The Kansas Metropolis Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles face off on February 9, 2025 (6:30 p.m. ET on Fox, if it’s not in your calendar already).
To get 30 seconds of advert time in the course of the large sport, manufacturers coughed up a cool $7 – $8 million per spot. If that’s not within the funds, listed below are seven Tremendous Bowl advert options that can value you numerous much less.
I’ve additionally received examples of massive manufacturers with notably artistic options to Tremendous Bowl advertisements, plus tips about utilizing Tremendous Bowl advertising methods in your personal <$7 mil campaigns.
Desk of Contents
What Huge Manufacturers Do As a substitute of Shopping for Tremendous Bowl Adverts
In 2021, at the very least 10 large manufacturers — Budweiser, Coca-Cola, and Pepsi amongst them — sat out Tremendous Bowl LV and directed their funds elsewhere. Anheuser-Busch, Budweiser’s dad or mum firm, donated cash towards COVID vaccine efforts.
Right here’s how two manufacturers will likely be celebrating this yr’s large sport with out an official advert spot, an honorable point out, and one iconic different advert:
Perdue Rooster: Wingin’ It
On February 9, Perdue will associate with actor/singer/comic Wayne Brady for a non-Tremendous Bowl Tremendous Bowl advert. Fairly than shopping for a $7 million advert spot, Perdue will characteristic Brady on Instagram Dwell all through the sport — count on skits, Q&As, and different comedic bits.
Captain Morgan: Rum Avenue
Tremendous Bowl LIX will likely be hosted by Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana, well-known for its French Quarter, Mardi Gras celebrations, and Bourbon Avenue.
Besides that this yr, Captain Morgan is popping bourbon into rum with its Rum Street activation. The stay occasion is accompanied by interactive on-line treasure hunts, weekly prizes main as much as the sport, and at-home cocktail recipes.
Duolingo
We’re calling this an honorable point out since Duolingo’s 2024 Tremendous Bowl marketing campaign started with an official advert — nevertheless it was solely 5 seconds lengthy.
The true marketing campaign got here within the type of coordinated push notifications — despatched instantly after the advert aired — reminding learners to observe.
Duolingo called it a technical threat: “Our groups had by no means tried a coordinated push marketing campaign at this scale, and we didn’t know if it was even technically potential to ship a push notification to 4 million learners in 5 seconds with out crashing our app.”
It was, and so they did. It’s value noting that the owl app only took the risk as a result of it had carried out lots of social listening and different market analysis to determine what would resonate with its viewers.
Skittles: The Musical
Again in 2018, Skittles determined it did not need to shell out $5.2 million for a Tremendous Bowl advert. So it took that cash and created a full-length Broadway musical as an alternative (as you do).
Skittles’ intelligent anti-marketing stunt might have woke up your inside theater child, nevertheless it was nonetheless fairly costly. And, as a small- to medium-sized enterprise marketer, you possible cannot afford a Broadway manufacturing.
So, what do you do if you do not have thousands and thousands in your funds just like the manufacturers above?
Beneath, I‘ll listing seven promoting methods that manufacturers use in the course of the Tremendous Bowl. For every, I’ll stroll you thru how one can benefit from every on a a lot smaller scale whereas nonetheless successfully gaining model consciousness.
7 Inexpensive Advertising Options to Tremendous Bowl Promoting
1. Purchase video advert area on social platforms.
As a small enterprise marketer, you need not pay for a high-priced televised advert slot to get seen by the appropriate audiences — social media plays a predictably huge role in advertising.
Twitter was a primary spot for Tremendous Bowl-adjacent advertisements, with its personal Brand Bowl roundup of greatest model tweets. However because it reworked from Twitter to X, advertisers are spending considerably much less cash there — 50% less, according to some projections — as X customers scatter to different platforms like Threads and Bluesky.
And in 2023 — the final time the Chiefs and Eagles performed for the Lombardi — AdWeek noted that brands were ditching X and placing that cash into different social platforms like TikTok and Instagram.
If you buy a more budget-friendly skippable ad placement, you’re competing with the attract of the “Skip Advert” button, so that you’ll have only one or two seconds to get your viewers’s consideration. Right here’s a intelligent method to that from Burger King:
Think about using different methods to attract consideration, resembling presenting a relatable ache level, providing a price proposition, or inserting viewers into an action-filled scene when the video begins enjoying.
In the event you want extra inspiration, right here’s some fan-favorite ads (and some marketing lessons) from Super Bowl 2024.
2. Dive deeper with a video narrative.
Tremendous Bowl advertisements usually really feel like miniature motion pictures. Fairly than establishing a fundamental ache level and providing a easy product-based resolution, they usually inform wealthy tales.
Take Clio Corridor of Fame and Cannes Lions winner “1984.” Directed by Ridley Scott for Apple, the advert aired throughout Tremendous Bowl XIII, when Apple was extra underdog than tech gargantuan, and IBM dominated the PC world.
On the finish of the business, a narrator publicizes, “On January twenty fourth, 1984, Apple will introduce Macintosh. And you may see why 1984 will not be like ‘1984.’”
The business is a deep metaphor for the way Apple’s model, progressive merchandise, and mission would free pc customers from the monopolies of previous tech giants.
Though Apple had extra assets than the typical small biz, all it takes to create an attention-grabbing narrative advert is a few creative team members and affordable video equipment.
