Month: January 2019

Here’s some more Super Bowl LIII Ads along with promotions tied into the campaigns

Super Bowl LIII will finally take place this Sunday, February 3, in Atlanta at Mercedes-Benz stadium. It will include the New England Patriots (again) vs. the Los Angeles Rams. Since the NFL Conference Championship games that were played almost two weeks ago now there have been many Super Bowl ads and teasers released. An ad during this year’s Super Bowl costs between $5 million and $5.3 million.

The social buzz around these Super Bowl ads has had a bit of a slow start this year. A social media analytics firm, Talkwalker, reports that no advertiser has yet reached 5,000 social mentions after releasing their Super Bowl spot, but Pepsi’s halftime show has 20,400 mentions and Bud Light’s promise to give Los Angeles free beer if the Rams win has attracted 17,900 mentions. This year’s Super Bowl has generated 3.8 million mentions so far, down from the 8 million mentions generated by 2018’s big game during the same time period. But perhaps it will heat up once the country starts to as well.

There does appear to be a growing number of promotions that the brands are adding to their campaigns around the Super Bowl. As with Bud Light’s free beer promise, it’s not just to the LA Rams, but to either team that wins. Last year they made the same offer to Philadelphia when the Eagles won. Bud Light handed out 38,000 cans of free beer to customers at bars along the Eagles’ victory parade route according to the Philly Voice. Those who weren’t at the parade received a $7 rebate towards a six-pack of beer. The details about how the beer will be distributed this year have not yet been released.

Anheuser-Busch InBev is this year’s biggest advertiser running a total of eight ads. Last week’s post I included their Budweiser Clydesdales ad which also features the dalmatian and Bob Dylan’s Blowin in the Wind. The company also released this full 30-second ad for their Bon & Viv Spiked Seltzer that will also run in this year’s Super Bowl. In features the two mermaids, Bon & Viv, in their oceanic environment as the makers of the beverage. They are pitching it’s benefits to potential investors, a bunch of real sharks, giving a new meaning to “shark tank”. Dan Laustsen, the Oscar-nominated cinematographer for “The Shape of Water,” was hired to film this ad which is done beautifully.

In addition to the Super Bowl ad, Bon & Viv are running a contest with a grand prize of a VIP Super Bowl weekend, with game tickets, for two. To enter, fans 21 and older had up till January 28 post their “pitch” on why they should win the VIP weekend on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter using the hashtags #BONandVIV and #Contest.

Oikos Triple Zero if the Official Yogurt of the NFL and has announced a Yogurt Giveaway tied into Super Bowl Yards Performance. The brand will give away cups of Oikos Triple Zero if the Patriots and the Ram rack up at least 1,000 combined yards. The Brand said “Super Bowl LIII will feature two of this year’s most productive offenses, putting the 1,000-yard mark, though somewhat rare, well within reach”. Last year’s Super Bowl marked the first time in NFL history that the teams logged over 1,000 yards, and also featured the all-time single-game record for total offensive yards (1,151). During the 2018 regular season, teams combined for 1,000 yards or more in three of the 256 games. If the teams meet the brand’s #TripleZeroChallenge, fans can visit the promotion site between Feb. 25 and March 4 and download a printable coupon good for a 5.3-ounce cup of the yogurt, redeemable at participating retailers on March 4.

Pringles unveiled its actual 30-second ad after releasing three teaser videos last week. It features a smart device that complains about its inability to stack Pringles or taste any of the 318,000 possible flavor-stacking combinations. In conjunction with the ad, fans from the teams’ home cities, Los Angeles and Boston, will be able to tweet @Pringles on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 for a chance to win flavor stacks themed to their cities, delivered by Fooji.

These sponsors have all come up with some creative ways to make their Super Bowl investment pay off. I’ll post once more next week to summarize how the actual game as well as how the ads scored. We’ll also get to see how well the Pepsi Half Time show was received. According to an article that I just read it appears that the NFL has canceled Maroon 5’s pre-show press conference. Seems they want to minimize any further controversies as much as possible. That can’t be a good sign!  Let’s just hope it’s a good football game. Enjoy!

The Road to Super Bowl LIII. The Clydesdales are back. DEVOUR offers #FoodPorn and a chance to win the Ultimate Man Cave

Last weekend we had the NFL Conference Championship games with both games going into overtime along with some very controversial calls. The pass interference, helmet to helmet call against the LA Rams that was never called led to a game-ending 57 yard field goal by the Rams against the Saints and propelled them into the Super Bowl. The NFL league office acknowledged to New Orleans Coach Sean Payton afterward that the officiating crew botched the call. Then there was talk about Roger Goodel, the NFL commissioner, having the authority to schedule a redo game that would pick up the game at that point. But that never transpired. So now the Los Angeles Rams will make their first appearance in the Super Bowl in 17 years and yes, they will play against who else but the New England Patriots. So now the Patriots are headed to the Super Bowl for the third year in a row and the ninth time with QB Tom Brady.

