Brandt said. “I felt it was big enough, but it still had a good, light tone.”

A few commercials refer to the pandemic, but in an oblique way. Bud Light Seltzer lemonade, for example, describes 2020 as a relentless storm of lemons in the sky, wreaking havoc on everyone’s life.

Other Super Bowl regulars are on the scene this year. Budweiser said he would redirect some of the money he would have spent on the Super Bowl to vaccine awareness efforts. Coca-Cola and Pepsi are also distributed, although Pepsi continues to sponsor the show at the break.

Among the newcomers to the event is Kimberly-Clark Body

Huggies, Unilever PLC’s Hellmann’s and Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s.

Some of the first steps come with strong business performance, despite the pandemic and its blockages, including Scotts Miracle-Gro lawn care dealer Co.

, Mercari online marketplace Inc.,

Vroom online car retailer Inc.,

Klarna, independent network Fiverr International Ltd.

and rival online food delivery services DoorDash Inc.

and Uber Eats.

Most have chosen to keep the pandemic out of their advertisement, but not all. Scotts Miracle-Gro, one, admitted in his ad that the backyards were “quite a year old.”

Write to Alexandra Bruell at [email protected]