Super Bowl Sunday is here, and already a lot of eyes are on the big commercials we’ll see during tonight’s game. Two spots, in particular, are really climbing up the view count, totaling over 30 Million! As Ad Meter counts down to kickoff time, …
Super Bowl Sunday is here, and already a lot of eyes are on the big commercials we’ll see during tonight’s game. Two spots, in particular, are really climbing up the view count, totaling over 30 Million!
As Ad Meter counts down to kickoff time, let’s check in with AdBlitz, a YouTube exclusive, and see what two are rushing to the top.
Amazon: “Before Alexa”
Amazon’s “Before Alexa” ad has already been on people’s radar this week thanks to a quirky teaser that shows Ellen and Portia battling over the room temperature. Now, the full spot is out and people are heading over to YouTube to watch it—a lot of people.
Who doesn’t love a comical nod to the Boston accent? (Apparently, not many.) The Hyundai spot featuring Chris Evans, John Krasinski, Rachel Dratch, and David “Big Papi” Ortiz is picking up momentum and right behind Amazon’s view count.
Cobie Smulders thinks Toyota’s Super Bowl ad, which was unveiled Saturday afternoon, has a little bit of everything. The 60-second spot was shot over parts of four days, Smulders said, in a variety of locations around Los Angeles. There’s a humorous …
Cobie Smulders thinks Toyota’s Super Bowl ad, which was unveiled Saturday afternoon, has a little bit of everything.
The 60-second spot was shot over parts of four days, Smulders said, in a variety of locations around Los Angeles. There’s a humorous quality to it, but also a sense of adventure.
“It was like shooting a short film, really,” Smulders told USA TODAY Sports in an interview. “A very, very short film.”
Smulders, of “How I Met Your Mother” and “The Avengers” fame, said she’s excited to star in her first Super Bowl commercial, though as a native of Canada she has only recently started to understand the passion surrounding the sport. In Toyota’s spot, she is driving around various scenes and helping stereotypical movie characters who have been left behind — a cowboy, someone battling an apparent alien monster and the like.
“Toyota has kind of decided to make the driver of the car this hero, which they chose me to play, which I’m very flattered by,” Smulders said. “It’s a woman and it’s a mother, and she’s kind of going around and saving the day.
“So there’s this adventure element to the commercial. There’s a CGI element. But there’s also a very funny element.”
When it comes to creating a Super Bowl ad, it’s easy to throw out the generalized “Go Big or Go Home” analogy. It’s a big stage-arguably the biggest-and the amount of eyes locked onto the commercials has oftentimes been the top story from Super Bowl …
When it comes to creating a Super Bowl ad, it’s easy to throw out the generalized “Go Big or Go Home” analogy. It’s a big stage—arguably the biggest—and the amount of eyes locked onto the commercials has oftentimes been the top story from Super Bowl Sunday. (See: 2019). So, understandably, when creating a campaign, the idea of going big makes sense.
But when you’re Rocket Mortgage, the largest mortgage lender in America, and you get Jason Momoa, one of the largest actors (literally and in Hollywood star power) to be in your spot for this Sunday’s game…well, that provides an interesting update to the terminology.
The Detroit-based lending company is back in the Super Bowl ad lineup this year with a spot that ties into a new campaign called “Get Comfortable.” The concept, as Quicken Loans CMO Casey Hurbis explained to USA Today’s Ad Meter, is simple: “We want people to be as comfortable financing a home as they are living in it.”
How they accomplished creating the delivery of that message for the massive audience on Sunday is an interesting tale. It began over this past summer. The team started looking at different ideas, beginning the creative process, and one particular concept quickly rose to the top. And with that winning concept, there was one person who came to mind.
“It was with Jason!” Hurbis enthusiastically recalled, an exclamatory prompt associated with a no-brainer.
The exciting part of that revelation, however, was the feeling was mutual. Never one to shy away from the creative process, the feedback from the Hollywood star wasn’t just a yes, followed by a signature on the dotted line. Instead, the overall excitement for the campaign grew into a partnership. “He was part of the creative development with us,” Hurbis explained.
Understanding how the process goes for creating these commercials is never an exact science, but it doesn’t hurt to have someone experienced like Casey Hurbis. He’s been part of five Super Bowl campaigns, including Rocket Mortgage’s 2018 ad with Keegan Michael Key (that finished 11th in the Ad Meter Rankings that year). He took that propitious momentum and allowed it to flow into the “next” creative step for the company, and by December, production was set to shoot the 2020 Super Bowl commercial—which would be a first for the talented actor.
But would it be?
