Although Super Bowl Sunday isn’t seen as an actual holiday, many Americans tune-in for the biggest game of the year. However, not everyone watching is focused on the game!
The commercials in between the action-packed plays and touchdowns can be more exciting than the game itself. In fact, 23 percent of viewers say that the commercials are the best part.
As a local business owner, you may be sitting there wondering how you can create ads for your business that will resonate with viewers just as the Super Bowl commercials do.
On average, the cost of a 30-second ad during the Super Bowl is 5.6 million dollars, and it’s likely that you don’t have a budget for that. Guess what? You don’t have to!
While these big brands promote themselves during one of the most-watched games of the year, you can use these ads as inspiration for your own business!
To help you out, I’m going to break down some of the 2020 ads that stood out to me from a business owner's perspective and how you can use similar tactics to create your own ads.
Ready to get started? Hut-hut, hike!
Google
This year’s ad by Google was made to evoke emotion. Pulling at someone’s heartstrings is a great tactic you can use as inspiration for your marketing.
Overall, this ad was very simple. During the ad, you can hear a man’s voice as he reminisces about his late wife and tells his Google Assistant to remember things about her.
While this ad wasn’t complex or driven by action like some of the others, it does open up a sense of vulnerability. When you use emotion in an ad or your marketing, it creates memories, and the more memorable your business is, the more likely it will push consumers to take action.
Focusing on pain points of consumers and creating an advertisement around that will also help evoke emotion.
Sadness, happiness, fear, anger, disgust and surprise are different types of emotions to use in your marketing.
T-Mobile
Now that we’ve gotten the sad commercial out of the way, I want to move on to a commercial that gave me a good chuckle. Why? Because it was so relatable!
Throughout the commercial, Anthony Anderson’s mother was skeptical that T-Mobile’s 5G network would work anywhere. Well, it does, and Anthony was constantly getting calls telling him that it was working.
Personally, this commercial hit close to home because my mom is always calling me asking for help with her computer or phone.
As a small business, making your advertisements relatable is one of the best routes to go, but make sure to keep your audience in mind.
The T-Mobile commercial did a great job with this ad because of the generational gap between Anthony and his mother. Anthony knew what was best because he has been immersed in technology for most of his life, unlike his mother.
Creating content that is relatable will help you gain more consumers.
Planters
By far, this was one of my favorite commercials from the Super Bowl!
About ten days before Super Bowl Sunday, Planters released a commercial showing their beloved mascot Mr. Peanut fall to his death. If you missed it, you can watch the first commercial below.
While it was tragic that Mr. Peanut died, he did it in a heroic way. It did evoke sadness and the internet blew up with posts about his death.
A few days after, it was announced that there would be another commercial by Planters to be released during the big game honoring Mr. Peanut.
About halfway through the game, the Planters commercial aired and it began with a funeral for Mr. Peanut. Mr. Clean and the Kool-Aid Man made an appearance in the commercial (and played an important role).
The commercial took a turn as a tear dropped from the Kool-Aid Man’s cheek onto where Mr. Peanut was buried. What appeared was a new baby peanut!
While we expected this commercial to be completely sad, it did a 180 and went the opposite direction!
If you think about it from a marketing perspective, Mr. Peanut's death was a rebranding effort by Planters.
What’s really great about this set of commercials is that it kept us wanting more. We were so saddened by the first commercial that we needed to tune in for the second commercial during the game.
You can also use this tactic in your marketing! Don't give your audience all of the details at once. Spread it out across multiple days, weeks or months depending on the campaign you're running.
Perhaps you're opening a new location, launching a new product or rebranding entirely. Giving consumers snippets of information will have them on the edge of their seats wanting more!
Saint Archer Gold
There's nothing wrong with a little healthy competition, and no, I'm not talking about the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers (although the game was a nail-biter).
While there were several commercials for alcohol during this year's game, the Saint Archer Gold ad stood out compared to the others.
While some brands make it very obvious they're comparing their product to another, Saint Archer Gold didn't take that route. Instead, the company tastefully marketed its product as "A light beer worth holding out for."
They didn't actually say anything about their competitor Michelob Ultra being a bad option, but rather their product was worth the wait and the hassle of going to several different stores.
As a local business owner, you should definitely consider this approach for your marketing. Competition can be fierce, but you should market yourself in a way where you don't have to say anything about your competitor and people will still choose your business.
Of course, your marketing doesn't have to be silent like the Saint Archer Gold commercial. You should focus on what makes your business different and unique. By spotlighting those items, you won't even need to mention your competition.
Final Thoughts
These commercials from the 2020 big game are just a few examples of how you can use any type of marketing as inspiration.
Even though big brands spend millions of dollars on commercials, you don't need to do the same to have effective advertising. When it comes down to it, these companies use simple marketing tactics that are proven to work!
When you're considering a new marketing strategy for your business, remember to evoke emotion, make your content relatable, keep your audience at the edge of their seat and be tasteful.
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