The game will take place on February 3 in Atlanta, GA, in Mercedes-Benz Stadium between the New England Patriots and Los Angeles Rams. According to TicketIQ, an aggregator of ticket-buying options, it appears that football fans are underwhelmed by this Super Bowl LIII match-up. TicketIQ reported Tuesday that prices for tickets to the big game have declined 17 percent since Sunday’s conference championship victories. If it had been a different outcome for both games it may have created a pent-up demand for Super Bowl tickets especially among Kansas City Chief fans since their team hasn’t been in the Super Bowl in 49 years. Plus the Saints have a very loyal fan following and New Orleans is by far the closest city to Atlanta among the four teams that made it to the conference championships. But it’s not happening.

So in the meantime the hype for Super Bowl LIII continues. Many of the game sponsors have started releasing more information on their ads that they will be running during the game. I just watched a 60-second ad that Budweiser released this week in which it’s bringing back the Budweiser Clydesdales who were absent from the brand’s ads last year. It shows a dog on top of a Budweiser wagon drawn by the horses in which they drive by a wind farm with Bob Dylan’s most famous song “Blowin’ in the Wind” playing.

This builds on the commitment they announced last year to move to using 100% renewable electricity generated by wind power for brewing the beer. Bud also announced that it will donate enough clean electricity to power the city of Atlanta during the week that it hosts the Super Bowl. In addition, through Feb. 7, Bud and Drift, a clean electricity supplier, are offering a free one-month trial to households that sign up to switch to Drift. Click on the image to watch the ad here. I just love the dog’s ears and jowls blowin’ in the wind!.

Kraft Heinz’s DEVOUR brand has released an “uncensored” 60-second ad that will presumably be tamed down a bit to a 30-second version to air in the game’s third quarter. This version has a woman relating faux-shocking details about how her husband has been acting since he became addicted to “food porn” — meaning Devour frozen meals. Watch the ad to get somewhat of an idea of what food porn is. The brand stated that they have over 184 million #foodporn tags on Instagram,

The ads are being accompanied by promotions including a “1-83-FOODPORN” hotline offering “seductive descriptions of mouthwatering frozen meals”; a partnership in which Barstool Sports personalities will drive a Devour RV “man cave on wheels” to Atlanta. They are also launching the Devour Ultimate Man Cave Sweepstakes offering a grand prize that includes the following for the ultimate “man cave”: a LED Smart TV, a TV Soundbar, a Wireless Music System, a LED Light Up Foosball Table, a Tabletop/Bartop Arcade with 412 Games,  a $2,000 Wayfair gift card, a $1,500 Home Depot gift card, a Mixology Bartender 10 Piece Bar Tool and a freezer for their one year supply of DEVOUR products. They will also be awarding 15 First Prize winners the freezer and the one year supply of DEVOUR products.

Next week I’ll include a few more of the ads and promotions that will be announced before Super Bowl LIII. Now that I can’t cheer for the Saints I will be hoping that the Rams, who supposedly are the underdogs, win it. Being a Buffalo Bills fan we just want to see anyone else but the Patriots win!

Olay launches The 28 Day Challenge Sweepstakes & will also run the first Super Bowl ad targeted only to women

The Road to the Super Bowl has moved forward. Last weekend was the NFL divisional playoffs with four teams that got to clean out their lockers for the season and the other four teams who are moving on to this weekend’s championship games. It will be the Los Angeles Rams vs the New Orleans Saints and the New England Patriots vs the Kansas City Chiefs. The two teams that win each game will then move on to play in Super Bowl LIII in Atlanta at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on February 3.

In last week’s post about the Super Bowl I wrote about the fact that the performers for the Pepsi Super Bowl Halftime Show had still not officially been announced. Well the announcement was officially made last weekend and advertised during the playoff games. It will be Maroon 5 as rumored, joined by Travis Scott and Big Boi. So it appears we won’t be seeing any female performers during this year’s show! We did however get to see Sarah Thomas become the first woman to officiate an NFL playoff game in New England during the Patriots vs. the Chargers game.

One of the new brands that will be running an ad during this year’s Super Bowl broadcast will be Olay, one of my favorite skincare brands which is owned by Procter & Gamble. It will be a 30-second spot which will air during the first quarter and created by Saatchi & Saatchi. Women make up nearly half of the NFL’s fan base. According to Stephanie Robertson, brand director for Olay, only a quarter of Super Bowl ads feature a woman and even fewer are from brands where women are the primary consumer of the advertised product or service. Robertson said that the brand felt that this was “the year for us to do our part to be the change we want to see in the industry.” Creative details around the Super Bowl spot are not yet known, but Robertson said that viewers are in for a “totally unexpected angle” from the brand, one that the team hopes people will find “entertaining.”

