How Valuable is a Super Bowl Ad?

Lovable celebrity? Check. In a script that makes him or her seem like a regular person like the rest of us? Check. Longer format for web and shorter version for the Super Bowl itself? Check. Online pre-release/tease? Check. 

Yes, a Super Bowl best practice is here. And to date, it’s fail-safe. The question is, when does best practice become what everyone else does, and in turn, less effective?

The Super Bowl is a great moment to bring the world together to watch and talk about ads. Yes, there’s the addition of second screen, social, content, etc. The problem is that the silly checklist I wrote above represents seemingly more than 50% of the ads. From Alec Baldwin to Jerry Seinfeld to Amy Schumer to Matthew Broderick, many brands and agencies are just trying to make funny ads with celebrities, rather than doing what we’re trained to do – zig when everyone else zags.  

Not to mention the Super Bowl ambushers like Newcastle Brown Ale who release unofficial “Super Bowl” ads – which by the way had a lovable celebrity in a script that makes her seem like a regular person like the rest of us. I should confess at this point, I love many of these ads as a creative and will be very jealous of them.

Back to the problem though. How do you stand out from all that to be truly breakthrough and memorable beyond Super Bowl week? Because we’ll only remember five of the 80 spots. Well, you can guarantee moderate success with the best practice, or you can risk it and go a different way. In recent years, I think about Chrysler’s Halftime in America (below).

But it’s not just serious ads. Terry Tate’s Office Linebacker and Little Darth Vader both took approaches that were very different. That said, with millions of dollars on the line, I understand the pull towards a more proven approach. 

As with any medium, category or special event, the work needs to be founded on great insight and produced brilliantly, but also to ensure that we are standing out from everyone else. I’ll be watching to see who does that the best. But then of course, laugh out loud at whatever Amy Schumer does. She’s funny.