What’s most interesting
about the advertising at the big game is the number of big names that are
missing. That says a lot about the national mood.
EXPERT OPINION BY HOWARD TULLMAN, GENERAL MANAGING PARTNER, G2T3V
AND CHICAGO HIGH TECH INVESTORS @HOWARDTULLMAN1
FEB 10, 2025
One of things that puzzles me about
Super Bowl advertising is that the media thinks that ranking and commenting on the ads is far more
pressing than reporting on Elon’s latest criminal activity or Trump’s latest
invasion threat. So, given that glut, I won’t trouble you with my reactions to
the various ads other than to note that, with the exception of Bud (and the
Clydesdales—young and old) and Michelob (just two crafty Pickleball hustlers),
it seems like all of the old-fashioned heart and emotion is missing from this
year’s roster.
Warm and fuzzy has gone out of style.
High hopes and friendly folks are passé. Apparently, substituting random
celebrities and athletes, using a lot of music and CG effects, and making many
of the ads slightly snide or snarky (“we don’t judge”) is what passes for
creativity now. I’d take the old Coca-Cola ads over this tripe any day.
But what’s most interesting is how the
ad scorecard for this event is actually a very instructive barometer in some
ways for how various players, industries, and products are faring in the
post-pandemic economy. Most striking is the amazingly large number of
traditional players, big spenders, and industry leaders in multiple sectors who
elected to bail out and ignore the whole shebang. Close to a dozen brands
called the option play and canceled their earlier buys and space reservations.
Some Brands Aren’t Playing Ball
The only abrupt departure that makes
clear and obvious sense is the insurer State Farm, given the California
calamities although — to be honest — Mahomes might as well have the logo
tattooed across his forehead for all his omnipresence in their ads.
But looking at the sector-by-sector
absentees says a whole lot about our economy, our near-term prospects and
the degree of confusion and uncertainty that to some extent we’re all victims
of right now. You can draw your own conclusions, but here are some of the most
relevant facts and figures.
The auto and alcohol folks used to
drive and saturate the whole four-hour extravaganza. This year there were zero
General Motors or Ford ads; among traditional American brands, only Stellantis’
RAM and Jeep ads appeared. And alas the Caesars Superdome Stadium is no longer
named for Mercedes-Benz.
This ghosting isn’t that difficult to
understand when you look at where automotive advertising ranks now in general.
In 2012, car ads accounted for 40 percent of overall commercial airtime; by
2024 that number had plummeted to around 8 percent. Tesla, by the way, has
never advertised on TV—although the exploding Cybertrucks make great visuals
and get plenty of media attention. But not to worry; its Model 3 sales are falling apart all over the world, with
California sales down close to 40 percent thanks to the popularity of President
Musk.
You’d think that the audience for the
big game would absolutely be the ideal target for new car sellers since it
historically skews so strongly male — Swifties aside, of course. But,
interestingly enough, if you ask any of the AI systems, they will tell you that
(a) automobile purchases are largely joint husband and wife decisions, with
teenagers occasionally acting as consultants, and (b) that the gender gap in
game viewership is continuing to close, with men now about 54 percent of the
total viewers.
Beer’s Still Here
In alcohol, Anheuser-Busch InBev, the
Brazilian-Belgian-American beer monster, owns so many brands that its ads are
just about the only ones you’ll see apart from a Coors Light piece that doesn’t
really move the needle. One of the AB ads—a super-macho mashup of Post Malone,
Peyton Manning and Shane Gillis—is what the industry pros are calling an
apology ad from Bud Light for its huge blunder in 2023 when the brand launched
a super “woke” social media campaign featuring a transgender activist. We’ll
see how forgiving the MAGA crowd will be, although nothing suggests that these
morons ever forget or forgive anything, except for everything wrong that the
Orange Monster does.
In any case, seeing competitive beer
ads during the SB show is actually novel because AB has had an exclusivity lock
on these broadcasts for the last 30 years. In soft drinks, my guess is that
most viewers won’t have a clue about this year’s intros—Cirkul, Liquid Death,
and Poppi—either before or after they see the ads. No Coke, no Pepsi, and not
much fizz. Mountain Dew had semi-singer Becky G serenaded by Seal who is
probably free now from her Infinity ads since none of the main telecom players
opted to run ads.
Why the Tech Bros Benched Themselves
Another surprise is the absence of big
tech firms like Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and Snapchat. Steve Jobs used to say
that advertising was the cost of being boring although his amazing 1984
hammer-tossing ad set the curve for many years to follow. Meta was there and a
couple of website pipsqueaks like Go Daddy and Square Space, but it looks like
the tech bros felt that their cash was better spent on Trump’s inauguration and
buying seats at the table rather than on the Super Bowl fans.
The crypto crowd has also decided to
stay out of the limelight and out of jail while they work their own magic in
D.C. with all the new Trump department heads and security regulators. Don’t
expect to see too many more fields and stadiums to be named Crypto.com or FTX
Arena any time soon.
The only financial players on the
scene — the big banks are missing — are fintech newcomers like Rocket Mortgage (which had a sweet ad and a crowd participation gimmick),
Nerd Wallet and Homes.com. Performative advertising is basically their
storefront, so it’s mandatory. Every company wants to make money, but none of
them really wants to buy advertising, especially when it’s this
pricey. Sometimes you have no choice.
Most of the largest entertainment
firms, such as Paramount, Sony, Warner Bros. Discovery and Universal (Comcast)
also took a pass. Needless to say, these football fans aren’t exactly flocking
to theatres to watch films. Disney, on the other hand, ran run-of-the-mill
promo ads for shows on its network and some boring film trailers.
Food and Food Delivery Make the Big
Plays
Loads of snack ads, chips and candy galore, and a super oldy but goody from Hellmann’s featuring Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal reprising their orgasm gag from a million years ago in When Harry Met Sally, which was so tired and drained of humor that everyone involved should be embarrassed. The payoff line “I’ll have what she’s having,” originally delivered by director Rob Reiner’s mother in the original film was handed off to Sydney Sweeney in some desperate attempt to update the schtick. Maybe 99 percent of the viewers who knew Billy and Meg had no clue who Sydney was; no doubt they missed Estelle Reiner’s deadpan delivery. Coffeemate had a great CG ad with a tongue going wild and Jays ad with a little girl planting her potato was touching.
Finally, in a reflection of our
hurry-up sickness, the “food delivery” firms including Door Dash, Uber Eats,
and Instacart were as much focused on assuring folks that they could get their
grub in no time as on pitching the diversity and extent of the products being
delivered. Demonstrating once again that “time is more important than money or
taste” in today’s world. Taco Bell had Doja Cat trying to photobomb customers
using its Live Más Drive-Thru Cam lane but doesn’t say a word about its tacos.
I’m interested in your reaction and
I’d especially love to hear from those of you who mainly watch the show for the
ads, but my overall impression is that this new generation of ad execs and ad
makers has basically lost sight of the fact that the most effective ads have
had aspirational content—not just product pitches.
Very few of the Super Bowl ads (except for the great Jeep ad with Harrison Ford) had anything at all to do with making the viewers feel good about themselves or feel positive about their future. Maybe we’re all just stuck in the Trump dumps.
