Stuart Elliott: Will Ads During the Big Game Be Super?

quotDonald Trump39s Election Puts Super Bowl Advertisers on Tricky Playing Fieldquot according to Variety Advertising Age wondered quotSuper Bowl or Trump Bowlquot Because advertisers and agencies like to borrow interest from important news events the better to draw attention to their pitches it wouldn39t be surprising if some spots refer in some way to the new administration and our new normalAnd why not If you say quotLIquot aloud it39s pronounced quotliequotThe question though is how to handle any topical touches Should there be appeals to heartland values nodding to Trump39s support among white workingclass voters in Rust Belt states One major sponsor AnheuserBusch InBev has decided to advertise for the first time in any Super Bowl a lowerpriced beer brand Busch that39s popular in those marketsOn the other hand Trump lost the popular vote indeed a majority of voters cast ballots against him There have been huge turnouts for antiTrump protests Brands agenciesamp160and agency holding companies are speaking out against Trump39s immigration policies And novels warning against authoritarian regimes such as It Can39t Happen Hereamp160and 1984amp160are climbing up bestseller lists All that suggests celebrating Trumpian values may be a mistakePerhaps Apple could score points by reviving its famous 1984 Super Bowl commercial quot1984quot which presented the Macintosh computer as a weapon to fight Orwellian oppression Just change the voiceover to say quotAnd you39ll see why the next four years won39t be like 39198439quotThere39s also an opportunity for a timely shoutout by the marketing organization for Mexican avocado growers which already has bought time during Super Bowl LI Avocados from Mexico are among the products that would be affected by a 20 border tax proposed last week imagine the huge buzz in social media if the growers decided to end their spot with the hashtag quotResistquotOvert political messages however could face the wrath of the standards and practices department at Fox which is broadcasting the game because the NFL and the networks that carry its games frown on controversial issues being addressed in commercials One Super Bowl advertiser a chain named 84 Lumber was sent back to the drawing board by Fox which rejected its spot depicting a giant border wallThat could have been a stunt to generate publicity because previous Super Bowl advertisers like GoDaddy have made hay by urging viewers to quotwatch the ad they didn39t want you to seequot amp160But that card has been played so many times that brands doing it now when consumers prize transparency may sufferIn fact says DC Vito Executive Director of the Lamp an organization that seeks to help youth parents and educators develop skills in media and advertising literacy he39d quotlike to find a brand open to creating a transparent adquot which would be upfront about its selling tactics and strategiesThe Lamp is sponsoring on Sunday its sixth annual Break the Super Bowl a free event with the participation of the Manhattan Early College School for Advertising where students can learn about how and why commercials are created and then remix actual ads as they39re broadcast during the game For the first time the event is being sponsored by an ad agency Badger ampamp Winters and will be held at its offices at 261 Fifth Avenue in ManhattanIn keeping with an initiative by Badger ampamp Winters to help end the industry39s objectification of women in ads under the rubric quotWomenNotObjectsquot Break the Super Bowl will ask participants to look for spots that use quotobjectification of genderquot as a ploy Vito says whether it39s men or women being stereotypedIt seems as if quotyou can39t show a smart or ambitious womanquot in a spot quotwithout having a man who39s dumbquot he addsAs for advertising in a Trumpian world quotit goes without saying that the political climate offers a wonderful opportunity to talk aboutquot the similarities between how marketers and Presidents communicate Vito says and quotI39m sure it will find its way into the conversationquot at the eventOne reason quotwe believe what we seequot on TV says Mark Popkiewicz CEO of Mirriad which works on brand integrations with marketers content owners and distributors is because thanks to decades of watching live big events such as the Super Bowl we have become accustomed to believing that quotthe camera lens puts us in the halo of truthquotBut in a new world of alternative facts and alternative media the Super Bowl may be becoming quotthe swan song of a traditional advertising medium the peak for traditional advertising storytellingquot he addsStill the Super Bowl remains valuable to advertisers because it quotprovides a framework for gladiatorial content and sellingquot Popkiewicz says offering viewers choice content a football game and a battle among sponsors where they can quotenjoy the winner at the expense of the loserquotYet because quotthere39s always a loserquot he adds the Super Bowl can turn out to be quotan expensive incursion into a space where someone may findquot fault with a commercial and that criticism may be anathema to marketers who typically believe quotit39s all about controlling the messagequotquotCorporations generally speaking aren39t bravequot Popkiewicz says and quotbrands have gotten hurt on Super Bowlsquot For instance in 2015 the CMO of Nationwide Insurance left not long after the company was widely castigated for a commercial during Super Bowl XLIX that was so dreary and downcast it was condemned as quotthe dead boy adquotEven so the huge audiences for the Super Bowl and the potential benefits that a hit commercial can bring mean that every year there are brands among them some Super Sunday rookies willing to take their chances in the arenaquotWe thought the investment could be worth it and it was worth itquot says Susan Johnson CMO of SunTrust the Atlantabased bank that introduced a campaign called the onUp Movement during Super Bowl 50 last year amp160SunTrust spent three years preparing for the campaign she adds intended to encourage consumers to quotlight the way to financial wellbeingquotIt was quota tremendous opportunityquot Johnson says but at the same time quota tremendous responsibility being a firstyear advertiserquotquotThere39s no question it39s a serious decisionquot she added quotThe gravity of that was not lost on mequotA gamechanger so to speak is the technology that now enables Super Bowl advertisers to measure much more effectively the results of their efforts quotIn the first minutes there were 20000 visitorsquot to the onUp website Johnson says and after the game the commercial was quottied for No 1 in social sentimentquotquotI kid about not knowing what to expectquot as a Super Bowl firsttimer she adds so before the game quotwe went across the road to our friends at CocaColaquot a company that has been buying time in Super Bowls for decadesAmong the advice was to make sure that SunTrust39s information technology infrastructure would withstand the demand after viewers saw the commercial39s quotcall to actionquot Johnson says adding quotThe IT team whiteknuckled it through the game But it held upquotA year later SunTrust has drawn more than a million people to the onUp campaign The bank isn39t advertising on Super Bowl LI Johnson says but is quotdoing a lot of promotionsquot tied to its hometown team in the game the Atlanta Falcons SunTrust also is quotthe official bankquot of the teamquotI39ll definitely be watchingquot she addsAmong the marketers buying Super Bowl LI commercials in addition to Avocados From Mexico and 84 Lumber are Audi Bai General Motors for Buick GNC GoDaddy Honda for the CRV Hyundai with a commercial that will be produced in real time during the game and run just after it ends Intel It39s a 10 Haircare Kia for the new Kia Niro Lexus for the LC 500 coupe Mars for Skittles and Snickers the latter to be shown live MercedesBenz for the AMG GT roadster PepsiCo for a new brand Lifewtr and Pepsi Zero Sugar Persil ProClean detergent sold by Henkel Procter ampamp Gamble for Febreze Mr Clean and Tide Sprint Squarespace TMobile TurboTax from Intuit WeatherTech Wendy39s Wixcom and the Wonderful Company for Fiji water and Wonderful pistachiosAlso AnheuserBusch InBev in addition to advertising Busch beer is going to run spots for Bud Light Budweiseramp160and Michelob UltraClick the social buttons above or below to share this story with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this article are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated bloggersamp160

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Stuart Elliott: Will Ads During the Big Game Be Super?

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