TAMPA (AP) – The latest news on Super Bowl ads. (All times EST.)
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20:00
Most brands that have money to spend on Super Bowl ads are already household names, but the big game is also a chance for the beginning to make a big splash.
This is what the CEO of the Swedish oatmeal manufacturer Oatly tried to play with himself in an advertisement. “Wow, wow, no cow,” sang Toni Petersson, chief executive, as he played a keyboard in a grain field.
The bizarre song and non-professional singing got a mix of plaudits and brickbats on social media, which was apparently the point. Moments after it aired, the company began promoting a T-shirt with the words, “I absolutely hated that Oatly ad.”
‘If you’ve just seen our CEO sing in an oatmeal during the big game, we can not give you back those thirty seconds, but we can give you a free t-shirt that lets the world know where you stand In our effort to promote Toni’s singing skills to a wider audience, ‘the company said in a tweet.
Another lesser known brand, dr. Squatch, too, promoted himself with a bizarre ad, but hired comedian James Schrader to lead the conversation. ___
19:15
General Motors used humor in a Super Bowl ad to promote its ambitious effort to get more Americans to buy electric vehicles.
GM has set itself the goal of making the vast majority of the vehicles it manufactures electric by 2035, and the entire company carbon-neutral five years later.
When actor Will Ferrell finds out that Norway has more electric vehicles per capita than the US, he embarks on a crazy journey across countries with singer and actress Awkwafina and comedian Kenan Thompson to show off GM’s new electric car battery soon will be available to everyone.
The Cadillac brand from GM also has an ad that appears later in the game, inspired by the classic movie “Edward Scissorhands” from 1990 that hawks a hands-free feature for its electric SUV, the Lyriq.
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07:00
The Super Bowl ad DoorDash tackled the nostalgia and used Sesame Street’s Muppets to convey the message that DoorDash can deliver goods to local stores, not just restaurants. ‘Hamilton’ actor Daveed Diggs gives the ad a bit of pizazz, with a poignant rendition of the children’s song ‘People in Your Neighborhood’ turning into a rap.
DoorDash is one of more than 20 Super Bowl advertisers launching for the first time this year, taking the leap after taking advantage of a shift toward home delivery while people went home during the pandemic. DoorDash’s first-quarter ad enlisted the help of characters, including Cookie Monster, Big Bird, and Grover, to convey the message that DoorDash can be used to pick up local store items such as paper towels.
The director of the ad was directed by “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”, Michel Gondry.
“Over the past year, we have expanded our business into new categories,” said Kofi Amoo-Gottfried, vice president of marketing. “It made sense to use the Super Bowl as a moment to communicate this message given the range of audiences we can talk to.”
This is not the first time Diggs has worked with Muppets – he appeared in Sesame Street sketches in 2017.