NEW YORK – The Latest on the ads of the 2018 Super Bowl (all times Eastern Time):
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8:15 p.m.
Fiat Chrysler is using the 50th anniversary of a Martin Luther King Jr. speech to sell trucks.
King’s voice rings out as the ad for Ram Trucks shows a series of ordinary people in acts of love. In his speech, King called on people to show greatness through kindness and service. The point? Ram’s tagline: “Built To Serve.”
The ad, which wasn’t released early, contrasted with the humor many other brands are going for.
Wendy’s took its ongoing Twitter snark against McDonald’s to the small screen. Its first quarter ad called out its rival for using frozen beef in most of its patties. Wendy got into it before the game started, tweeting at McDonald’s: “Who wants a Bread Mac?” That came minutes after McDonald’s aired an ad before kickoff.
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7:45 p.m.
Look for his coming on the first light of the fifth day, at dawn look to the East.
Oh no, that was Gandalf at the Battle of Helm’s Deep. The much-ballyhooed Bud Knight’s adventure turned out to be much different. More like that friend who’s always promising he’ll “try” to stop by for drinks after the “thing” he has later.
Bud Light is aiming to give impatient “Game of Thrones” fans their fantasy fix with a series of ads that follow a hapless medieval army that shouts the nonsensical phrase “Dilly Dilly” before battle.
They looked for his coming in the second quarter. Before halftime, they looked to the 60-second ad. But the Bud Knight blew off his military duties to have drinks with friends.
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7:30 p.m.
The Super Bowl isn’t the only sporting event in town. NBC will start broadcasting the Olympics just four days after the big game, so some Super Bowl ads are Olympics-related.
NBC is running five 60-second spots pregame, in game and postgame, each featuring an athlete’s Olympic story: skier Mikaela Shiffrin, snowboarder Chloe Kim, snowboarder Shaun White, figure skater Nathan Chen and skier Lindsey Vonn.
Meanwhile, Toyota has its own 60-second ad with an Olympics and Paralympics theme airing in the first quarter.
Some Super Bowl ads will pull double duty. For instance, Coca-Cola’s 60-second fourth-quarter ad that celebrates the diversity of its customers will also run during the opening ceremonies.
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7 p.m.
Just who are the 111 million viewers of the Super Bowl? According to Nielsen, the audience last year was almost evenly split between men and women — 53 percent and 47 percent, respectively.
But advertisers are again turning mostly to male celebrities. Charles R. Taylor, a professor of marketing at Villanova University, said his analysis of Super Bowl ads released in advance last week showed a roughly 2-1 ratio of male-female celebrities in principle roles — in line with past years.
The first exception came after the kickoff. Toyota touted its longtime Olympic and Paralympic sponsorship with the story of Canadian Alpine Skier Lauren Woolstencroft, a Paralympic gold medalist.
Later, Cindy Crawford will reprise her role for Pepsi in a nostalgic spot celebrating pop culture moments of years past.
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6:45 p.m.
Get ready to … chuckle gently.
This year’s Super Bowl ads feature celebrities galore and light humor. Marketers are trying their hardest to connect with viewers and entertain without offending. So Bill Hader will stack Pringles to create new flavors. Lexus will feature Marvel’s Black Panther. And Pepsi will show a lip sync rap battle between Morgan Freeman and Peter Dinklage.
Advertisers want to steer away from politics after a year of tumult. Many companies released ads online early in hopes of generating extra buzz since ads cost $5 million per 30 seconds. But there are still a few surprises left, with Fiat Chrysler, ETrade and Verizon yet to release their ads.
