News

By J.B. Guyton, Data Analyst

Super Bowl LV takes place in less than two weeks and in addition to watching one team claim victory on the field, many will be watching how well marketers “play ball”. It’s advertising’s biggest game day and we’ll soon learn how these giants navigate this difficult commercial landscape. Brands are nervous on how to address the current times due to the popularity, history, and entertainment that is associated with this special day. The Super Bowl has historically been where all the top brands compete to show off their most entertaining and memorable commercials to claim a piece of consumers’ hearts — and wallets. The Wall Street Journal refers to the game as the “Creative Bowl” due to how the commercials have become an event itself. Major brands pay over $5.6 million for just 30-seconds of viewership, and that’s without agency production costs, yet this year companies are opting out and putting their marketing budgets elsewhere. Iconic brands such as Budweiser, Coca-Cola, and Pepsi are pulling out of the Super Bowl and putting their resources towards the pandemic. 

Budweiser after 37 years, is raising awareness for the COVID-19 vaccine. Brands are reevaluating how they can positively impact people’s lives to go beyond snacks and drinks.

Expect to see more from marketers in this year’s commercials as brands are making human-centric decisions and striving to become more purpose driven and motivational in light of so many struggling today. Large companies are putting people first instead of their products on the singular day people actually want to watch commercials. Will this year’s best commercials deliver a human-centric, empathetic shift like we have never seen before? Will it be one that brings hope for a healing and hurting nation? Can it create positive vaccine awareness to its viewership? Those who will be bold remain to be seen. 

Today’s consumers are no dummies either – they’re marketing savvy; they’re you and me. As the pandemic continues to impact the lives of millions, this move towards empathy and consumer centricity is what we call HumanSight™ and it’s one of our core principles. These big brands will benefit by not being tone-deaf to the crises of today. 

We hope to see brands creating their highest quality content, being authentically sensitive to today’s realities, and definitely going beyond being “there for you” on game day. These will be the ads that get the laughs, the tears, and the buzz. It may be a thin line to walk for some more than others but they’ll quickly find out how well they did because consumers spot when brands are inauthentic, insincere or diminishing injustices and realities like everything is okay, when it’s not. People sense when brands are exploiting a moment and aren’t afraid to clap back, (hello, Pepsi).

We know you’re navigating the pandemic too, and if your company wants to up the ante on how human-centric they are, we can help carry the ball to the end zone with you. We help companies strategize, build, and action an approach that takes a more people-centric view, one that creates business growth. We leverage HumanSight™ to examine your audiences from new perspectives. We help strategize alongside you so that you can ultimately earn your audience’s trust and build a deeper relationship. If you are wrestling with big questions like how to reset, relaunch, or evolve your consumer relationship in 2021, we specialize in BIG and want to hear from you. Likewise, if we’ve piqued your interest and you want to talk shop, or Super Bowl commercials, click the link and let’s connect.