More than 100 million people will be watching the Super Bowl this weekend, largely for the game or because they’re at a party. This year, plenty will also be in it for the Taylor Swift effect.
And then there’s that small group that watches the games just for the commercials.
This year, a 30-second commercial will cost about $7 million just to air, never mind how much it costs to produce. And as some of the commercials airing Sunday start to leak, you’re seeing commercials featuring David Schwimmer and Jennifer Aniston, or even Christopher Walken as he reacts to people doing bad impressions of him.
But are big celebrities necessary? Not if you hit the right tone.
“You’re spending a ton of money, you want to get it right. But it is hard to do,” said Hank Boyd, a clinical professor of marketing at the University of Maryland.
Noting how festive things are around the Super Bowl, with people gathered together to eat and drink, he said there’s a few things winning commercials have to do to resonate.
“It’s going to be funny, it’s going to be humorous. There’s going to be something about joy, about life,” Boyd said. “Those are the commercials, I think, that are going to win. Because they still have to be entertaining.”
Some companies are famous for keeping their commercials under lock and key until they air, worried about spoiling the new surprise. But Boyd said smarter companies will at least run them by key employees ahead of time to get their reaction. And he wouldn’t be surprised if some of them at least mentioned Taylor Swift, or even parodied all the attention her relationship with Travis Kelce has brought to the NFL this year.
“I think that advertisers now can create ads on such short time spans and clocks, why not take advantage of what everyone’s talking about,” he said. “So, the idea of finding one’s true love and having it wrapped around the greatest brand out there and sports — the NFL — makes sense.”
Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here.
© 2024 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.
