The mood on the field was tense during the Super Bowl, while the Tampa Bay Buccaneers pulled the Kansas City Chiefs. Off the field, brands have sought to ease the tension of the game – and of the year – with light commercials filled with nostalgic stars and characters.
They aimed to connect with about 100 million viewers who tune in to the Super Bowl show each year.
Cadillac updated the 1990 classic film “Edward Scissorhands”, M&M recruited Dan Levy to show how an M&M bag offered as an excuse can help people get together. And Will Ferrell teamed up with GM – and Awkwafina and Kenan Thompson – on a cross country line to promote electric vehicles.
Perhaps the most striking effect: Virtually none of the ads featured people in masks, a public health priority, but also a bleak reminder of the ongoing pandemic.
With so many bright spots, advertisers who took a different approach were more likely to be remembered. Jeep aired a two-minute ad in the second half of the game, starring Bruce Springsteen, urging people to find a common ground. Oatmeal maker Oatly has chosen to become weird.
“The tireless flow of cheerful commercials has made it difficult for any of them to really stand out,” said Northwestern University marketing professor Tim Calkins.
FOR THE PURPOSE OF ENTERTAINING
In an effort to be easy, advertisers filled their ads – and sometimes too much – with celebrity ads.
Cadillac enlisted “Call Me By Your Name” actor Timothée Chalamet to portray Edward Scissorhand’s son enjoying Cadillac Lyriq’s hands-free “Super Cruise” technology. Winona Ryder revised her role in the classic 1990 move as her mother.
Other commercials combine celebrities with humor. Rocket Mortgage took on comedian Tracy Morgan to show the family why being “pretty safe” doesn’t reduce it in situations like eating questionable mushrooms, skydiving and taking out a mortgage. State Farm showed Paul Rudd and Drake as commercial stand-ins. And Hellmann’s comedian, Amy Schumer, as “Fairy Godmayo,” who helped a man cope with his wreckage.
POLICY ACHIEVEMENT
Most of the ads were moving away from politics, but there were a few notable exceptions.
Fiverr has taken into account that his announcement will include Four Seasons Total Landscaping, the scene of an infamous Rudy Giuliani press conference during last year’s tumultuous elections, raising the question of whether the advertisement will be political or not.
He didn’t. Instead, the “cheek” announcement was more about how small businesses can thrive with Fiverr. He introduced the owner of Four Seasons Total Landscaping, Marie Siravo, about how to build a successful business with Fiverr.
But the strongest political statement of the night came from Jeep’s two-minute announcement with Bruce Springsteen. Even though he believed that the leader had urged people to find a common ground, the very idea of ”unity” in this controversial election year became polarizing.
“It’s no secret that the middle has been a hard place lately, between red and blue, servant and citizen, freedom and fear,” Springsteen sings, adding “we need the middle.”
FCA marketing director Olivier Francois said it was worth taking a serious ad to create a “healing” ad that would be remembered long after the game. “There’s a division and Bruce wants to do one thing, talk to the common ground,” he said in an interview with the Associated Press. “He doesn’t take a position, left or right, blue or red, the only position he takes is the middle.”
“It’s about where we are now as a country and our need for ‘common ground,'” said Vann Graves, executive director of the Brandcenter at Virginia Commonwealth University. “Clearly, this is not a new approach, but in the current climate, it is an effective and necessary one.”
But Brooks Brasfield, 28, watching the game in Nashville with his wife, said the tone of the Jeep commercial was too political for him.
“I like Springsteen and lovely ads like this in general, but he feels too forced given the current political climate,” he said.
Going for the weird
Oatly Milk Company aired a surprise announcement that showed its CEO playing with the keyboard in an oat field that his product is like milk, but not milk.
It wasn’t a success with 24-year-old David Simmons of Louisville, Ky., Watching the game with his two roommates and his girlfriend.
“It was shockingly strange, I couldn’t really focus on the next commercial,” he said. “It simply came to our notice then. I drink all kinds of milk, but I will not drink Oatly. ”
But Kim Whitler, a professor of marketing at the University of Virginia, said the ad “is likely to stand out because it’s very different,” she added, “it will raise awareness because of the size of the Super Bowl audience and it’s clear about what is – and it’s weird. It could work for the target. ”
MORE DIVERSITY
Many ads this year featured a diverse distribution, from Amazon’s two-black Alexa ad to the Indeed ad with a wide range of real-life job seekers. Mercari included a couple of mixed races in its ad, and WeatherTech showed a diverse workforce of its real employees.
Elsewhere, Hellmann’s commercial with Amy Schumer as the “GodMayo fairy” featured a black lead, and DoorDash’s commercial with “Hamilton” star Daveed Diggs singing and dancing in a neighborhood populated by Muppet. Although it’s hard to quantify how diverse the announcements were this year, it’s certainly a long way from 2013, when there was a shout-out after an announcement from Cheerio featured a couple of mixed races.
“It’s the right thing to do and it’s a good deal,” Graves told VCU. “Consumers are now asking to be reflected in the brands they spend money on.”