The New Innovative Methods of Super Bowl LVII Advertising

Image Courtesy: azsuperbowl.com

Taking on the challenge of advertising in the Super Bowl can be very risky, but just as rewarding. The commercials of Super Bowl LVII have been criticized throughout the media for not living up to the revolutionary work of the past. Although the strength of this year’s commercials can be debated, there is no question that new advertising tactics were on display throughout the event.

QR Codes:

One of the most notable characteristics of this year’s Super Bowl commercials was the frequent use of QR codes. This new craze began last year with Accenture Song’s Super Bowl commercial for Coinbase of a bouncing QR code. The Super Bowl is typically an opportunity for agencies to pull out their most elaborate ideas, yet this minimalist commercial was able to direct over 20 million people to their website in the span of one minute. Their achievement resulted in Accenture Song winning the Grand Prix prize in 2022. This year, several companies such as Bud Light, Limit Break, and Avocados from Mexico followed suit and had commercials featuring QR codes. 

QR codes are a great way to replace a call-to-action statement enticing audiences to visit a website or social media page. Especially in a space such as a Super Bowl television spot, agencies have to fight for the limited attention spans of their energized audience. QR Codes uniquely combat this problem since viewers do not have to read a line of copy. Instead, they just scan a code and it does all the work for them. There is also an element of mystery that tempts people to scan. Most people might not know where the QR code will take them, and will scan out of curiosity. 

Accenture Song revealed the success of using this tool which launched the popularity of QR codes in the Super Bowl LVII commercials. As a result, they are likely to continue to be popular in ads going forward. 

Tubi “prank”:

The extremely popular social media platform TikTok was flooded with viewer’s reactions to Tubi’s Super Bowl commercial (thinking that someone had changed the channel). Agencies have been trying to implement social media into their advertising strategy for some time now. Tubi took this challenge a step further by ingraining their commercial in social media culture without evening mentioning a single platform. Their Super Bowl commercial “pranked” sports fans across the country sparking a cross-platform conversation. 

This resulted in outrage from the more passionate sports fans, and their anger was typically targeted toward a certain member of the gathering (Tik Tok). While this response was very comedic, it resulted in a huge increase in brand recognition for Tubi. Comedy is a very common trope of Super Bowl commercials, but the genius of this example is that the commercial itself was not funny at all. The success instead stemmed from the emotions of the audience after the fact, and their decisions to share their experiences with each other. 

Personal Branding:

Lastly, it would not be fair to talk about advertising in the Super Bowl without mentioning the iconic work of businesswoman Rihanna. The artist performed for the first time in eight years, and to the surprise of many was not paid a single dollar. You may be asking yourself why any artist would perform for free. Well…there are several benefits to performing for an audience of around 192 million viewers. For example, after Lady Gaga performed in 2017 she gained a 1000% increase in song sales. 

While it is almost guaranteed that Rihanna would see an increase in her song sales as well, the entrepreneur took the opportunity to support her other business endeavors, such as her make-up brand Fenty Beauty. During a short break in her setlist, Rihanna was seen quickly applying setting powder from a product donning her classic Fenty Beauty packaging. Though it was featured for seconds the product was recognized by millions. In only 12 hours following the performance, Fenty Beauty saw a $5.6 million increase in sales. Although advertising is typically seen in the breaks between plays during the Super Bowl, Rihanna did not waste the opportunity for free publicity to advertise her brand.

With companies being billed millions of dollars for their Super Bowl commercials, the stakes are high to produce results. Regardless, even the most “forgettable” spots are viewed by an insurmountable number of people. Furthermore, taking risks is the way to stand out from the competition and innovative methods are proven to be rewarded.

Paige Yoskin