When I say the words, Super Bowl, what probably comes to mind is a momentous football battle and equally entertaining night of commercials. After 52 championship games, it is not only the competitive football, but also the entertaining commercials that viewers across the nation continue to be excited to watch.

From a branding and marketing perspective, there is a lot at stake, and varied rewards for the best produced ads. Long after the game is in the history books, the commercials will be searched for, seen millions of times, and shared or talked about amongst friends and co-workers.

This year there were three runaway winners that exploited the Super Bowl platform, and displayed an exceptional level of marketing brilliance. These brands obtained massive visibility, and as of the date of this article, their commercials collectively have accumulated an astounding 65.5 million views on YouTube alone.

The Clash Graphics team reviewed, categorized, and voted on the best commercials from the 2018 Super Bowl. The three motifs these ads fit were: “Product Humor”, “Humanitarian Effort”, and “Marketing Genius”. Not only will you be entertained, but in their analysis we will offer ways to transform these concepts from a national stage and apply it to your regional or local business.

Product Humor with Amazon’s Alexa

Amazon combined star power with humor and used its clever voice-assistant to entertain, generate buzz, and inspire potential buyers to question whether they are missing out and should consider one of their latest Echo products.

This self-deprecating commercial of their Alexa voice-assistant losing its voice and being replaced with the likes of Chef Gordon Ramsay, Musician Cardi B, Actor Anthony Hopkins, and others illustrates how using humor to display a product’s utility can elevate and create an iconic Super Bowl ad.

In maximizing their branding potential, Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon, was placed in the beginning of the commercial. This seemingly insignificant cameo was enough to gain significant media coverage, in addition to making him more familiar, likable, and personable to the public and all Amazon supporters.

“Thanks guys. But I’ll take it from here.” coupled with “Nobody does it better” ends this ad with a very clear message as Amazon flaunts their hot product and well orchestrated hit Super Bowl ad.

Humanitarian Effort from Budweiser

For the second consecutive year, Budweiser has not used its iconic clydesdale horses in its Super Bowl ad. This year’s ad showcased the humanitarian efforts the company led, and their commitment to help the American people whenever and wherever disaster strikes.

The commercial relies less on tradition and more on its a recent response to disaster and action. The mentioning of Florida, California, Texas, and Puerto Rico at the end shows viewers across America the massive relief effort the company is engaged in and committed to. Many were oblivious that over the past thirty years, Budweiser has “bottled” tens of millions of cans of water which are sent for disaster relief worldwide.

What makes this ad so impactful is that few viewers knew this was taking place behind the scenes. With little to no media coverage of their involvement, it appears Budweiser is a good spirited company that stands for more than just beer. That in and of itself tells us so much about the company’s values and their commitment to the American people.

As you can imagine, this will earn them the goodwill and support of more American consumers that share their values and find their actions commendable.

Marketing Genius from Tide

All things equal, no other Super Bowl ads were as brilliant as the Tide ads from Saatchi & Saatchi (New York ad firm). With a cleverly orchestrated idea that felt fresh and familiar, yet unexpected, not only did they promote Tide, they cleverly incorporated the iconic Old Spice Guy and Mr. Clean character (all are P&G products - under the same parent company) to reenforce it.

The marketing genius came in two parts:

Using Parodies - The use of parodies allowed the viewers to believe they were watching an ad for something else (Old Spice, Mr. Clean, Budweiser, insurance, pain relief, etc.) until the reveal - by David Harbour from Stranger Things - where it humorously exposed that it was actually a Tide ad all along.

Creating an Experience - With the principle ad aired and the parodies randomly popping up, Tide was able to capture a piece of every other commercial by exploiting the viewers cynicism.

The experience was the expectation of non-Tide ads to be Tide ads, and even when they weren’t, Tide was still on everyone’s mind. For the duration of the Super Bowl, every viewer was psychologically hacked - literally - to try and avoid being “tricked again”, thus always found thinking about Tide during many other commercials.

Tide’s creative brilliance garnered massive attention, publicity, and Ad-Weeks top advertising award for the Best Ad of the 2018 Super Bowl!

Applying National Stage Marketing to a Local Level

While your marketing budget may not afford an ad spot during the Super Bowl, you can use these basic marketing concepts to generate heightened awareness, likability, and increased earnings.

Humanitarian Activities - If your company regularly donates time, product or services to those in need or those aspiring to a greater education, make it public knowledge.

Your local marketing campaign should include the way(s) in which your business supports the community. By doing so, a sense of trust is developed between your business and both current and prospective customers.

While you may consider this wasteful or counterintuitive, people will often more readily do business with those who support and are actively involved in their communities. A secondary benefit can occur as the people in your community become aware of and support the cause that you were supporting, which in turn is a massive win-win.

Product Humor - Whether your product is brand new or well established, a dose of humor is a fun and entertaining way to introduce or reenergize a product within the market.

At a local level, find out what issues are at the top of discussion, what part(s) of local history are popular among your target audience, the music they listen to, and the clothes they are wearing. Gather as much information as possible and find ways to bring out some humor, keeping it classy of course.

In the Amazon commercial, Alexa loses her voice and is hilariously replaced with several celebrities responding with absurdities. A similar approach can be taken by finding local celebrities to participate in your product’s marketing campaign. Communicate and welcome ideas from the celebrities, as they may be able to offer clever angles and pitches from their own life or noteworthy topics surrounding their likeness.

Marketing Genius - Ads like the 2018 Tide Super Bowl ones are rare. Being able to captivate an audience in that way for that amount of time is an amazing feat. At the local level, it is creating the experience that will serve to strengthen your brand and product.

Creating expectation through simple misdirection and other products (from your brand) is an effective way to generate interest, curiosity, and anticipation.

Task your marketing team or ad agency to weave together an ad campaign that includes print, televised, and social media ads to keep your customers curiously engaged and coming back for more.

The larger your brand and product recognition becomes, the more impactful your ad campaign can be. Steal a page from the Super Bowl advertisers playbook, and make an impact with your next sales and advertising campaign.

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