Wix Whets Super Bowl Appetite with Star-Studded Ad

Since debuting its Super Bowl spot in 2015, website builder Wix.com has enjoyed continuous success showcasing its web development capabilities. 

And this year is no different - in fact, this year's offering boasts appearances from mega stars Jason Statham and Gal Gadot.

shots caught up with the brand's CMO Omer Shai to find out how the team approached this year's concept, why these celebrities were most suitable for the job and the reason they decided to launch the spot initially on Facebook Live/YouTube Live - giving fans the chance to win $50,000 on Game Day.

Tell us about the results of your campaign at last year’s Super Bowl; did you see an increase in business after the spot(s) aired?

We saw outstanding interaction with our campaign last year (below). After the game, we were ranked #1 in online views of the campaign and saw strong results in brand recognition and new sign ups. Dreamworks and Kung Fu Panda were great partners throughout. Overall, we were really impressed with engagement so returning to the Super Bowl for a third time was an easy decision.

How did you approach this year’s Super Bowl idea and was there a certain pressure to outdo and do something completely different to your previous two spots?

This year, we wanted to tell our own story and really focus on our users. Jason Statham and Gal Gadot, who feature in the campaign, are global action heroes but the real star of the campaign is our user – represented as Felix The Chef. Throughout everything that happens to his business during the trajectory of the campaign, he stays calm and adapts. Wix enables him as a small business owner and makes it easy for him to succeed - even in this disruptive world.

Why did you decide that YouTube Live and Facebook Live were the best platforms to launch the campaign? And what led to you deciding on a multi-channel approach?

Like our campaign, we like to be disruptive as a company. Over the last year, we’ve expanded how we’ve used live video on social media and have been impressed with the engagement we’ve seen so far. We enjoy using these platforms because they allow us to talk directly to our audience and include them in what we do. We communicate with over 98 million users around the world and are always looking for new and innovative ways to connect.

At what stage did you bring Louis Leterrier on board and why did you think he was the right man for the job?

We brought him in as the creative direction took shape as he was a natural fit for our action-packed campaign. From his work on The Incredible Hulk and the Transporter films, Louis brought a certain expertise and creativity to bring the campaign to the next level.

You’ve worked with NFL players and animation stars in previous years. Why were Jason Statham and Gal Gadot the right celebrities for 2017’s campaign and how did you find working with both of them?

We wanted to show the disruptive world our users live in and how Wix is ready to help them to meet all of their challenges, no matter what the size. As international action stars, they bring energy and excitement into the campaign and are a good match for the calm and focused Felix, who really stands out as the star. They were fantastic to work with and through their roles, we have created a campaign that resonates with our international audience.

What were the biggest challenges of putting the spot together and when did you actually begin working on the project?

We decided almost immediately after the last Super Bowl to continue for a third year. This is the first time that we’ve completed the campaign without a partner or agency, and we’re excited to tell our own story that focuses on our product and users. Our fantastic internal creative and broadcast teams create hundreds of videos per year, and we use what we learned from them to inform this campaign.

How valuable can the Super Bowl and its advertising opportunities be to a brand?

It is an honour to be part of the Super Bowl platform. It gives us the opportunity to be involved with the biggest and most watched event of the year – globally. The advertisements have taken on a life of their own and are always the talk of the town the morning after the game. It aligns us with the top brands of the world and lets us tell our story to a giant audience. Being a Super Bowl advertiser is not limited to the spot but provides a launch pad for an integrated campaign that extends both online and offline. This allows us to be part of the conversation for an extended period of time and to reach a broader audience through multiple touchpoints. Not to be forgotten, it’s fun and our customers love it as much as we do!