Super Bowl commercials and strategies to watch for

This Sunday, family and friends will gather around the smart TV while checking their social media feeds and ordering food on their phones. It’s the latest edition of a tried-and-true American holiday — Super Bowl LVIII.

While the game on the big screen will bring new glory to either the Kansas City Chiefs or the San Francisco 49ers, the fan experience — and all those commercials — will bring nostalgia and interactive delight to digital consumers.

The game is only the start. Brands will use their big media ad spends as the basis for campaigns in the months ahead. And businesses that didn’t shell out $7 million for a 30-second spot will take advantage of all the buzz to connect with customers.

Nostalgia is back for big brands

This year, brands aren’t forgetting that the Super Bowl is a tradition. Budweiser and other big brands are using their Super Bowl LVIII spend to tap into the rich tradition of the big game, as well as the broader culture.

“Nothing symbolizes Super Bowl tradition like Budweiser’s iconic Clydesdales, especially when you throw a dog in the frame and call it ‘Old-School Delivery,’” Gartner marketing analyst Andrew Frank told MarTech.

He added: “But you can see currents of nostalgia running through many major spots, such as Oreos’ ‘Twist on It’ with Kris Jenner, and BetMGM ‘Tom Has Won Enough’ with Tom Brady and Vince Vaughn.”

With these ads, brands are offering their audience comfort and stability with established icons.

“I think the agencies got it right this year,” said Frank. “Following a seeming endless wave of disorienting global events, the audience is ripe for a return to traditional symbols and comforting humor.”

“Super Bowl 2024 will see commercials return to tangible, feel-good factors,” said Dan Head, CEO of AI content platform Phrasee. “With so many Americans feeling down due to ongoing interest rates, politics and other factors — the Super Bowl will double down on what it represents: feel-good, fun entertainment that brings us all together.”

New faces on the big TV screen

Nerds Candy is making its Super Bowl debut with an ad featuring a rising star, Addison Rae. Although now she is an established singer on the Billboard charts and an actor in films, Rae got famous on TikTok, thanks to her 88 million followers.

Rae’s presence makes the Super Bowl more relevant for all those followers taking in the game. Surely, marketers are looking for the next crossover talent to star for their brand on a similar stage.

“You’re going to see a lot more influencers and crossover celebrities, particularly Addison Rae for the Nerds brand,” Tom La Vecchia, president and CEO of digital marketing agency X Factor Media, told MarTech.

“This year’s event will see a massive influx of Gen Z, and advertisers are following that audience,” said Head.

Pre-game buzz on TikTok and other short-form video

It isn’t just about game day for Super Bowl marketers — it’s about building awareness on channels where customers are in their everyday lives.

“I’m seeing more ‘pre-game’ buzz, which includes teasers and trailers primarily on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube shorts,” La Vecchia said. “Some brands are rolling out interactive contests to build more hype and engagement. Like in other years, celebrity influencers are on the top of the agenda for marketers to reach Gen Y and Z viewers.”

The viral nature of TikTok makes the platform attractive to creators and brands alike, especially for the critical 18-55 demographic, said La Vecchia.

“There should be some digital, social component to take advantage of the timing,” he said. “Also which platform you use matters as well. A lot of the attention is going towards TikTok, and those eyeballs seem to be coming from X (formerly Twitter).”

Advertisers unfollowing X

The numbers appear to back up the sense of a vacuum left by X advertisers. Announced Super Bowl LVIII advertisers spent 55% less on X/Twitter in 2023 than they did in 2022, according to ad intelligence company MediaRadar.

This means that moving forward, many Super Bowl advertisers are looking elsewhere to build buzz about their campaigns.

In contrast, the group of brands that advertised in the Super Bowl in 2023 spent 16% more on X than they did in 2022.

BetMGM reduced its spending on the platform by 87% in 2023. In total, the group of 2023 Super Bowl advertisers spent $48.4 million on X. This year’s Super Bowl advertisers spent only $21.1 million on it, according to MediaRadar.

Taylor Swift (and Travis Kelce) Super Bowl Effect

A busy Taylor Swift is pulling out all the stops so she can make it to the game and cheer for the apple of her eye, Chiefs’ tight end Travis Kelce.

Swift has already had a huge impact on the NFL — getting her huge fanbase interested in the game has improved ratings and attendance. Swift is flying in from Japan where she has a concert the night before the game. The superstar will likely have a super impact on the audience and the brands she works with. However, even though they love her in Kansas City, she runs second to her beau when it comes to advertising.

Campbell Soups’ ads with Kelce ads were 30% more effective in places with more Chiefs’ fans than they were elsewhere, according to research from adtech measurement company EDO. Likewise, his ads for Pfizer score big with the home crowd: They were 113% more effective when aired during Chiefs games than they were during games the Chiefs weren’t in.

Ads featuring Swift were hugely effective with everyone except Chiefs fans. Capital One’s Swift ads were 218% more effective during non-Chiefs games than games featuring the team, according to EDO.

“While Kelce has been driving strong ad performance for brands pre-Swift Effect, consumer engagement has been even stronger after their relationship went public,” said Kevin Krim, CEO of EDO.

Regardless, Kelce and Swift at the Super Bowl will be a big boost for brands working with them.

“With his star power on the rise, backed by Swifties everywhere, Kelce has solidified his spot as a celeb athlete who will continue to drive strong performance for TV advertisers,” Krim said.

Advertisers and consumers open to new streaming opportunities

Those who want to stream Super Bowl LVIII will have more viewing options than in previous years. The big game, airing on CBS for linear TV watchers, will also be available via streaming on Paramount+ and packages that include it on Fubo, Hulu, DirecTV Stream, YouTube Live and SlingTV.

Many of the services provide a free trial. Streaming services will likely receive a boost from cord-cutters who are happy in their cable-less lifestyle but still want to see the game.

Nearly half (48%) of consumers said they’d be interested if their internet provider offered a special package for Super Bowl viewing with a one-time fee, according to a study of 1,000 consumers by software products and services company Amdocs. Furthermore, 64% said live sports are an important factor when it comes to selecting a streaming provider.

“The transition to streaming has opened up new revenue and advertising possibilities for the NFL,” Nuno Andrade, CIO for marketing agency Media Culture, told MarTech. “For example, Peacock’s commercial-free fourth quarter during an NFL game introduced an innovative advertising approach, reducing the overall number of ads while still engaging viewers through branded content from Capital One, Hyundai, and Walmart.”

For now, advertisers looking to make an impact on local audiences during the Super Bowl will have to advertise on linear TV. But this is likely to change soon.

“At this stage, Super Bowl in-game is not sold locally on CTV due to access points of the inventory,” Darwin Aguinaldo, media director, linear media for Media Culture, told MarTech. “CTV is sold through a national platform (in this year’s case, Paramount), and they just don’t have the ability at this stage to sell specific markets for the Super Bowl. We have noticed that in the past year, sports access points have grown, so it’s something we’re keeping an eye on as we believe in the near future, this could be another opportunity.”

“The NFL’s ability to maintain and expand its audience through streaming platforms reaffirms that the appeal of football goes beyond the medium through which it is delivered,” said Andrade.” Fans’ loyalty to the NFL implies that the medium — whether traditional broadcast or streaming — is secondary to the game itself.”

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