Every year, tens of millions of viewers across the country and around the world look forward to the Super Bowl. The Super Bowl is the annual playoff game of the National Football League (NFL). It is the final game of the season and is used to determine the champion of the competition for that year.
To say that the Super Bowl enjoys widespread popularity is simply stating the obvious. When the Los Angeles Rams won last year’s edition of the Super Bowl, about 99.18 million viewers were recorded in the United States alone.
Similar numbers have also been recorded in the preceding years. This makes the Super Bowl the second most-viewed annual sporting event in the world, after the UEFA Champions League. As a result of this large viewership, corporations and brands are always hustling for advertisement slots during the game, investing large sums of effort and resources in the process.
This year’s edition of the Super Bowl, which is the 57th edition of the competition, is sponsored by Apple and will see the Philadelphia Eagles take on the Kansas City Chiefs on the 12th of February at the State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.
In this article, we will be considering the current marketing trends and how they would affect ads at the Super Bowl this year.
Increased TikTok Involvement
Over the years, we have witnessed TikTok play a notable role in the Super Bowl advertisements of several brands. From the looks of things, it can be comfortably said that this trend won’t abate any time soon. Rather, it is projected to continue increasing.
TikTok has continued to grow in popularity, with an estimated 1.5 billion users across 154 countries. Brands have become wiser, shifting from a nonchalant stance to developing strategies that take advantage of the global audience that TikTok provides.
Last year, State Farm ran its marketing campaign solely on TikTok, recording tremendous success in the process. While some companies, such as FedEx, are planning similar campaigns, most companies are opting for a hybrid approach. Rather than just running television ads, brands are enlisting celebrities to participate in their TikTok campaigns.
These campaigns begin a month or two before the Super Bowl happens, and they are intended to generate hype for the brands’ Super Bowl advertisements. Marketers favor this strategy because it helps maximize resources and reinforces the commercials aired during the Super Bowl.
Withdrawal of Travel Companies
Last year, several travel brands utilized Super Bowl commercials in their marketing strategies. Companies such as Expedia, Booking.com and Turkish Airlines invested deeply and purchased national game ads. The results were highly successful.
However, despite the success, only one travel company is running a televised commercial during the Super Bowl this year — Booking.com. This is their second outing at the Super Bowl. Every other travel company is forgoing the traditional ads and seeking alternative forms of marketing for this year’s edition.
Although deciding to leave what works is difficult, several factors made this decision a logical one.
One such reason was the economic crunch and how it affected potential customers. Due to the current economic upheavals plaguing the country and the rest of the world, the cost of living has shot up.
This has resulted in many people earning barely enough to spend on necessities. Consequently, the market size of the travel industry has reduced, and, as such, travel brands are unwilling to spend millions of dollars on television ads.
So, while we can expect to see Melissa McCarthy getting a spa treatment in Booking.com’s Super Bowl commercial, this year’s Super Bowl will be largely free of travel companies.
Other Notable Changes to 2023’s Super Bowl
We do not expect this year’s Super Bowl to deviate much from the previous editions. However, a couple of changes will still be seen.
One of the changes to be expected will be the influx of advertisements from alcohol brands. This follows last year’s announcement from AB InBev that it has relinquished its exclusive ad rights as the sole alcohol brand of the Super Bowl. For the first time in 33 years, more than one brand of alcohol has the chance to appear in the Super Bowl. So, although AB InBev will advertise in the Big Game, other brands such as Diageo and Molson Coors will also participate.
Social media is also expected to play an increasingly vital role in several brands’ marketing strategies. Many companies are putting social media on the same level of importance (or even higher!) as the traditional Super Bowl ads.
It has also been observed that many Super Bowl viewers are also active on social media during the game. Many brands also consider social media advertisements to be more affordable than in-game commercials. Consequently, more companies will utilize social media platforms like Twitter and TikTok this year.
Same Old, Same Old
All in all, this year’s edition of the Super Bowl will not be much different from the way its predecessors have been. Though some changes should be expected, a lot of traditions will be retained.
Despite the general economic downturn ravaging most industries, several brands are still planning to run in-game ads during the Super Bowl. As early as September last year, Fox confirmed that it had already sold up to 95% of its commercial slots for the Big Game. This update comes despite the general grumbling about the current advertisement rates.
Many believe that paying almost $7 million for a 30-second slot seems quite unfair and unrealistic. This makes a bold statement about the extent to which brands still believe in the marketing power of Super Bowl commercials.
This is further reinforced by the fact that many of the brands that have regularly featured in the Big Game’s commercials have confirmed their involvement in this year’s edition.
Another thing we can expect is the continued involvement of celebrities in Super Bowl ads. Over the past few months, a good number of celebrities, such as Kevin Hart and Melissa McCarthy, have confirmed their appearances in several commercials for the Super Bowl.
Brands are growing increasingly confident in the star power these A-listers bring to their marketing campaigns. The buzz they generate is very loud — just the announcement of their involvement is already a form of marketing.
So, watch out for your favorites; they just might feature in a Super Bowl commercial.
What Are the Trends Saying About This Year’s Super Bowl?
The ads for this year’s Super Bowl are expected to be similar in content and delivery to those of previous years. We expect to see familiar faces and brands. These brands expect to also have marketing results similar to those obtained from past editions.
However, although things seem normal on the surface, we should not be distracted and realize that things are changing. Newcomers are emerging on the scene, new ad content ideas are popping up, and social media is becoming much more relevant.
Of course, it’s not wise to hop on trends carelessly and abandon what works. However, it is advisable that we study these new trends and gradually blend them into our current strategies.
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