See the marketing genius behind why these commercials won the Super Bowl.
Super Bowl LII has come and gone, with the Philadelphia Eagles coming out of it a historic winner—this was the team’s first Super Bowl win.
With this year’s game reaching 103.4 million viewers, the Eagles are not the only winners of the NFL championship. Many people tune in with excitement for the game, but for the Super Bowl commercials as well. Here is a look at a few of our favorites from this year, and why they were such a big hit.
It's a Tide Ad
There is no question that Tide dominated the advertising game during Super Bowl LII. David Harbour starred as the spokesperson and with it he brought the perfect level of humor to the commercial. What set the ad apart, however, is how they managed to make themselves ubiquitous by ensuring you would think of them when seeing the rest of the Super Bowl commercials that ran that night. The company’s approach was to parody stereotypical commercials for products like beer, cars, insurance, shaving cream, and workout programs while pointing out that their product is in every one of these commercials.
Outside of detergent commercials, when has a commercial featured someone in dirty clothes? Tide took this and proved their product to be valuable and essential for everyone. The commercial, which had a light hearted feel throughout as it parodied ads for commonly known products, ends with the line, “If it’s clean, it’s got to be Tide.”
Rocket Mortgage by Quicken Loans
Keeping with the light hearted feel was the ad for Quicken Loans, who enlisted the talents of Keegan-Michael Key and loosely made use of his character Luther—President Barack Obama’s anger translator from the actor’s comedy show.. While Key did not exactly portray Luther, he did make use of the character’s general purpose by translating difficult situations for people and simplifying them. It stood out from the other Super Bowl commercials by implying that Quicken Loans’ product can get you out of a tough situation with a much needed reprieve. It used several relatable scenarios like:
- A woman at a hair salon not understanding what the stylist’s plans for her hair are.
- A confused restaurant goer blankly staring at the waitress who attempts to explain a menu item to no avail.
- A father trying to understand a rap song that his son is singing along to.
- A woman swiping through a dating app as she tries to decipher what their occupations really are.
In the end, we are left understanding that when it comes to mortgages—which require quite an arduous process—Quicken Loans has the perfect solution.
Kia Stinger
In a more serious and even reminiscent tone, Kia enlisted the help of rock legend Steven Tyler and a brief cameo from Brazilian racing icon Emerson Fittipaldi. With an instrumental version of the Aerosmith classic “Dream On” as its backdrop, Steven Tyler and Kia defied history as the former walked onto a racetrack, got into a Kia Stinger, and raced circles around the track—in reverse.
With the use of some seriously impressive CGI effects, the result was an astounding rendition of a younger Steven Tyler. With the slogan “Feel something again,” the implications were clear—Kia aims to reach thrillseekers who want to act as young as they feel. The use of special effects to literally turn back time on Steven Tyler in such a realistic way made this of the coolest Super Bowl commercials of the night.
Budweiser
On a more serious note, Budweiser chose to focus their ad this year on Anheuser-Busch’s emergency water program and the efforts that went into reaching those areas in our country that went through some of the heaviest natural disasters of 2017. With Skylar Grey’s stripped down cover of “Stand By Me” in the background, we see from the perspective of the factory workers what it was like to focus their work on reaching their fellow man during such tragic times of need.
More than anything else, this commercial was meant to call to attention the areas that suffered, with Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico, and California all having their name briefly appear on screen as a silent acknowledgment that they are not forgotten. Additionally, this was a way of recognizing the factory workers who put in the manual labor to make their efforts possible. The feel was definitely somber and hopeful all at the same time, reflecting what has been an ongoing battle for recovery in areas all around the U.S. over the last year.
Ram Trucks
Among a sea of Super Bowl commercials, the Ram Trucks ad was not only rocked out but was viking-packed. The look and feel of it were done in such a way that the commercial could have passed as a movie trailer. The use of vikings was not a decision casually made, as it was in reference to how close the Minnesota Vikings came to advancing to Super Bowl LII before falling out two weeks prior.
The subtle hints persist throughout as the vikings embark on a journey of across seas and land, it is not until the 30 seconds in that we see they are Minneapolis bound only to turn around and go all the way back upon being notified they will not be needed at “tonight’s matchup.”
The commercial ends with the tagline “built for the unexpected,” which served as both the carmaker’s slogan and a nod at the Minnesota Vikings and how their season ended. This commercial stood out in that it told a story all on its own but used a narrative that anyone following this NFL season could have followed and appreciated.
