Ideas We Love Issue no.8

Superbowl Special

Superbowl Sunday is the one day of the year U.S. marketers happily shed some of their inhibitions and create work that seeks to consciously engage audiences at scale.

A time of year we always look forward to, as it represents the equivalent of a double-shot of espresso that keeps our thoughts and thinking caffeinated well into Spring.

With brands and agencies trying all sorts of tricks to stand out and stand apart both in the ad-break, but increasingly in the weeks leading up to the event too.

Given the volume of ideas breaking, we think it warrants a minor deviation from the usual format of our fledgling newsletter to give you a bunch of the ideas we liked from this years event and the circus that surrounds it.

#1 PepsicOOH

For those who don’t know, Las Vegas is the host of this year’s Super Bowl.

Advertisers keen to benefit from the additional attention and association that comes when 65,000 NFL fans + Taylor Swift rock-up for the big match and tag on a big weekend have been trying to win the game before the game.

PepsiCo being a great example. So first up for this issue is some lovely predatory thinking coming out of PepsiCo; albeit coming from different brands in their portfolio and from slightly different angles.

Yes, their Pepsi Cherry Max variant, alongside other brands, have done the Route One thing of taking one of the rumoured $2MN ad-slots on The Sphere over SB weekend, but they’ve levelled it up by pairing it with an activation with 2 TikTok megastars to significantly scale their reach and resonance not just beyond what the Sphere might offer, but the main event too.

300,000 people will likely see The Sphere in Vegas in person. That’s before you tally up the social reach. An estimated 115M people will tune into The Super Bowl.

Pepsi have partnered with creator Khaby Lame, to be their roving reporter on the ground and bring Pepsi Cherry “moments” to his 161M followers. A figure which makes his the world’s most ‘followed’ TikTok account.

161M followers 🤯🤯🤯

Smarts that will no doubt help cut them through with Gen Z. We look forward to seeing how it performs.

Moving from drinks to snacks now and we go from one side of the strip to the other for Doritos.

They steered away from The Sphere towards a special-build at The Luxor, a building which just so happens to be the same shape as a Dorito. It also dominates the eyeline near the stadium and will no doubt be in shot of the helicopters providing an aerial view on matchday.

An act that trended ahead of the event and no doubt acted as a not so subtle reminder for those prepping for the big match to get their chips in.

Two lovely bits of thinking, planning, prepping and activation for you right there.

#2 Uber. Don’t Forget!!

If PepsiCo are pitching “snacks” of choice, the next two ideas are jostling to be the service that brings them to you before, during and after the game.

First up Uber dropped their teaser for the SB last week; enlisiting “Posh & Becks” to recreate the most meme’d scene from their recent Netflix documentary to seed how forgetful they are ahead of the main event.

Following up the Teaser, the ad itself features cameos from a host of stars including Jennifer Aniston, David Schwimmer and Usher who are attempting to broaden what it means to “Uber it”. In this case, by setting up how people have willfully forgotten a piece of information in order to remember what they can get with Uber Eats.

Like a one in, one out nightclub policy.

#3 DoorDash. Win the Ad-Break

Whereas Uber loaded up on A-Listers to help make their point, competitors DoorDash have taken a different route to make theirs.

They’ve channelled their inner ‘Ant & Dec’ to create an ad-promotion where one lucky viewer will win the entire contents of every single ad that features across the rest of the SB…DoorDashed to their door…before the end of the big game.

Amusingly, the grand prize winner will receive up to six new cars, two 30-pound buckets of mayo, 1,000 Popeye wings, a Kawasaki off-roading vehicle among other snacks and products from big-name brands.

A logistical nightmare no doubt, but one that if they pull off, much like Uber, will help broaden the occasions and use-cases both existing and new users might consider using them moving forwards.

#4 Paramount’s ‘Hail Patrick’

A joyful blend of pop culture icons, off-beat weirdness and some 90’s nostalgia in the next installment of Paramount+’s Mountain of entertainment series of advertising from Droga5. Paramount+ faces a steep challenge in the form of increased competition in the streaming market, so perhaps the setting for the ad doubles up as a metaphor of some description.

And finally… #5 Liquid Death’s Biggest Ad Ever

It feels like barely a week goes by without Liquid Death launching another idea into market. They’ve established themselves as a favourite reference point for the wider industry in the process (we’ve certainly included them as a case study reference in recent client presentations). Here they offer one lucky bidder the opportunity to place an advert on their packaging… a media placement they claim has a bigger reach than the Superbowl. At the time of writing the leading bid on eBay for this media placement stands at just over $222,000.

There’s a lot to like about this - it blurs the boundary of product and promotion, and arguably it’s a great ‘eCommerce’ idea too, stretching down into a platform like eBay….

But, moreover, this places Liquid Death in the pantheon of brands (see also Newcastle Brown Ale) who have activated against The Super Bowl without buying an official ad spot, seeking to ‘hijack’ or deposition the ads paying for inclusion.

Until next time…

Normal service will resume next week…. we’ll be back a week on Thursday with a deep dive into one great idea that has captured our imaginations and hearts….

Hope to see you then. Cheerio.

Matt and Tom