Super Bowl ads go to comic catharsis

Many Super Bowl advertisers are also using celebrities, a standard strategy, no matter what is going on in the world. This year’s commercials show Amy Schumer selling Hellmann’s Mayonnaise; Michael B. Jordan incorporating Alexa for Amazon.com Inc .; Maya Rudolph as cowboys the size of four-room service buy now and pay later, Klarna Bank AB; a two-dimensional Matthew McConaughey launching Doritos 3-D Crunch; and Post Malone and Cedric the Entertainer promoting Bud Light, alongside advertising characters like Bud Knight.

In addition to the Doritos ad, PepsiCo Inc.’s

Frito-Lay is running a Cheetos ad that replicates Shaggy’s 2000 hit “It Wasn’t Me” with Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher and another multi-brand commercial showing Super Bowl stars fighting for their snacks.

“When we looked at the Super Bowl and were trying to understand what consumers are looking for, it was that moment of joy and relief,” said Rachel Ferdinando, senior vice president and chief marketing officer for Frito-Lay North America.

Certainly, not all advertisers are avoiding the tensions that defined last year.

Jeep is making a bleak two-minute announcement starring Bruce Springsteen and recognizing the division in the country. The last table shows the outline of the United States with the phrase: “To the United States of America”.

“I’m not shooting for funny or serious. I don’t care, ”said Olivier François, director of global marketing for Stellantis NV, the parent company of brands like Jeep and Chrysler. “I am looking for a lasting message.”

Advertisers have disbursed up to $ 5.5 million for 30 seconds of broadcast during this year’s clash on Sunday between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Kansas City Chiefs, hoping to take advantage of one of the few remaining TV events that reach a track of consumers at once.

This year’s game is the culmination of a season hit by the coronavirus, which forced interruptions such as the delay of a Thanksgiving game due to an outbreak in the Baltimore Ravens.

The game is yet to blow up other TV shows. Last year, it reached about 100 million viewers.

While attempts at humor have always dominated the Super Bowl ad list, commercials have historically covered a range of themes and tones, including serious and emotional approaches. This year there seems to be much less variation, said Tim Calkins, a clinical professor of marketing at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.

“Advertisers are reflecting our behaviors and the lives we are leading, but only in the most positive way,” said Prof. Calkins.

“Some of the ads that ran in the Super Bowl last year would never run this year,” he added, citing a Google ad in the 2020 Super Bowl that featured an older man who lost his wife and the emotional New York ad Life about love as an action.

The challenge for advertisers this year was twofold: selling their products and philosophies to a nation on the edge, but also standing out in a sea of ​​cheerful ads, executives said.

“There is more pressure this year,” said Eliza Yvette Esquivel, North America strategy director at the branding agency FutureBrand. “Human beings are tired of the onslaught of what has happened to us in the past 12 months, and there have been very few moments of eye union in which we have received any relief from it.”

Mountain Dew recruited actor John Cena for a fun Super Bowl ad, promoting his Major Melon flavor.

“A deaf brand is one that has no empathy for what the consumer is going through. We spent a lot of time on this, ”said Greg Lyons, director of marketing for PepsiCo Beverages North America, parent of Mountain Dew. “In recent years, with racial inequality, with politics, it’s been more difficult to make sure you’re getting the tone right, and Covid just added that.”

While most brands have avoided serious or overly emotional stories, some have tried to promote their social responsibility efforts while maintaining a sunny tone.

General Motors Co.

comedians Will Ferrell, Kenan Thompson and Awkwafina to deliver on their promise of new electric vehicles; the trio sets out to warn Norway that America will break its EV record.

Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc.

features a boy talking about how a burrito can change the world, based on “how we plant things, water and grow things …”

Chipotle planned a campaign this year that raises awareness of its eating patterns and support for farmers, but initially had no intention of buying a Super Bowl ad, said marketing director Chris Brandt.

When the network’s advertising agency, Venables Bell & Partners, showed him around, he changed his mind.

“We spent a lot of time on the tone of this place to fix it, not so seriously and depressingly, but a little bit of optimism and talking about what we think about agriculture,” said Brandt. “It looked like it was big enough, but it still had a cheerful tone.”

Some ads refer to the pandemic, but indirectly. Bud Light Seltzer Lemonade, for example, describes 2020 as a relentless storm of lemons falling from the sky, wreaking havoc on everyone’s life.

Other regular Super Bowl players are experiencing a spot this year. Budweiser said it would redirect part of the money it would have spent in the Super Bowl to vaccine awareness efforts. Coca-Cola and Pepsi are also out, although Pepsi continues to sponsor the halftime show.

Newcomers to the event include Kimberly-Clark Body

Huggies, Unilever PLC’s Hellmann’s and Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s.

Some of the newbies are doing well in business despite the pandemic and its roadblocks, including lawn care merchant Scotts Miracle-Gro Co.

, Mercari online market Inc.,

online car retailer Vroom Inc.,

Klarna, Fiverr International freelance network Ltd.

and rival online food delivery services, DoorDash Inc.

and Uber Eats.

Most have chosen to keep the pandemic out of their ads, but not all. Scotts Miracle-Gro, for example, acknowledged in its ad that backyards were “quite a year.”

Write to Alexandra Bruell at [email protected]