The Super Bowl is just around the corner — and things look a little different this year. In the wake of widespread economic uncertainty, advertisers are taking extra measures to optimize their investments, mitigate risk, and catch the attention of massive audiences.
How has economic hardship affected this year’s roster? Last year, crypto made its infamous debut in Super Bowl advertising, but considering its downfall in 2022, it is unlikely we will see any crypto coins in attendance. Another significant change is that brands that sell big-ticket items like cars have pulled out from their regularly scheduled advertisements. BMW, Carmax, Carvana, Nissan, and Toyota will not be in attendance this year.
Sponsorships have gotten a major switch up this year as well. Anheuser-Busch has ended its 33-year deal with the Super Bowl which means the floodgates are open and other alcohol brands are pouring through. Likewise, longtime sponsor, Pepsi will not be sponsoring this year’s halftime show. Apple is taking over and hosting none other than music legend, Rihanna, for their debut production.
30-second spots were reportedly sold within the $6-7M ballpark. Participating advertisers are taking extra measures to ensure their commercials hit big by activating beforehand on social.
Let’s take a deeper look at how brands are stretching their marketing dollars and building anticipation on social media prior to the big bowl game.
The Chance to Dance with Jack Harlow
Doritos is legendary for its comical and creative Super Bowl commercials. The company has a long history of offering audiences opportunities to participate in the creation of its advertisements. This is a brand that listens to its consumers.
In 2006, they ran a campaign called “Crash the Super Bowl” where audiences were asked to submit commercial ideas and one would be selected to air during the big game. Basically user-generated content before user-generated content was a thing.
This year, they’ve launched the TikTok dance challenge under the hashtag #DoritosTriangleTryout. The winners of the competition will appear in the Super Bowl commercial alongside musical newcomer, Jack Harlow.
TikTok ignited full-blown fandom for Jack Harlow when his song “First Class” became a viral video sound in a matter of days. The song went live on March 31st, 2022. Within a week, over 50,000 TikTokers had used the song to make their own videos. Charli D’Amelio helped to boost Harlow’s climb to the top when her video using the song reached 24.2M views in 10 days. Now, Doritos is going after fans of the rapping heartthrob!
Doritos announced their Super Bowl dance competition on TikTok on January 9th. The initial dance video features TikToker @vibin.wit.tay who has 6M followers and won 121M views in December ‘22. In the grand scheme of things – this creator would not be considered a ‘mega creator’. In just 10 days, #DoritosTriangleTryout has earned 5.9B views across 246k videos on TikTok.
Takeaways:
1. Doritos leans into its tried and true methods for engaging its consumers by asking for their participation creative participation in campaigns.
2. Partnering with TikTok-made stars like Harlow and @vibin.with.tay ensures the success of the campaign on the platform. Marketers are finding that creators have more success on their native platforms than being inserted into other platforms and mediums.
3. The two-prong approach to Super Bowl marketing ensures that dollars spent on game-day commercials stretch as far as possible.
The $10M Field Goal
If you want to create buzz, you launch a social video campaign prior to the big game… If you want to create an explosion, you put up a $10M bet that will be determined live during the game.
Sports betting site, FanDuel, has bet $10M that ex-NFL tight end Rob Gronkowski won’t kick a field goal during their commercial space. If he does, all game betters on the site will win a portion of the pot.
“Our first-ever Super Bowl commercial will be more than just a television spot – it will create a moment that will bring fans together, and give them something to collectively cheer for. It’s an unprecedented field goal attempt on live TV…so anything can happen.”
FanDuel Executive Vice President of Marketing, Andrew Sneyd
To activate on social, FanDuel is bringing audiences along as Gronk trains for this historical Super Bowl moment. In under a week, the announcement has won over 115k views across Twitter & YouTube. While these two platforms are serving the FanDuel campaign well, other platforms aren’t showing such a strong viewership turnout.
Takeaways:
1. FanDuel brings sports betting into the mainstream (literally) by entering their first live Super Bowl commercial.
2. Not only does this create a buzz across platforms, but also encourages users to create accounts, log on, and spend money before the event ever goes off.
3. Different platforms appeal to different audience demographics and interests. FanDuel is meeting online sports viewers where they already hang out.
What to Consider When Choosing the Right Strategy for Your Brand
We suspect just as many eyes will be on phone screens throughout the Super Bowl game as on the television screen. This changing media landscape and the looming economic uncertainty have caused many long-time Bowl advertisers to pull out or question the true value of these ads.
Marketers and decision-makers have a lot to consider when it comes to deciding how and where to invest. Brands like Doritos and FanDuel have employed creative strategies to better target their customers and stretch each marketing dollar as possible.
While boosting a Super Bowl ad on social media is best practice, many of the usual brands like Taco Bell, BMW, Toyota, and Vroom are sitting this year out, while others are running social-only ads.
Here are factors marketers should consider when evaluating strategies:
1. Who is your target audience? Younger audiences spend much more time on social platforms, and many of them don’t have cable at all.
2. Is the economic climate right? In times of scarcity, big-ticket items are less likely to sell.
3. Are social ads outperforming Super Bowl ads? Chief Social Officer at Mekanism, Brendan Gahan, told Marketing Brew that an advertiser could run 37 branded hashtag challenges for the price of a Super Bowl spot in 2020.
Best practices for media and marketing are always evolving because we as a culture are always evolving! Those who work in the industry are faced with the challenge of keeping pace with constant changes and having foresight into what’s next.
At Tubular, we are committed to empowering thought leaders with the best social insights money can buy so you can outsmart your competition and stay ahead of the curb with ease.
Check out our predictions for what’s to come in 2023. If you’re not already tapped in with Tubular, it’s time — set up a demo, completely free, today.