Even so, marketers and agency execs say that the importance of the Super Bowl remains high as it is one of the few events where consumers are tuning in live and actually paying attention to the ads. That attention \u2013 harder and harder to come by \u2013 is why marketers are still willing to shell out up to $7 million for a 30-second spot on Super Bowl LVII on Fox on Feb. 12, despite the economic downturn.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That\u2019s not to say all brands are ready to pony up that kind of cash \u2014 some like Toyota<\/a> and Carmax<\/a>, among others, are sitting out this year\u2019s game. As for categories, \u201cmovies and streamers are the category that is up the most,\u201d said Jon Lefferts, evp of integrated investments at UM.\u00a0<\/p>\n The price increase at a time when many marketers are pulling back on ad spending given economic uncertainty will have marketers looking to get as much bang for their buck as possible with the game to justify the investment, according to marketers and agency execs.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cMarketers are stretching investments as much as possible,\u201d said Brendan Gahan, partner and chief social officer at Mekanism. \u201cThere\u2019s a greater emphasis on TV placements integrating second-screen experiences to generate a halo effect of earned media [and engagement].\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Gahan continued: \u201cTo maximize their dollars, brands will be maximizing consumer engagement. I think Coinbase\u2019s QR code activation last year opened a lot of people\u2019s eyes. The Super Bowl doesn\u2019t need to be a pure brand-building exercise. Undoubtedly, we\u2019ll see the impact of that. Forward thinking brands will be opening the aperture and expanding beyond \u2018celeb + funny commercial = success\u2019 model.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Will 2023 be the year of QR codes in the Super Bowl? That remains to be seen, but marketers will be looking to find ways to get consumers to pay attention to their brand \u2013 whatever that may be \u2013 beyond the 30-second spot they\u2019ve got in the Big Game.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cA few years back, brands were trying to rewrite the rules for the Super Bowl by using the second screen,\u201d said Tom Murphy, CCO at Wunderman Thompson North America. \u201cThe coolest thing possible was to hijack attention by not even having a spot in the game, but doing something designed to steal attention.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Murphy continued: \u201cBut in the last two Super Bowls, we\u2019ve seen brands breaking the rules with their spots themselves \u2013 most notably Reddit, and then last year, Coinbase. Both of those ads rethought what a Super Bowl spot can be. This year, brands will be out to mess with the structure of what a spot on the game can be.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Some expect that might be by using AI in some way<\/a>, something that\u2019s become a very hot topic in marketing and media in recent weeks. \u201cI think we\u2019ll be seeing a lot of references to or use of AI,\u201d said Ben Wolan, executive creative director at DDB San Francisco. \u201cWith the rise of Midjourney, Dall-E, and ChatGPT, it feels inevitable.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Keith Cartwright, founder and CCO of agency Cartwright, echoed that sentiment: \u201cIf I had to guess, AI will play some role in this year\u2019s Super Bowl, too. It\u2019s the talk of the tech world and ours.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n That being said, marketers expect that a return to humor will dominate the Big Game ads as the current climate makes people seek out a good laugh in challenging times. \u201cWe know comedy will probably be king,\u201d said Cartwright. \u201cPeople are still looking to laugh, especially during a moment like the Super Bowl.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Aflac is carving out more budget for women\u2019s basketball. Why?\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n From a business strategy perspective, it makes sense for us to invest there. But also, it\u2019s the right thing to do. If we can use our superpowers for good, which in this case is a sponsor\u00a0with monies to invest in a player and a fan experience, it was an easy decision to make. <\/p>\n How did you communicate with your team about this change?<\/strong><\/p>\n I had this whole ramble about how it got me a mixture of fired up and sad. [I sent] a very pointed email: Plan on the ground activities for the men\u2019s Final Four are canceled. All planning efforts, including budget, will ship towards a Women\u2019s Final Four dominance effort. Friday, March 31, 2023, between 51% and 100% of our activation spend will be allocated to the Women\u2019s Final Four in Dallas.\u00a0<\/p>\n What\u2019s Aflac\u2019s overall sports marketing strategy?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n We know that the audience we\u2019re targeting are fans of college sports. Specifically, college football and college basketball. Which is why you\u2019ll see us advertising heavily throughout the year, on Saturdays during college football season, and during March and April, with the NCAA March Madness tournament for basketball. That\u2019s top of mind for me. How do we insert ourselves in a way that\u2019s meaningful to our target audience during these passion points that they have? The bulk of the spend for a program like this, for March Madness, will be in linear. After that, the next biggest investment is our on-the-ground experiential activations. And that\u2019s similar for both football and basketball. There\u2019s CTV and OTT in there as well.\u00a0\u2014 Kimeko McCoy<\/em><\/p>\n The Netflix series \u201cEmily in Paris\u201d is still a top 10 show in 92 countries three weeks after the newest season premiered on the streamer. The titular Emily is a marketing executive, she is able to afford lavish lifestyles, designer outfits and glamorous parties, which may be why the show is apparently making viewers more interested in the gig. According to Movchan PR, \u201cEmily in Paris\u201d triggered a huge spike in marketing job searches. Here are some key findings:<\/p>\n \u201cThe whole identity thing is like the emperor\u2019s new clothes\u2026\u00a0you need to gain a deep understanding of the privacy routine of the vendor.\u201d <\/p>\n \u2014 A former in-house media executive, who now consults with CPGs on their retail media strategies, on how to gauge the right solution for the cookieless future<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n3 Questions With with Garth Knutson, head of marketing at Aflac<\/h2>\n
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