If you thought Sunday’s Super Bowl ads weren’t what they used to be, you are not alone.
It’s no secret that the price of Super Bowl ads has kept going up. At the same time, their impact has diminished, according to Steve Caplan, a part-time lecturer of communication and advertising at the University of Southern California.
“One of the things that used to drive Super Bowl spots and make what we would call ‘water cooler conversation’ ... it is that there was a certain amount of surprise,” Caplan said.
But that’s changing, he said,
“In the case of these ads, there wasn’t a lot of surprise because the strategy to release them has changed,” Calpan said. “A lot of these ads were already released in the last week or two.”
Caplan noted that many advertisers played it safe, and the current political and social environment may be to blame.
“While there were some interesting ideas, [we] saw a lot of nostalgia, a lot of throwback to celebrities of the past,” Caplan said.
One well-received ad was from Michelob Ultra, featuring actors Willem Dafoe and Catherine O’Hara. It ranked at the top according to professors and MBA students from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Commercials from Novartis and Google Pixel closely followed in the rankings.
Other celebrity cameos included chef Gordon Ramsey, comedian Bill Murray, and athlete David Beckham.
In contrast, ads from Tubi and Coffee Mate ranked at the bottom of Northwestern’s list. Coffee Mate’s ad featured a close-up of a dancing tongue, while the Tubi ad showcased a man with a western hat fused to his head. Caplan warns that ads with jarring designs risk alienating consumers if they fail to connect to the brand.
“If you’re reinforcing your message about a brand with these sort of visually driven graphic effects...it can be memorable,” Caplan said. “But if you can’t connect it to the brand, honestly, it becomes a little more of an ick.”
Caplan also pointed out that the lopsided score in the game could have negatively impacted advertisers if viewers decided to stop watching early.
Whether through creative risks or missteps, this year’s Super Bowl commercials reflected the fine line advertisers walk between being a success or failure in viewer’s eyes.