The Super Bowl is the biggest single day in advertising, with companies this year reportedly spending $5.6 million for a 30-second spot during the game. To get the biggest bang for their buck, some advertisers leak teasers, or even the full ads, before the big game to start generating buzz.
There’s a lot at stake: The Super Bowl routinely draws more than 100 million viewers, making it one of the few major broadcast events to draw blockbuster ratings amid eroding viewership due to streaming services like Netflix.
The San Francisco 49ers will face the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIV on Sunday. In the advertising realm, the game will pit newcomers such as Facebook and hummus-maker Sabra against returning advertisers such as Pepsi and Avocados from Mexico.
The best Super Bowl ads go beyond humor or flashy content and strive to succeed from a marketing standpoint, experts say. Consider one of the best-known Super Bowl ads of all time, Apple’s “1984.” That spot combined a top-notch creative component, thanks to movie director Ridley Scott, as well as a strategic element that compellingly conveyed the brand’s message at the time. In the case of that ad, the message was that Apple’s new Mac would revolutionize computing. (It did, for the record.)
So what about this year’s mix of ads? So far, it’s clear there will be a political element, with presidential candidates including Michael Bloomberg and President Donald Trump buying airtime. Here are some of the ads that have been teased or released early.
Donald Trump’s re-election campaign
President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign will air two commercials during the game and released one of them prior to kick-off. Called “Stronger, Safer, More Prosperous,” the pre-released 30-second spot highlights what the Trump administration views as its strengths heading into the November election, including wage growth and an almost 50-year low in unemployment.
The social media company is making its Super Bowl debut with a 60-second ad and has released a teaser for the spot, which will feature Chris Rock and Sylvester Stallone. The teaser shows Rock launching a rocket, with the tagline, “Get Ready to Rock.” The spot will focus on promoting Facebook’s Group service.
Michael Bloomberg’s presidential campaign
Former New York City mayor and presidential hopeful Michael Bloomberg is also airing a political ad during the Super Bowl. The billionaire’s 60-second ad features Calandrian Simpson Kemp, whose son played and loved football but was shot due to gun violence. The ad will focus on Bloomberg’s record of fighting gun violence and his campaign pledges on the gun-control issue.
Hyundai
The Korean automaker is already getting attention for its humorous and star-studded ad for its new Sonata with remote smart-parking — relayed through Boston celebrities such as actors Chris Evans and John Krasinski, who lean heavily on their Beantown accents for humor. As the ad describes it, Hyundai’s “Smaht Pahk” is hoping to leave a memorable impression.
Rocket Mortgage
Quicken’s Rocket Mortgage told CBS MoneyWatch that it’s not pre-releasing its 60-second ad, but is releasing daily teasers this week leading up to the game. They depict action star Jason Momoa at home, including one where he reads a steamy romance in his bathtub. The mortgage lender said its teasers have been viewed more than 6 million times.
GMC Hummer EV
General Motors announced Thursday that it will start selling a battery-powered Hummer pickup truck in September 2021 — and as part of the debut, it will feature the new Hummer in a 30-second television ad with basketball star LeBron James during the second quarter of Sunday’s Super Bowl. The ad isn’t being pre-leased, but GM has released a few teasers ahead of the game that emphasize the vehicle’s “quiet revolution.”
Amazon
Amazon’s 60-second spot stars Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi as they leave their home, asking Alexa to turn down the temperature. They wonder what life was like before Alexa, leading to a montage of people through the ages struggling to find the news, turn down their home’s temperature and hear jokes.
Planters’ Mr. Peanut
Probably the highest-profile Super Bowl teaser is Planters’ spot for Mr. Peanut, which depicts the iconic character sacrificing himself (and presumably dying in a mountainside explosion) to save the lives of actors Wesley Snipes and Matt Walsh. But in light of Kobe Bryant’s death in a helicopter accident, the Kraft Heinz brand is taking a pause and considering its next step for the Mr. Peanut saga, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Doritos Cool Ranch
Doritos is tapping smash country-rap hit “Old Town Road” to persuade consumers to buy its Cool Ranch-flavored chips. The ad features Lil Nas X, Billy Ray Cyrus and actor Sam Elliott engaging in a dance battle in an old West-themed setting.
Walmart
The retail giant will air a 60-second ad in the first quarter of the game that highlights its pickup service. The commercial relies on well-known characters and icons from movies like R2-D2 and C-3PO from “Star Wars” and Buzz Lightyear from “Toy Story” to make the point that free pickup is available for everyone.
Snickers
The candy bar, making its sixth appearance in the Super Bowl in the past decade, takes a tongue-in-cheek approach by showing the inanities of modern life through a musical number. In the spot, people who are bewildered by grown men riding scooters and tech devices that listen to your conversations decide through song to dig a giant hole to feed the Earth a giant Snickers. “Maybe the world just needs a Snickers,” the ad says.
Avocados from Mexico
Avocados from Mexico, a return advertiser, is targeting perhaps the most avocado-friendly audience of the year: The fruit brand says more than 285 million pounds of avocados were imported into the U.S. from Mexico in the five weeks before the Super Bowl. Presumably many of those will be used in guacamole and dip for the big game.
The 30-second ad will air during the Super Bowl’s second quarter and features actor Molly Ringwald as an infomercial co-host selling ridiculous items for avocados, like helmets and suitcases.
Secret deodorant
Secret’s ad, airing during the pregame show, is designed to be a conversation starter. It shows spectators watching a player kick the football over the goal posts. After the player reveals herself to be a woman, the spectators are at first shocked, but then cheer louder. The commercial aims to “spark a dialogue about the possibility of women playing at football’s highest level – the NFL,” the company said in a statement. It stars U.S. soccer players Carli Lloyd and Crystal Dunn.
SodaStream
This ad, schedule to air before the third quarter, takes a humorous look at space travel and reducing plastic. Astronauts to Mars find water on the red planet, a discovery heralded by TV science guy Bill Nye. Not all goes smoothly, however, when another astronaut mistakenly carbonates the Mars water with a SodaStream and drinks it. The ad contains an environmental message, with the company stressing that its product eliminates plastic waste through its reusable containers.
Bud Light
The beer brand is asking fans to vote on one of two potential Super Bowl ads through January 30. Both feature rapper Post Malone as he processes the latest product —hard seltzer — from the company. Fans can vote for their favorite on social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Below are the two ads, #PostyStore and #PostyBar.
Heinz
The ketchup maker is taking a novel approach to its Super Bowl ad, directed by Roman Coppola, who developed the TV series “Mozart in the Jungle” and is the son of film director Francis Ford Coppola. The commercial shows a four-way split screen depicting a quartet of nerve-wracking situations, such as meeting a partner’s parents for the first time. The stories merge when all four find Heinz ketchup served with the meal, easing the tension.
