The Los Angeles Rams may have taken home a big “W” over the weekend. But as football’s biggest night being one of the “most-watched events” in the United States, marketers everywhere were playing their own game of which commercials reigned supreme. With networks charging up to $7 million for a 30-second ad spot, let’s take a look at a few themes coming out of this year’s advertisements.
Surprisingly there was little to no mention of the pandemic, COVID or even masks seen on screen. In fact, most of the ads were light-hearted in nature and focused on entertainment value alone. With this in mind, our PR agency summed up Super Sunday’s commercials into three major themes: Introducing the Past, Present and Future as told by the commercials:
The Past: Reminiscing on Nostalgia
With a heavy focus on bringing a nostalgic element to this year’s commercials, we thought a few brands seamlessly wove their messaging into classic concepts.
Rocket Mortgage connecting the Barbie dream home to the current housing market was playful and extremely well done.
General Motors successfully rebranded Dr. Evil to be the new spokesperson for EV and green tech – highlighting the climate change crisis while pledging to make 30 new electric vehicles by 2025 in its ad.
With this year’s continued focus on EVs (a trend we saw stemming from CES 2022), Chevy's reunited the Sopranos kids to become the “next generation of electric vehicles.” Tying these iconic characters to the future of green tech made for a memorable commercial.
The Present: A-list Celebrities Galore
With the big game returning to Hollywood this year, anyone who’s anyone in Tinsel Town seemed to have made an on-screen appearance. Don’t get us wrong, celebrity power can add to a brand’s ability to get noticed and we appreciate reading ScarJost’s mind with Amazon and reminiscing with comedy duo/friends Seth Rogen and Paul Rudd for Lays.
However, we felt the idea of “ensemble casts” to be sometimes distracting to a brand’s bottom line. For example:
Eugene Levy, Catherine O’Hara, Brie Larson, Danai Gurira, and Dave Bautista for Nissan
Trevor Noah, Nicholas Braun, Jennifer Coolidge, and Gwyneth Paltrow for Uber Eats
Rashida Jones, Leslie Jones, Tommy Lee Jones, and Joe Jonas for Toyota
The Future: Cryptocurrency can be for everyone
We enjoyed the glimpse into the future from cryptocurrency companies. Both Coinbase and FTX captivated audiences with simple and relatable content with the goal of introducing crypto to the mainstream and making it more attainable for the masses.
We thought the classic DVD loading screen ad from Coinbase was simplistic, yet effective. Running for just about a minute, it was oddly hypnotic and got us all curious about what the QR code led to. Not to mention was a nod to die-hard fans of The Office (IYKYK).
FTX, a cryptocurrency exchange, was borderline genius to enlist comedy icon, Larry David, to convey the relatable question: “is cryptocurrency really here to stay?” This message was well-received comparing the currency to that of the invention of the dishwasher and MP3 player.
Thanks for tuning in to the insights from our advertising PR agency coming out of 2022’s biggest night for football, we think all of the marketing professionals can agree that the most action happened during the time-outs! Which ads stood out to your agency teams? And why?
– Maggie Stasko, Senior Account Executive