WePlay Roundup: Super Bowl 50 Adverts Take Centre Stage

The Super Bowl, arguably the world’s biggest annual sporting event is a spectacle both on and off the pitch – for many, what happens in between the action is more important than the gameplay itself. With a thirty second TV ad slot costing $5m, brands fork out huge sums of money to catch the attention of the global audience.

Super Bowl 50 was no different to previous years, with plenty of enticing campaigns and highly diverse and engaging commercials from a range of brands!

The ad space is more than just paying for a thirty second slot on TV, it’s about telling a story across multiple digital platforms including Twitter and Instagram. So who came out on top in the battle of the brands?

Here are our top 5 Super Bowl 50 commercials:

Audi

We all know that during the commercial breaks, a fleet of car companies will release a star-studded advert but how do you stand out from the crowd? Well this one minute advert was fast paced and dynamic, just like their $200,000, 205 mph, R8 sports car on show.

And was a relevant tie in to the recent passing of music icon David Bowie, as Audi used his ‘Starman’ single as the soundtrack to the advert.

Kia

I don’t think anyone has ever compared a car to a pair of socks, let alone a pair of beige socks! Kia took a different approach to their previous Super Bowl campaigns by using celebrity Christopher Walken to promote the new generation of the Kia Optima vehicle. This year, Kia wanted their campaign to be more fun and #AddPizzazz.

The commercial seems to have caught the attention of both fans and brands as H&M jumped on the ‘Pizzazz’ bandwagon, using the hashtag to promote their products.

Death Wish Coffee

Death Wish Coffee, a small startup business, mixed it with the big boys during the Super Bowl, after they won the Intuit QuickBooks Small Business Big Game contest which included an all expenses paid commercial during the third quarter of the championship game.

Hyundai

In Hollywood films, there is always that one stereotypical ‘overprotective father’ scene, and Hyundai have captured this perfectly with the help of actor and comedian Kevin Hart. Using Hyundai’s latest ‘Car Finder’ feature, Hart tracks his daughter and her potential boyfriend on their first date, letting her suitor know he will never be out of his sites!

Hyundai used the endorsement of Kevin Hart to perfection, involving a celebrity who is current and relevant. Hart has been in the press recently promoting his latest film, Ride Along 2.

Snickers

Building on the success of their previous ‘you’re not you when you’re hungry’ campaigns, Snickers once again used this theme for their Super Bowl 50 commercial. But how do you run an existing campaign but switch it up to make it unique and surprising? Well, you use Willem Dafoe and dress him up as Marilyn Monroe in a white dress and heels!

Twitter about to simplify sharing GIFs

In an attempt to boost engagement, Twitter is testing a dedicated GIF button for mobiles, enabling people to directly share GIFs on the platform. This sparked a flurry of GIFs to be tweeted by users expressing their feedback, which would suggest the move has been received well. If this feature is officially rolled out, it will be exciting to see if it actually increases the number of GIFs shared and the engagement on the platform.

WhatsApp has passed the 1 billion daily users mark

With 1 in 7 people in the world using the platform everyday, WhatsApp boasts more users than Facebook Messenger’s 800 million. Although it is the global leader, Whatsapp still has challenges ahead as it is not dominating in every country. For example, WeChat has more than 500 million users in China whilst Line and Kakao Talk are extremely popular in Japan and South Korea respectively.

Facebook comments can now be replied to privately

Since Wednesday 3rd February, all Facebook page administrators have the possibility to privately reply to comments left on their page. This new feature will help brands to handle customer requests more efficiently as private messages are often more appropriate for privacy reasons. Additionally, the replied comment will show a note so the new feature doesn’t prevent companies from showcasing their customer service to other people visiting the page.

Instagram unveils 60 second video ads

Previously limited to 15-30 seconds, Instagram video adverts can now be 60 seconds long. The new feature is a way to further monetise the platform as it gives brands further scope to promote their products and services. Unlike YouTube’s video adverts, Instagram’s videos are harder to ignore due to the nature of the main feed. Additionally, ads are less intrusive as people can simply scroll down to dismiss the video instead of having to wait for the ‘Skip’ button.

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