Super Bowl Ads: What Can We Learn?

This past weekend, 127.7 million people tuned into Super Bowl LIX, making it the most-watched Super Bowl in history.  While the game was a blow out from the start, with the Eagles winning the game, Kendrick Lamar, SZA, and Samuel Jackson won the Super Bowl conversation with a memorable and much discussed and debated halftime show.

But our favorite part, as PR professionals, was of course the advertisements (go figure). While generally discussed within the advertising/creative world, there’s much we can learn from a marketing/PR perspective. Especially since the ads also broke records. The cost of a 30-second advertisement during Super Bowl LIX was a whopping $8 million, making them the most expensive Super Bowl commercials in history.

Record-breaking numbers aside, here we highlight the different influential PR tactics big brands used this year to successfully convey their messages.

Empowering Messages and Emotional Storytelling

Something that we saw in the ads this year was the usage of empowering messages and emotional storytelling. Some of the most heartfelt examples include Nike and Dove’s commercials on women empowerment in sports. Nike utilized accomplished female athletes to convey the message, and Dove drew on the statistic that 1 in 2 girls quit sports due to body image issues. Dove’s commercial was even an extension of their Real Beauty campaign, and this specific ad was used to further their consistent brand messaging of general women confidence. A company linking their name to an empowering message strengthens their brand identity and creates social impact, in turn causing audiences to emotionally connect. As for emotional storytelling, Pfizer’s “Knock Out” commercial pulled on heart strings by showing children “knocking out” cancer by comparing their strength to a boxer, using the symbolism of ringing the bell and LL Cool J’s song “Mama Said Knock You Out” to tell the story. Pfizer was able to link their company to a story that would hit home with audiences.

Humor, Star Power, and Memorable Cameos

Another powerful tactic for brand marketing that we saw was utilizing star power. Every year, we look forward to what big names will cameo in the Super Bowl ads. Ray-Ban Meta starred Chris Pratt, Chris Hemsworth, and Kris Kardashian for a mix of star power and humor, and Uber Eats starred actor Matthew McConaughey, singer Charli XCX, and director Greta Gerwig. Poppi starred TikTok influencers Alix Earle, Jake Shane, and Noah Beck, who more directly spoke to the Gen Z audience. In earlier blogs, we talked about companies partnering with influencers to create the credibility needed for their target audience to make a purchase decision, and these ads did just that by allowing audiences to connect brands with faces they knew and loved and build that credibility.

Nostalgia and Familiarity

Creating nostalgia and familiarity within your audience can also be a strong PR tactic. We saw Disney+’s ‘What If’ commercial hit home with the idea of an alternate universe where famous Disney characters did not exist, Instacart with their nostalgic food mascots joining forces, and Hellmann’s recreation of a “When Harry Met Sally” scene starring none other than Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal. What these ads did right was form the familiarity aspect that makes audiences feel comfortable with the brand and want to purchase with them.

Ones that Stuck Out

Finally, Tubi’s “Cowboy Head” and Coffee-Mate’s “Let’s Go Tongues” ads get their own shout-out. These brands went out on a limb to create images with their brands that will stick with audiences for a long time. Even though the flesh cowboy hat and the dancing tongues were bold moves, they got people talking. Not to mention, doing something nobody has ever done before is a PR tactic in itself. In this case, we think it worked but we’ll be curious to see if they keep the conversations going in authentic ways for their individual brand.

 Super Bowl LIX ads served  a wide variety of entertainment throughout the big game, but more importantly they taught us many ways in which brands can resonate with audiences. Whether it be sharing an empowering message or trying something never before done, what ads do you think hit the mark?