Indice dei contenuti per January 28, 2019 in Adweek

There was a time when bone-crushing hits, acrobatic touchdowns and being the 12th man for the home team were enough to spur ticket sales, but the bar is much higher for sports fans today. That’s in part because consumer electronics are so much better—you can sometimes even see blades of grass on high-definition TVs—but also because watching a game from home reduces cost, eliminates traffic, provides easy access to stats for fantasy football, and on-screen features like the first-down line and instant replays help fans follow the action. In fact, in 2014, 35 percent of consumers had attended a sporting event in the last six months—by 2017, that number stood at just 27 percent, according to a Gartner study—and that number is expected to drop further. “Millennials are becoming new…

A beer brand touting its disaster relief efforts. A car brand supporting gender equality. A vacation rental company pushing for diversity. Recent years have seen a rise in the number of brands aligning themselves with causes, a trend that has found its way into advertising’s biggest night—the Super Bowl. Brands backed a cause in just 6 percent of Super Bowl ads a decade ago. Today it’s about a quarter of all spots, according to Charles Taylor, professor of marketing at the Villanova School of Business. With the chance to reach massive audiences, companies like Airbnb, Audi and Budweiser have used the Super Bowl to align their brands with causes viewers care about. And for good reason: A new study by Accenture Strategy found 62 percent of consumers surveyed want brands…

In the fall of 2009, Snickers came to BBDO with two big challenges: an ambition to create a Super Bowl spot that would score high in the USA Today Ad Meter (the one poll that mattered back then) and a long-term task to rejuvenate the brand, one that was iconic and loved but forgotten in the minds of many consumers. To satisfy both needs, we knew we needed an idea that felt fresh and breakthrough enough for the Super Bowl yet delivered a core message that didn’t stray from the equity of Snickers. For us as a team, this was our first Super Bowl brief, but we had always agreed on what Super Bowl spots we found most inspiring: the ones that used the time-tested, crowd-pleasing tricks (celebrities, physical comedy,…

While endorsing products is hardly new territory for NFL stars—remember that breakthrough Noxzema ad with Joe Namath and Charlie’s Angels star Farrah Fawcett that aired during the 1973 Super Bowl?—the league hasn’t offered any official coaching on how its players can be better marketers. Until now. NFL chief marketing officer Tim Ellis is embarking on a first-time off-season program for athletes to enhance how they present themselves in digital, especially social media. “We’ll have skilled professionals come in to help players build their brands,” Ellis explains. “It will cover everything from strategy to the more practical aspects including how athletes should film themselves and more.” Ellis sees tremendous potential as social media and streaming content continue to provide a platform for the NFL’s players. It’s a wide digital field on…

Less than a month into the new year, over a thousand journalists have already lost their jobs or are on the cusp of losing them. Verizon Media, formerly Oath, laid off 7 percent of its staff, or 800 employees—including HuffPost’s entire opinion section. Gannett made cuts in local newsrooms throughout the country, while BuzzFeed staffers learned that 15 percent—or about 220 of them—will be let go. A spokeswoman for Verizon Media said the decision was a “strategic step” for future “growth and innovation.” A spokeswoman for Gannett declined to comment. BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti told employees that while the news organization saw double-digit growth, the cuts were necessary to put the company on “a firm foundation” that’s sustainable. “As we shift strategy [and] try and reinvent the business models for…

When a trailer for a new Crocodile Dundee movie, titled Dundee, dropped roughly two weeks before Super Bowl LII, the internet was in shock. A reboot of the iconic Crocodile Dundee franchise … starring Danny McBride? Really? It couldn’t be. And it wasn’t really, but it did stump people and get them talking for two whole weeks before all questions were finally answered. Dundee was a movie trailer used to disguise an elaborate $36 million Tourism Australia Super Bowl campaign designed to convince American travelers that Australia should be their next vacation destination. The goal was not just to show people all that Australia had to offer, but truly boost intent to book a trip with a campaign ad cloaked as a movie. That meant creating all the usual movie…

Wrong tone, wrong time In 2015, Nationwide started a conversation about preventable accidents being the leading cause of childhood deaths. Audiences felt a Super Bowl ad narrated by a dead child the wrong approach, and the ad was met with widespread backlash. Perceived inauthenticity Before a brand decides to champion a cause, it should ask itself if it is an appropriate fit, either through a history of support or a commitment to future action, as perceived inauthenticity can lead to backlash. In 2017, Audi’s “Daughter” spot addressing the wage gap was met with both positive reactions and criticism from viewers pointing out a lack of gender equality in the carmaker’s executive team. The unmemorable spots “My conviction would be that it’s riskier to do something quiet and unobjectionable but also…