All for crafting a compelling commercial script? Try this template. If in case you have an awesome concept however aren’t certain the place to begin production-wise, learn this step-by-step guide.
3. Leverage main occasions or holidays.
Main cultural occasions just like the Tremendous Bowl or the Oscars are marketing campaign alternatives for giant manufacturers, who immediately have the eye of an unlimited viewers — not simply in the course of the occasion, however usually for weeks earlier than and after.
It doesn’t value gazillions of {dollars} to create campaigns with references to popular culture or present occasions. These may embrace weblog posts about how an occasion pertains to your trade, social media posts that leverage topical hashtags, or a advertising video about how your prospects is likely to be celebrating an occasion.
In the course of the large sport in 2020, vitality drink model G-Gasoline requested Twitter customers to answer with who they assume will win the #SuperBowl. The tweet contains a picture of two G-Gasoline drinks in entrance of a soccer subject:
This capitalizes on the #SuperBowl hashtag, which will likely be seen by thousands and thousands of soccer followers. You’ll notice that the Tremendous Bowl isn’t talked about within the advert itself, although — it’s a trademark owned by the NFL, which doesn’t enable manufacturers to make use of the occasion identify “with business intent.”
One in all our previous masters in marketing, Hassan S. Ali, has some creative ideas on skirting authorized points. So do Newcastle Brown Ale and Anna Kendrick:
4. Lean into co-marketing.
Even large manufacturers search for extra budget-friendly promoting, like this 2015 co-marketed Tremendous Bowl advert. Co-marketing is when two or extra manufacturers be part of forces — plus cash, time, effort, and assets — to create a single piece of content material that highlights all of the manufacturers concerned.
For this advert, Newcastle pooled its money with 37 other brands to purchase a Tremendous Bowl advert slot, which they appropriately titled “Band of Manufacturers”:
5. Think about influencer advertising.
Except for high-budget productions and gripping narratives, Tremendous Bowl commercials are additionally recognized for his or her star-studded casts. Bear in mind this Amazon Echo business the place Alexa is voiced by a handful of standard celebrities?
Though you most likely cannot rent stars like Cardi B, you might need funds for a micro-influencer who’s credible and extremely adopted in your trade.
Whenever you sponsor an influencer who actually understands their viewers and your trade, they will create and publish content material that intrigues their viewers whereas additionally highlighting your product.
An influencer advertising technique can be especially effective on social media channels like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, or TikTok.
In this example, the smartphone sport “Run Round” sponsored a TikTok person who’s gained more than 15,000 followers just by recording herself enjoying cellular video games. The model recognized that gaming-oriented audiences have been on TikTok and sponsored an influencer whose viewers anticipates her cellular sport evaluations and demonstrations.
6. Use counter-programming.
Positive, greater than 100 million folks within the U.S. will likely be watching the massive sport, however one other 200 some million received’t be. In case your viewers is among the many latter, you’ve gotten the chance to seize their consideration whereas all people else is watching Taylor Swift’s boyfriend.
Two phrases: Pet Bowl.
Two extra phrases: Kitten Bowl.
Some years in the past, Twitter customers made their very own counter-programming, gleefully sharing photos of owls as an alternative of becoming a member of the Tremendous Bowl convo.
Social listening might enable you decide what your viewers is pondering and what they’re doing in the event that they’re not consuming seven-layer dip and shouting at males in tight pants on TV.
7. Think about digital out-of-home advertising (DOOH).
Steve Nicklin, senior vice chairman of promoting and analytics for the Out of Home Advertising Association of America, argues in a recent blog post that “DOOH presents a compelling different to conventional Tremendous Bowl promoting on the identical value.”
Nicklin cites a month-long, $7 million DOOH marketing campaign that confirmed 7.5x extra attain than a 30-second Tremendous Bowl spot. He additionally factors out that this isn’t a zero sum sport:
“In fact Tremendous Bowl advertisements are nonetheless a serious model second, however to maximise their influence and funding, manufacturers ought to think about an built-in, omnichannel method, one which makes use of DOOH in pre-game buildup, enhances TV spots with real-time DOOH updates and continues the dialog post-game to bolster key messages and leverage large sport moments.”
His recommendation for reaching youthful audiences? “Savvy manufacturers also can incorporate social media parts in DOOH advertisements to extend on-line model engagement, particularly amongst youthful followers.”
Making a Tremendous Bowl-High quality Advert
As you’re employed in the direction of creating a top quality advert on a funds, preserve these scalable large model ideas in thoughts:
- Inform an awesome story: Pull your viewers in, enable them to narrate to your model, and hook them by presenting how your product may help them.
- Embrace present occasions: Craft campaigns that contact on extremely mentioned on-trend occasions, such because the Tremendous Bowl, award exhibits, or holidays — particularly in the event that they relate strongly to your model.
- Leverage manufacturers and influencers: Partnering with manufacturers and influencers can earn consideration from comparable audiences that you have not already reached. To get began, analysis and construct relationships with manufacturers and influencers that your audiences or industries look to for credible ideas.
Tremendous Bowl Promoting for the Remainder of Us
Even on a small funds, a bit of planning and lots of creativity go a good distance. Use and adapt these classes from the massive manufacturers to make tremendous advertisements all yr lengthy.
Editor’s notice: This submit was initially revealed in January 2020 and has been up to date for comprehensiveness.
