Super Bowl Ad Round-Up
It’s that special time of the year again when all of us at the Adam Brown Social Command Center get to gather ‘round the TV and watch Patrick Mahomes slay the Super Bowl.
From Taylor and Travis (Tayvis?) to the new Hellmann’s mayonnaise cat, we have plenty of themes to discuss from ads that kept us glued to the couch and the overtime play everyone is calling “rigged.” Here is your Super Bowl 2024 round up:
Around 10:20 pm February 11, 2024, when overtime was starting for Super Bowl LVIII, people had posted about it on social media. A lot. Like, more than 1 million times. Those posts had 7.14 BILLION impressions. The posting peaked around 8 pm:
What topics dominated conversation? Unsurprisingly, Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift made their way into an otherwise normal keyword grouping:
What countries talked about the game the most? Obviously, America is invested, as are our English-speaking friends, but who could have seen Sri Lanka being the fourth most-interested country?!
Much will be written about the game, but what about the ads? With ads costing an average of $7 million this year, a lot is on the line for some of these brands. Let’s take a look at some of the good, the bad…. And the confusing.
Mountain Dew Baja Blast
Aubrey Plaza starred in the ad for Mountain Dew’s new flavor. In her classic deadpan, seemingly emotionless expression, she claims to be “having a blast” in a variety of non-exciting and non-fun circumstances. The spot gets a fun cameo from one of her old “Parks and Rec” co-stars.
On social media the reaction was very positive and prolific— with more 46,000 mentions, almost all of which were positive:
DunKings
Several teasers and promos have appeared on social media featuring Ben Affleck getting hyped for SOMEthing…and now we get to see what it was for. He appears with several other famous Boston-ites (Tom Brady, BFF Matt Damon…and Jack Harlow and Fat Joe?) to crash a JLo’s recording session in the music studio. It was pretty funny, very absurd, and only slightly cringe (which Damon acknowledges).
Dove: It’s a hard knock life
Exciting news for Super Bowl fans and advocates of female empowerment alike—Unilever’s Dove is making a comeback to the big game after an 18-year break! Their ad is set to spread positivity with a focus on encouraging young girls to stay active in sports.
Featuring a catchy rendition of “It’s A Hard Knock Life” from Annie, the commercial showcases girls competing in various sporting events while addressing the alarming statistic that 45% of girls drop out of sports by age 14 due to body image issues.
While sparking important conversations about empowering girls, the ad does receive some mixed feedback, with both positive and negative sentiments surfacing around its execution.
Statefarm: Like a good neighbaaa
State Farm’s Super Bowl commercial brings together legendary duo Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito for a hilarious reunion!
Schwarzenegger stars as the comedic hero Agent State Farm but encounters a humorous hiccup when he hilariously mispronounces the company’s familiar slogan as “neighbah” instead of “neighbor.” While the ad aims for laughs, it also faces criticism for potentially toeing the line with caricature, particularly in the context of such a high-profile event like the Super Bowl.
You can check out highly negative sentiments on #AgentStateFarm.
Hellmann’s Versus Reese’s
Mayo fan or not, you’ve got to admit the Hellmann’s Super Bowl commercial featuring a talking cat was classic. The ad featured weird Barbie (Kate McKinnon) touring around with her talking pet cat that could only say one word, May-ow.
Within the food category of Super Bowl ads another commercial had us LOL’ing at the TV. Reese’s always tends to knock it out of the park whether it’s their chocolate making or sense of humor. The ad followed the reactions of a group of Super Bowl watchers (not unlike us) reacting to their new caramel Reese’s peanut butter cup.
Both ads are worth a watch but also left us wondering, which brand reigned supreme in terms of garnering social media attention? Check out the graphic below made with Sprinklr analytics:
It turns out that Hellmann’s was mentioned more frequently online with a higher rate of positive sentiment from content creators. However, Reese’s had significantly more reach across social media platforms, so who is the real winner here?
All I know for sure is that I will absolutely be trying the caramel Reese’s cup the next time I stop at a gas station and need a little treat. I will also continue putting Hellmann’s in my cart and mayo on my sandwiches, just not in my coffee.
Super Wicked Ad
Musical theater fans UNITE. The highly anticipated “Wicked: Part One” teaser trailer aired at the start of #SBLVIII giving fans a peak at Hollywood’s take on the classic musical. Starring Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, the first screening of the trailer garnered a whopping 118,000 mentions across socials and reached over 707 million feeds within the first hour after its debut.
Fans had plenty to say in response to the ad, as displayed in the Sprinklr graphic below, comments were mostly comprised of various combinations of “OMG.”
“Wicked: Part One” arrives in theaters Thanksgiving 2024.
That’s all we’ve got for this year’s Super Bowl round up. Let us know your thoughts or if you think we missed any other iconic ad moments. Until next year we will be patiently waiting and making confetti angels wearing our red and yellow. Go Chiefs!
