Consumers are likely to see something different when they join the Super Bowl this Sunday: a bunch of advertisers they’ve never seen before at stake, many of whom have grown their businesses during the pandemic over the past year.
A growing list of newcomers will shell out about $ 5.5 million for a 30-second ad to show their good. Among them: trading app Robinhood; freelance worker platform Fiverr; online food delivery company DoorDash; used car dealership Pious; resale platform Mercari; horticultural supplier Scotts Miracle-Gro; work website Indeed; online betting company DraftKings; restaurant chain Chipotle; Kimberly-Clark’s Huggies; and Hellman’s mayonnaise brand, owned by Unilever. And more will emerge as the game approaches this weekend.
Some pillars like Coke, Pepsi and Budweiser do not want to buy the traditional advertising time in the game.
Companies advertising during this year’s games run the risk due to the coronavirus pandemic. Derek Rucker, who teaches advertising strategy at Northwestern University Kellogg Business School, said that brands that are too serious can be seen by consumers as a weakening, but that it can go too far in the other direction. be counterproductive.
“There is a possibility that consumers may not really want it if you are so irrelevant and so disconnected,” he said. “The stakes are high and some brands will get it right, and I want to see how they get it right.”
Some of the newcomers were helpful to consumers at home during the pandemic. For example, the DoorDash ad contains “Sesame Street” characters who highlight items such as paper towels (or, yes, cookies) that they can deliver. The company offered more convenience items, household supplies and other health and wellness products during the pandemic last year, when people tried to limit their grocery shopping trips.
Scotts Miracle-Gro said the Super Bowl ad was intended for the momentum it gained during the coronavirus pandemic, CEO Jim Hagedorn told CNBC on Wednesday.
“We gained about 20 million new customers in Covid last year, and the goal is to retain them and grow the market,” Hagedorn said on “Power Lunch.”
Hagedorn added that the Super Bowl is a way to reach those people and persuade them to stay.
“The Super Bowl is an excellent platform for the big, breakthrough messaging for a business,” said Jim Nail, chief analyst at B2C Marketing. In a year like this, it could mean, ‘How is the brand relevant in a world caused by pandemics?’
Nail said Indeed is following this route and expects Fiverr to do the same in their ads. The former said it would be the place to look for work in a challenging market if people were in economic distress. Fiverr’s ad discusses how small businesses had to turn their businesses digitally to survive, and how Fiverr’s freelancers could help.
Gali Arnon, head of marketing at Fiverr, said it was an ‘important year’ for the company.
“Around the world, freelancers [are] joined our platform due to the situation, due to the pandemic and due to the high unemployment rate around the world, ‘she said.
In place of Mercari, a couple is seen receiving two popcorn makers as gifts, then showing them while listing one on Mercari, and then showing it in his new home. “Buy or sell almost anything online from home,” reads the voice-over.
Mercari’s US CEO John Lagerling told CNBC that the company began to see an increase in business in the spring.
“People wanted to turn unused goods into cash, and had to manage their finances,” he said. On the other hand, they wanted to ‘blow out or optimize’ their spaces while at home with used items.
In a normal year, people may have turned to Craigslist or old-fashioned garage sales to find or get rid of old items, but many people have tried to limit contact. And Lagerling said Mercari is a way for them to do that.
And because of the pandemic, roommates in real life and a couple were thrown into the ad rather than strangers pretending to live together or get married. The company worked with Rain the Growth Agency on the ad.
Another Super Bowl starter, Vroom, launched his IPO in 2020, saying he sees huge growth as people prefer to shop online rather than at a retailer. Although the company said it initially sees disruption in its e-commerce operations due to the pandemic, consumer demand for used vehicles has finally returned to pre-Covid levels due to strong demand for e-commerce and contactless delivery.
“Especially in the early stages of the pandemic, some people could not physically reach a dealer because some had to close for obvious reasons,” said Peter Scherr, marketing officer at Vroom. “We were an interesting alternative and a new and innovative one that really grabbed the moment for consumers.”
The mockery is part of a campaign with MDC Partners’ Anomaly agency. The campaign contrasts the offer of the company with the traditional process of going to a dealer.
“There really is no bigger stage in the advertising world than the Super Bowl,” Scherr said. “We are excited to reach a mass audience.”
Well-performing companies can launch their stuff into the mainstream of American consumers.
“Some of these are companies that have grown significantly during the pandemic, and they want to take the momentum and use this great Super Bowl moment as a starting point to reach the next level of brand awareness,” said CEO Lee Newman. from the agency Interpublic Group MullenLowe US ”Traditionally, the Super Bowl has been a tool to make the transition to a more household name, and this year it will be no different.”
Consumers may be closing in more than ever for perceived insensitivity or acting too cheerfully after a difficult year for the country. Many are likely to wander to show how valuable they were and can be at this time, said Anjali Bal, a marketing professor at Babson College.
Themes involve ‘this idea of togetherness, how we survive the pandemic, a kind of how technology has helped us in the pandemic, things like that’, she said.
For those playing out this year’s Super Bowl, the decision could be a PR-wise decision, as brands are trying to get attention, even if they are not.
Coke said last month that he would not have a place in the game to ensure we invest in the right resources in these unprecedented times, and because it has the financial impact of the pandemic. Pepsi has said it is replacing its traditional Super Bowl ad slot with a new campaign to lead its breakout program with The Weeknd. And Budweiser, who will not be hosting a Super Bowl ad in the game for the first time in 37 years, is focusing on promoting vaccine awareness and distribution efforts.
But brothers and sisters of PepsiCo, including those in the Frito-Lay portfolio, such as Doritos and Cheetos, are still going strong. Similarly, other Anheuser-Busch InBev brands, such as Bud Light and Bud Light Seltzer Lemonade, will take place.
“My perspective is that the headlines are not as drastic as the reality,” Mediaocean CEO Bill Wise said. Budweiser, for example, gets a lot of attention for not offering an ad, he said. Wise also said Bud appears to be increasing its pre-game advertising spending, including on digital channels.
‘They supplement the earnings media with more paid media, only in other types of media [outside] the Super Bowl, “he said.” One could argue that Budweiser is currently campaigning around the channel better than anyone else. “