How 2020 trends came through in this year’s Super Bowl ads
Sporting events don’t come much bigger than the Super Bowl, the annual championship game of the National Football League (NFL). Since 2004, the game has been played on the first Sunday of February, and millions (even billions) of fans from around the world tune in to watch the US spectacle — myself included.
Whilst I’m a huge sports fan, I never really got into NFL, but I do love the Super Bowl — mainly because of the euphoric circus that takes place off the field. So whilst Brady was busy winning his 7th Super Bowl ring, I was more engrossed in what the brands were doing during the ad breaks, and even on the sidelines.
The ad space during the Super Bowl will set a brand back roughly $5.5m+ for 30 seconds, so it’s no wonder why every year there is so much hype around the commercials. And given this investment, it’s common for brands to try to extend their campaign, with many launching teasers or even longer-form content in the days leading up to Super Bowl Sunday.
But Super Bowl LV (55) was going to be very different to previous years — with everything that has happened over the past 12 months, especially in the US, I had been watching with bated breath over the past week to see how brands positioned themselves and how they would frame the message they wanted to share. As expected, a lot of different themes made an appearance as brands tried hard to integrate the trends, topics and feelings emerging from today’s climate.
This year, it wasn’t all about the in-game ads
Many iconic brands synonymous with Super Bowl adverts decided not to get involved in this year’s game, instead choosing to donate the money to help those in need. The likes of Budwiser, Pepsi and Coca Cola were all absent from the ad breaks. But one advert stood out to me, and it came from home improvement retailer Lowes. Even without an ad spot, the brand was still front of mind across every advert, as viewers listened out for the word ‘home’ during the breaks because Lowes committed to donating home renovations to frontline workers (the real heroes of 2020) every time the word was mentioned in another ad. Lowes was active throughout the game, pushing out influencer content and doing a live count (in case you’re wondering: the word ‘home’ was mentioned 13 times throughout the game).
Ok, now onto the in-game ads.
No Way Norway!
MG combined celebrities, humour, patriotism, competitiveness and social purpose into their ad, which promoted their commitment to electric vehicles.
Let’s just focus on happiness, says Michelob
In a year that has brought us a lot of misery, beer brand Michelob decided to focus on the feeling of happiness over winning. Using a range of sporting celebs, it promoted the notion of taking joy from the whole game, not just the end game — something we can all take a lesson from.
Nostalgia for the (sh)win(g)
UberEats put happier times at the forefront of their campaign by reuniting legendary duo Wayne and Garth in the studio basement of Wayne’s World to really take the p*ss out of Super Bowl ads. Party on UberEats!
Let’s grab a beer
In a year that has resulted in cancelled weddings, rising unemployment, and no holidays (to say the least), Anheuser-Busch created a brand ad to encourage everyone to ‘grab a beer’. This simple social pastime encourages everyone to talk it out, so here’s a powerful yet subtle message about mental health!
If life gives you lemons
Influencer Seth Philips, AKA ‘Dude With Sign’, was enlisted by Bud Light to promote their Seltzer range as an in-game broadcast integration. The simplicity of this is brilliant, and really taps into influencer culture. This was of course integrated with a TVC, that compared the events of 2020 to Lemons.
Come together with M&M’s
Super Bowl stalwarts M&M’s picked up on cultural trends to make a heartwarming and humorous ad with people apologising and passing on the kindness by way of M&M’s.
And, my favourite from Super Bowl 2021…
…Stop feeling flat!
2020 has been a tough year, and Doritos nailed the balance of context and humour with their ‘Flat Matthew’ ad starring the iconic Matthew McConaghey, all to promote the launch of 3D crunch, their new product range.
So, in conclusion…
…That’s it for 2021. We’ve seen a lot of different approaches from the brands we love, all trying to cut through the noise in their own unique way after one of the most challenging years we’ve ever seen. Amongst it all, aside from celeb integration, the themes that stood out for me this year were nostalgia, positivity and togetherness — reflecting what we’re all craving at the moment.
There were 50+ ads created for Super Bowl LV, so if you want to check out more, head to this playlist to watch them all.
