This was posted on Tuesday, January 31, 2017 by Rodney Ho on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog
I don't normally do much with Super Bowl ads unless there's a direct Atlanta tie but this year, with the Atlanta Falcons in the mix, I'm going to do a broader take on the advertisements themselves. (No Atlanta-based companies are partaking this year, by the way. SunTrust spent the bucks a year ago but chose not to return.)
Companies are reportedly paying Fox up to $5 million per ad in hopes of reaching more than 100 million viewers any given moment. There are about 70 slots available during the game.
To maximize exposure, marketers are less and less likely to "surprise" viewers on Super Bowl Sunday. Rather, they are often releasing ads or "trailer" teasers of ads in advance in hopes to capture buzz on top of those 30 seconds. We in the media play into the interest by writing about the ads, which are usually a mix of maudlin and humorous, with celebrity names thrown in for good measure.
Here are a few ads already out there. Budweiser is a perennial and their ads frequently top the "favorites" list every year.
This one below focuses, coincidentally or not, on the immigrant experience, which also includes a little xenophobic comment as the founder of Budweiser enters the United States from Germany. "You're not wanted here!" some dude says to him. "Go back home!" But he stays and creates Budweiser.
Snickers is trying something different: shooting its ad "live" during the game itself featuring actor Adam Driver ("Star Wars," "Girls"). Here are a host of teasers:
Skittles is going for humor, too, and this one's amusing, with a gopher thrown in for good measure. It's already received 3.5 million views as of Tuesday evening:
Intel smartly hired Patriots quarterback Tom Brady for an ad before knowing he'd be in the Super Bowl:
84 Lumber's first Super Bowl spot was created by Atlanta's Brunner:
SquareSpace, a website builder, blog platform, hosting service and domain name registrar, hired John Malkovich:
GoDaddy, another web domain registrar, is back again and going for animal humor though this is all a big tease:
Website developer wix.com decided to turn their ad into an action scene in a restaurant featuring "Wonder Woman" actress Gil Gadot and "Expendables" star Jason Statham.
Kia hired Melissa McCarthy. This is a pure teaser:
TurboTax reaches for Humpty Dumpty and you can guess what happens to poor Humpty:
Mr. Clean decided to get into real good shape:
Peter Fonda returns, in a sense, to "Easy Rider" land for Mercedes-Benz:
If you like avocados and miss Jon Lovitz on "Celebrity Apprentice," this is for you:
Steve Carell stars in a Honda ad. Here's the teaser:
Lexus has already released a dance-themed extended version of what will air on Sunday featuring Sia's "Move Your Body":
Febreze positions itself right after halftime and right before Lady Gaga for a reason:
T-Mobile yuks it up with Justin Bieber, Rob Gronkowski and Terrell Owens:
Tide hired Jeffrey Tambor and Rob Gronkowski (again?) - for contrast purposes. This is the teaser:
Wendy's tries for humor in its first Super Bowl ad in a half century:
Top Games promotes its game Evony with actors Aaron Eckhart and Jeffery Dean Morgan ("The Walking Dead").
KFC is using Rob Riggle and Billy Zane dressed as Colonel Sanders. Teaser:
WeatherTech opted for action using actual employees. A teaser:
And here's a cute King's Hawaiian ad. This is the first time the roll company has opted for the Super Bowl:
Persil is using Bill Nye the Science Guy:
Sprint mocks how desperate people are to get out of their Verizon contracts:
According to Ad Age's Super Bowl ad tracker, Tiffany & Co. has hired Lady Gaga for an ad while other advertisers include Buick, Audi, Hyundai, Wonderful Pistachios, Bai, Busch, Fiji Water, It's a Ten Haircare, and Wealthsimple.
Some advertisers from last year who are skipping out this time: Butterfinger, Doritos, Heinz, Mini USA, Taco Bell, Toyota and Visa.
