Norm-bending Rihanna, dogs, EVs, nostalgia, humor, odd pairings (and some football in there) scored the extra PR points, according to the Kite Hill PR team.
The 113 million viewers who tuned into Super Bowl LVII this year got more than a thrilling Chiefs vs. Eagles match-up. This annual sports-and-pop culture event is also the apex of the TV advertising world, and this year, it was an increasingly rare display of pure brand storytelling. While not all the spots hit the mark, many ads airing during the Big Game extracted every bit of value from each spot’s reported $7 million media price tag. The real winners in our book made the most of their investment with campaigns that built news value to keep brand awareness high and consumers chattering for weeks and months to come.
So which Super Bowl moments scored extra points by displaying the most news or social media value?
Rihanna Rocked
Not an ad, but our team agreed that the fearless (and, it turns out, pregnant with her second child) Rihanna was right up there with Chief’s winning quarterback Patrick Mahomes when it came to impact. In fact, her stunning performance at the halftime show reportedly drew a bigger audience – 118 million – than the game itself. Her adgile nose-powdering moment was a boss organic/earned media move from the Fenty founder, too. “Rihanna made a powerful statement that pregnancy doesn’t have to mean fragility, it can mean strength and power,” said Kite Hill PR founder and CEO Tiffany Guarnaccia. “As a woman founder and mother, I appreciate and welcome the message and the dramatic and positive change in attitudes around pregnancy.”
CelebBowl?
Brands that sought to stand out by stuffing multiple celebrities into their spots was a definite trend. Famous faces – appearing as themselves or resurrecting a fictional character – was a SBLVII trope likely intended to get added audience from earned media buzz. From the Bennifer/Dunkin spot (we expect #getmeaglazed to trend, stat) to John Travolta reviving a number from “Grease” (this time, the target of his affection was T-Mobile’s 5G and not Sandy) and Maya Rudolph putting her own questionable, quirky (and clammy) mark on M&Ms. Not to mention A-Listers like Paul Rudd for Heineken, Diddy for Uber One, Will Ferrell fronting GM’s Electric Vehicles, Serena Williams and Brian Cox in a Michelob Ultra homage to “Caddyshack,” Steve Martin and Ben Stiller for Pepsi Zero Sugar and more.
Free to Be, B2B
In addition to deep-pocketed consumer brands, this year’s crop of advertisers included a few B2B brands. A fave of one Kite Hill PR team member was Workday’s “Rockstar,” featuring real rockers like Ozzy Osbourne, Joan Jett, Kiss’s Paul Stanley and Gary Clark, Jr., gently reminding corporate execs who the real rockstars are. Another dark horse that caught our attention was from the B2B tech brand Crowdstrike, whose clever retelling of the Trojan Horse tale explained how their cybersecurity solutions ward off threats. We’ll be watching the post-game impact on this brand and hope Crowdstrike has earned media and thought leadership plans to keep the buzz and top-of-funnel attention going long after this week.
#MadeUsLook
As for the Kite Hill team, ads that featured pets, resurrected TV and film stars and a stunt that #madeuslook tickled our funny bones, tugged our heartstrings, and may actually drive us to spend on those brands. One runaway fave was The Farmer’s Dog ad, which packed several life-stage moments into 30 seconds. One Kite Hill team member said, “No celebrities or a lot of dialogue required for this sentimental ad that pulled on the heartstrings. I don't even have a dog, but I would 100% use this product!”
Tubi Takeover
Given our expertise in adtech and CTV, it’s not surprising that Tubi’s trifecta of spots, including a stunt-y program “takeover” rated highly. “The Tubi prank was effective! Their ad took enough of my attention that I physically looked up from my phone and asked my fiance why he was changing the channel!”, said one of our team members. “It totally re-centered me and brought my attention back to the big screen. And we talked about Tubi for a few seconds after the ad ran, and even considered if we should add it to our streaming roster.”
It’s All About EVs
And finally, our growing green tech and cleantech practice group favored three spots highlighting electric vehicles (EV), including GM’s partnership with Netflix, in which the streamer is pledging to insert EVs into its programming, Jeep’s “Electric Boogie,” and Ram’s pharma ad send-up “Premature Electrification.” Great to see major automakers and media companies putting resources behind climate-forward initiatives that deserve earned media attention.
Our team didn’t completely track on AdAge’s top 5, but we did appreciate the publication putting energy into scoring spots for DE&I considerations and salute them for prioritizing how brands are incorporating diversity, equity and inclusive talent and concepts into spots.
So along with Rihanna and The Chiefs, the brands that really made a mark as advertisers in one of the biggest media stages in the land were those that not only packed in production value and bold-faced names but took the long view and incorporated themes and creative that struck a nerve. These are the ads that will keep the media noticing and audiences engaged and chattering in the months ahead.
- Jeanne Meyer, Chief Client Officer