With an average audience of over 100 million people and a cost of $5.6 million per 30 seconds, Super Bowl advertisements are often a very expensive, high profile annual snapshot into the American psyche. The absence of the New England Patriots from this year’s big game allowed people in our area to focus even more on the ads than usual, and the ads offered some insights that nonprofits and socially responsible companies can apply to their work.
- Positive ads are effective. According to Ad Age, ads with a positive cultural impact message are on the rise, from 5 percent of the ads in 2015 to more than 15 percent in recent years. Carnegie Mellon Professor Joy Lu, who was quoted in a Wall Street Journal article, said that people remember positive experiences better. This is something organizations should bear in mind when shaping their messaging.
- Super Bowl ads can be a powerful fundraising tool. The high visibility of a Super Bowl ad can shine a light on worthy organizations. Instead of using his 30 seconds to promote his product, WeatherTech’s founder and CEO David MacNeal made an emotional fundraising appeal for the University of Wisconsin veterinarians who saved his dog. According to Wisconsin station WMTV, the school has already received thousands of dollars in donations since the ad went viral last week. The ad is a great example of the power of using a personal story to move the needle.
- Going against statistics can make you memorable. The majority of Super Bowl ads are aimed at men. According to AdWeek only 27 percent of Super Bowl ads feature women. Procter & Gamble got positive attention by swimming against the stream with their ad about an all-female group of astronauts. It had the added bonus of increasing awareness and funds for Girls Who Code by pledging to donate $1 to the organization for each viewer who responded to it on Twitter.
- There is no escaping politics in an election year. President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg spent $11 million each on campaign ads to take advantage of the national audience. Bloomberg’s campaign ran a 60 second ad after halftime, while the Trump campaign had two 30 second ads – one that ran during the game and the other just after it was over. According to Vox, it’s the first time presidential campaign ads were bought for the national broadcast.
- Change when appropriate, even if it’s the last minute. A tremendous amount of planning goes into Super Bowl ads and nonprofit campaigns, but companies and organizations have to be both aware and flexible enough to respond when circumstances change. Planters wisely modified the marketing of its ads about the crash / death of their beloved mascot Peanut, after the tragic death of Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna and seven others, which took place just a week before the Super Bowl. Doing anything but switching course would have lacked awareness and sensitivity.
Just like a Super Bowl ad buy, it takes a lot of strategy, planning, creativity and effort to make a public relations or marketing campaign work for a nonprofit or socially responsible company.