THE SUPER BOWL, WHICH WILL BE PLAYED FEB. 3 IN ATLANTA, is the NFL’s annual crown jewel and, arguably, the ad industry’s too. Last February, close to 120 million people watched the game in the U.S. across broadcast and digital platforms. But it’s not just about the action on the field. The commercials are among the most highly anticipated—and hyped—of the year. And while the NFL itself always has an ad in the Big Game—last year’s Dirty Dancing homage featured New York Giants teammates Odell Beckham Jr. and Eli Manning and 2016’s heartwarming “Super Bowl Babies,” for example—this year, the stakes are higher. The NFL is kicking off a year’s worth of celebrations for its 100th season amid divisive issues like players taking a knee during the national anthem, the…

The New England Patriots’ Bill Belichick will be heading into his ninth Super Bowl on Sunday, tops among all NFL head coaches. And among current TV ad sales chiefs, his counterpart is CBS’ Jo Ann Ross, who has headed up network ad sales for CBS since 2002. For Ross, now president and chief advertising revenue officer, this is the sixth Super Bowl she is overseeing, more than all of her peers combined. As she put the finishing touches on this year’s sales, Ross looked back on the most memorable moments of her six Super Bowls, from the other big controversy during the Janet Jackson halftime show to the year she secretly battled cancer to her showdown with the brand that decided to sit out the game for the first time…

Super Bowl ads used to be all about going big: big ideas, big productions, big celebrities and big ol’ crotch hits. These days, marketers are taking a few different approaches in hopes of breaking through the crowded chaos of your living room, your TV screen and your social media feeds. So during this year’s game, we’ll be watching for the ads that bring parties to a standstill and make every other spot feel like $5 million filler. Here are five ads that our editors feel will be worth watching (and tweeting about): MICHELOB ULTRA PURE GOLD Part of Anheuser-Busch’s epic ad buy in this year’s Super Bowl, totaling more than five minutes of advertising, the Michelob Ultra spot is certain to be an attention-grabber. Serene in the extreme, this spot…

Advertiser spend for NFL games has been strong this season, though last year’s Super Bowl was the lowest-rated Big Game telecast since 2009. And according to a new survey from consumer intelligence research platform CivicScience, fewer people are planning on tuning in this year than in years past as well. Just 31 percent of Americans polled said they were very likely to watch the Super Bowl, with 26 percent saying somewhat likely and 41 percent not at all likely. And interest in the game didn’t increase at all after the New England Patriots and Los Angeles Rams clinched their respective berths. In fact, the number of respondents who said they were unlikely to watch the game actually went up slightly to 43 percent. “Before the impressive ratings rebound this year,…

MICHAEL IRVIN Budweiser, 1999, ‘Wassup?’ “It speaks to the locker-room mentality, especially football players,” says the Dallas Cowboys and NFL Network star. “That’s how we are: ‘What’s up?!’” It was a great spot.” TERRY BRADSHAW Budweiser, 2014, ‘Puppy Love’ “I love anything with the Clydesdales, but the puppy ad was great,” says Pittsburgh Steelers great Bradshaw, himself a Super Bowl ad star for Pepsi and Tide, among others. “If there’s an animal in [an ad], you’re going to win me over.” FRANCO HARRIS Coca-Cola, 1971, ‘Hilltop’ Though the classic ad originally ran in 1971, it got a second life during the 1972 Super Bowl. “I like [the message] and what it was about,” says Harris. “The song stands out and, also, [it aired] during my rookie year” with the Pittsburgh…

Launched in 1989 as a small design firm, Brunner credits a willingness to embrace technology for its rise from relatively unknown to national prominence. But a provocative ad for 84 Lumber during Super Bowl LI certainly didn’t hurt. The ad focused on the hot-button topic of immigration, even referencing a wall (sound familiar?), and it drew so much attention that its accompanying Journey84.com website crashed. But well before that pinnacle spot in the Big Game, the shop “saw the value in ‘big data’ when it wasn’t so big,” partner and president Scott Morgan said. He pointed to database marketing and digital interactive acquisitions in the 1990s, Brunner’s 2011 unveiling of emerging technology innovation studio BHiveLab and more recent forays into digital performance marketing and data analytics. The agency is working…