It’s that time of year - SUPER BOWL! But aside from the food, and the bidding pools, and the washing of game day gear (or not if you have that gross “it’s-lucky-so-you-can’t-wash-it” thing going on), it is also time for…the COMMERCIALS!
I love Super Bowl commercials. It’s game time for ad agencies and brands to show that their 30 second spot is actually worth the millions of dollars it takes it put it all together.
With the change of social media and how our world interacts with brands also comes the change in how agencies are choosing to approach game day. What’s the main goal of an ad during the Super Bowl? Attention. Every company wants their ad to be the one that everyone is talking about, tweeting about, reblogging, and liking on YouTube. So why confine that all to the few seconds allowed on Sunday? More and more brands are choosing to launch snip its of their commercials early - teasers, story builders, interactive websites, etc. All in the hopes that it will create the invaluable online buzz it needs to take their brand to the edge during and after the Super Bowl.
“Content is the wood, media in all of its forms is the gasoline. Launching early is the match.”
Rae Ann Fera writes a great article on Co.Create, talking about why pre-game content is a “winning Super Bowl strategy”. While it’s not the most revolutionary idea, it is an interesting read about how advertising has changed over the years and how companies need to adapt to it.
Want a teaser yourself? Check out some of the commercial spots here.
A few personal comments:
1. The Taco Bell one made me laugh. Mostly for the song.
2. Audi’s made me smile. It’s described as “the entire third act of a 1980s John Hughes movie condensed into a single minute” so at the very least, it’ll just make you smile at a relateable yet overdoneteen moment
3. Watching these commercials made me realize that car commercials…can be about absolutely anything
4. Coca Cola does a fun teaser ad in which viewers can vote for how the commercial can end on game day. Plus, they have a whole page dedicated to this with additional story builders for the final commercial. Coca Cola has always been great in using social media to interact with people and it does a great job for the Super Bowl.
5. Doritos - babies and puppies!
6. Allstate - you tired of the Mayhem commercials? Well this is the most epic mayhem commercial yet. I do hope this is the end to their mayhem series though.
7. Pepsi and Sodastream. They are fighting a battle against the beloved CocaCola commercials but I hope their actual commercials are better than these teasers. Beyonce is suppose to be in the actual Pepsi commercial so looking forward to see what they do with her. Also, maybe it’s the fact that I would never use Sodastream as a product and also because their teaser has been airing on TV for quite some time now but…boring.
If you’re really into Super Bowl Commercials - check out this site for not only this year’s teasers, but commercials from year’s past!
