American football, the Halftime Show, and legendary advertisements, a.k.a. the PR dream. Over time the Super Bowl has come to stand as a global attraction, with millions tuning in to watch the game, and more prevalently, to see the elusive adverts and the Halftime Show. Following Super Bowl 51, it is worth examining this annual sporting event as the golden PR opportunity that it is.
It’s that time of year when the big brands battle it out and pump huge amounts of money into the world’s most expensive advertising slots to create content that will grab the US’, and the globe’s, attention. Often cinematic in nature, these adverts become as big a talking point as the game itself, and so the execution needs to be perfect. This year, the adverts were notably rooted in current affairs, with political undertones across all of the brand messages, either to speak out against the current political situation, or to portray themselves as a bipartisan brand. Here’s Budweiser’s offering, which tells the tale of the company’s German co-founder, Adolphus Busch, arriving in America, facing and defeating adversity to set up his brewing company:
And here’s Coca-Cola’s ad, which first aired in 2014, but has the pertinent message, “America Is Beautiful” – perhaps a deliberate contrast to the Trump administration’s “Make America Great Again!” slogan:
https://youtu.be/LhP5sDUnF6c
Additionally, the Halftime Show in itself has become a platform for PR stunts, with performers trying to out-do the show from the year before with large scale displays of dance routines, flames, fireworks, drones: the works! And it’s no coincidence that they announce a new album or world tour simultaneously. Indeed Beyoncé twice used the Super Bowl stage to launch her most recent albums and world tours. It’s a formula that works, and it only gets bigger and better every year.
With a saturated and noisy marketplace, the Super Bowl is still a surefire hit for reaching the largest amount of people almost instantaneously. With the dominance of social media, and the sporting event being broadcast live around the globe, the Super Bowl is the perfect platform to attract, engage and retain consumers, to generate virality, and to rocket brands, be they companies, products or celebrity performers, into the forefront of global consumers’ minds overnight.
Charlotte Goss is a 4th year CAM student at Ulster University. She can be contacted at https://uk.linkedin.com/in/charlotte-goss-b4389895, and on Twitter @CharlotteGoss94