Commercial Competition: Who Won the Game Off the Field?
On Sunday night, under the bright lights of State Farm Stadium, viewers tuned in as the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles faced off. An estimated 113 million viewers watched Super Bowl LVII. Of those viewers, many kept a close eye on the showdown off the field – the 2023 Super Bowl commercials.
Captivated viewer attention comes at a high cost. Traditionally, advertisers can spend up to $7 million for every 30 seconds of airtime during the game. With a cost this high, it’s no surprise that many brands chose to team up this year in hopes of cutting costs while still securing a coveted commercial spot.
Although we continue to see a rise in airtime costs during the Super Bowl each year, advertisers are still willing to spend. Brands of all sizes put forth their best efforts, hoping to leave a lasting impression of their brand in the minds of consumers. Popular celebrities can help win the audience’s attention, but can the high cost outweigh the effectiveness?
“The best Super Bowl ads are the ones that recognize the power in the diverse, multi-generational, extremely engaged audience. Connecting to an audience this broad is hard, but variety ends up being the most valuable tool at your disposal,” said Planit’s Jed Jecelin, “Take the collaborative ad from Netflix and GM, featuring Will Ferrell. He traveled through a bunch of different Netflix shows in a GM electric vehicle, enabling them to reach multiple segments of the broad audience.”
We look forward to the Super Bowl every year. Everyone loves an exciting game and endless rounds of buffalo chicken dip, but as advertising experts, we really love the commercial chatter the next week.
How did our thoughts stack up? See below:
Tubi’s Interface Interruption
“At the Super Bowl party I attended, there was hardly any focus on the commercials, and I couldn’t hear or follow along with 90% of them. Tubi’s Super Bowl prank was the only spot where all party attendees stopped what they were doing to see what had happened. It was the only memorable commercial I watched, and it is still generating lots of coverage following last night’s Super Bowl. It’s a good case study for advertisers to realize that much of your audience may be distracted and may not even be paying any attention to what you’re trying to sell. Making the commercial more interactive for viewers was a brilliant idea.” – Harry H.
Google’s #FixedOnPixel
“I loved the music in this spot. They did a great job highlighting the benefits I would get as a user of this product. The entire time I was wishing it was going to be for the Apple iPhone (what I currently have).” – Liz B.
Pepsi Zero’s Real or Acting
“I love when brands don’t take themselves too seriously and play into the bit. We all know the people on screen were paid to tell us the product is good – it was refreshing to see Pepsi call this out and challenge the audience to ‘try it for yourself.’” – Susana W.
Downy Unstopables’ Call me Downy McBride
“Overall commercials relied too much on celebrities to carry the humor/power of the message instead of building an actual idea.” – Scott S.
M&M’s Spokescandies
“M&M’s is such an iconic brand, and with the announcement and ‘politics’ surrounding not using the candies as spokespeople – I expected more, or was this a PR stunt gone wrong? Not sure, but this was a huge fail from this iconic brand that could have been spun better.” – Alicia A.
FanDuel Kick of Destiny
“So lame – it felt like an afterthought with all the hype up from commercials” – Rebecca B.
Based on feedback from our Planiteers, brands should aim to make a connection, be interactive, and have the most significant impact on a viewer. Sometimes that can be through a celebrity cameo, other times a collaboration between brands. Whatever brands choose to bet on during the big game, we’ll be watching.