Olay is also running The Olay 28 Day Challenge Sweepstakes which will award two grand prize winners a trip to Atlanta to attend Super Bowl LIII. The prize include airfare for each winner and a guest, 3-night hotel accommodations, a pair of tickets to the game and $150 gift card.

People can enter the sweepstakes by visiting the Olay website sweepstakes page and completing the on-screen instructions for the 28 Day Skin Advisor test. This allows participants to upload a photo, input their skin concerns and preferences and be matched with a product that best suits their needs. Once they complete the test they also receive a code that they then have to text to 24587 to complete their sweepstakes entry. Participants can also enter without completing the Skin Advisor test by sending an email to the sweepstakes administer.

The Olay 28 Day Challenge Sweepstakes started last Monday and it ends this Sunday, 1/20, just in time to contact the winners and reserve their trip details. So if you’re interested in a chance to score some tickets to the Big Game, you have to hurry. Though this is Olay’s first spot in the Super Bowl, their parent company Procter & Gamble is a big sponsor and has run ads for their other brands before like Tide, Febreze, Mr. Clean and others, as well as P&G itself.

I’m still going with the Saints all the way!

This year’s Road to the Super Bowl kicks off with a sweepstakes from Pepsi & Pizza Hut

Happy New Year. I hope your holidays were great and you were able to share the time with family and friends. We’re now into the middle of our first full work week of the new year and the holidays are fading into our memories already.

Which means that were into the 2019 NFL Playoff season and a countdown to Super Bowl LIII. I normally take the first month of the year in this blog to discuss football and many of the marketing, advertising and promotional activities that surround it. So let’s start by who the teams this year are.

Last weekend were the wild cards games and we started with the Indianapolis Colts at the Huston Texans in the AFC which the Colts won 21 to 7. Next was the Dallas Cowboys at the Seattle Seahawks in the NFC which the Cowboys won by two points, 24-23! Then on Sunday we watched the LA Chargers at the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC which the Chargers won 23 to 17. The final game of the weekend is what has been the buzz this week since the Philadelphia Eagles beat the Chicago Bears by one point because of a missed field goal in the final seconds by the Bears kicker, Cody Parker. He stated after the game in an interview “You Can’t Make This Up” since the ball hit the goal post twice and then bounce back into the field.

So we now have the next round of games scheduled for this weekend which are listed in the screenshot below. The Kansas City Chiefs, New England Patriots, New Orleans Saints and the LA Rams all had a first round bye last weekend.

Super Bowl marketing actually kicked off last month with the launch of the Pepsi Super Bowl LIII Halftime Show Sweepstakes from Pizza Hut and Pepsi. They are both official NFL sponsors; Pepsi has been the sponsor of the Super Bowl Halftime Show since 2013, and the NFL’s official soft drink sponsor since 2002. Pizza Hut is in its first year as the NFL’s official pizza sponsor and they have teamed up on this promotion to encourage sales during the holiday season. Two grand-prize winners will win a trip to this year’s Super Bowl LIII for themselves and a guest to attend and view Pepsi’s Halftime Show from the field. In addition, fans who enter can also earn chances to win NFL gear prizes.

To enter the Sweepstakes fans must have purchased limited-edition Pepsi 4-Pack carriers, available at all Pizza Hut locations “while supplies last,” and enter a code from the product online or share their homegates on Twitter, using the hashtag #HutxPepsiSweepstakes. This sweepstakes ended on December 31 and winners are being contacted.

According to industry reports, CBS is charging more than $5 million per 30-second Super Bowl slot this year. Pepsi also gets 10 seconds of ad time in pregame programming as the sponsor of the Super Bowl halftime show.

The show’s featured performer has yet to be officially announced. Although Maroon 5 has reportedly been booked, PepsiCo is said to be struggling to finalize a lineup because big-name performers are declining to participate so as to show solidarity with Colin Kaepernick, the NFL quarterback who was fired for protesting police brutality against minorities by kneeling during The National Anthem. Rihanna and Cardi B are said to be among those who have declined to perform, and Maroon 5 is under pressure from fellow performers and civil rights groups to back out.

So we’ll hopefully get an “official” word soon on who will be performing at the show. I had read that the performers don’t get paid either, instead it’s a PR event for them to promote either a new album, tour, or both. As far as football goes, this weekend we should be entertained by some great games. I’m going with the Saints and Drew Brees to win it all the way!