The answer to that is not as simple. Casey, who still holds true to “old school thought” as he puts it , doesn’t like to release the full spot until the night of the game. But within the tight timeframe of production and the small window to tell the story in the actual ad, came extra footage that might have never seen the light of day, cutting-room material. And in a social media-driven world that seemed like an opportunity—and it wasn’t missed.
Momoa liked the daily cuts so much, he deiced to start sending out funny tidbits on his social media. The engagement from his 14.6 million followers has grown mightily, well into the 10,000s. As Hurbis noted, “It showed just how great it’s been, this whole concept of ‘getting comfortable at home’—it’s a really fun and engaging way to show how Jason can be, away from the camera and expectations when he’s at home.”
And Jason Momoa, if the several teasers released by Rocket Mortgage are any small indication, is certainly fun at home.
“It was a hard sprint at the end,” admitted Hurbis. “But having the power of Jason and (Quicken Loan’s) brands together, just knowing the high level of content we did, we knew that having him doing his first commercial ever, we’d be able to build a lot of momentum around that. And we’re excited to bring not only the spot in the Super Bowl, but the campaign to life.”
Again, that feeling is mutual, as Jason Momoa added: “People are going to be blown away by the Super Bowl commercial. The creative was awesome, and we all worked together to make it hysterical. I got to poke fun at myself a bit, as did my wife, and we had a blast. The spot made us laugh, and it’s going to make America laugh too. I can’t wait to hear what everyone thinks.”
Doritos has become a stalwart in the world of Super Bowl advertising in recent years – and 2020 is no exceptioin. The brand decided to head west with its 60-second Super Bowl spot this year, using rapper Lil Nas X and longtime actor Sam Elliott to …
Doritos has become a stalwart in the world of Super Bowl advertising in recent years — and 2020 is no exceptioin.
The brand decided to head west with its 60-second Super Bowl spot this year, using rapper Lil Nas X and longtime actor Sam Elliott to pitch its ranch-flavored chips. In the ad, the pair meet for an old-fashioned shootout in an unlikely format: A dance battle. Lil Nas X, who made waves last year with his country-rap single “Old Town Road”, ultimately comes out on top — but Elliott has some tricks up his sleeve, too.
Check out the full commercial, which will air during the third quarter of Super Bowl LIV, below.
Amazon is just two years removed from its first Ad Meter title, and it finished second with last year’s spot featuring Harrison Ford. This year, the company is back with a 90-second spot, again centered around its virtual assistant, that wonders …
Amazon is just two years removed from its first Ad Meter title, and it finished second with last year’s spot featuring Harrison Ford.
This year, the company is back with a 90-second spot, again centered around its virtual assistant, that wonders “what did people do before Alexa?”
In the commercial, which was released Wednesday, Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi are the stars that spark a journey a host of historic settings and scenes, from a medieval court to the White House under President Richard Nixon. (There is, of course, a reference to destroying tapes.)
Before he was a star at Alabama and a first-round draft pick in the NFL, Oakland Raiders rookie running back Josh Jacobs was homeless for stretches as a child. He bounced around with his father and siblings between hotels and, for one brief stint, …
Before he was a star at Alabama and a first-round draft pick in the NFL, Oakland Raiders rookie running back Josh Jacobs was homeless for stretches as a child. He bounced around with his father and siblings between hotels and, for one brief stint, slept in a car.
“I understood what was going on, but I didn’t think it was as bad as it really was,” Jacobs told The Washington Post last year. “I guess I kind of normalized everything.”
Now, Jacobs’ rise and the issue of youth homelessness and are at the center of a Super Bowl ad unveiled by Kia on Wednesday, in which the running back counsels his younger self. The 60-second spot is part of the company’s “Yards Against Homelessness” campaign, in which Kia has pledged to donate $1,000 for every yard gained in Super Bowl LIV to three charity partners.
“We at Kia both admire and identify with Josh’s tenacity and determination,” Kia Motors America’s director of marketing operations Russell Wager said in a news release.
Watch Kia’s full spot, which is titled “Tough Never Quits,” below.
Little Caesars is upping the ante with its first ever Super Bowl commercial, offering free lunch combos to customers across the United States if its 30-second spot wins USA TODAY’s Ad Meter. The commercial, which stars Rainn Wilson of “The Office” …
Little Caesars is upping the ante with its first ever Super Bowl commercial, offering free lunch combos to customers across the United States if its 30-second spot wins USA TODAY’s Ad Meter.
The commercial, which stars Rainn Wilson of “The Office” fame, builds upon the premise that Little Caesars’ delivery is “better than sliced bread” by checking in on the CEO of “Sliced Bread, Inc.” — who is struggling with that revelation. The company said an Ad Meter victory would result in one free lunch combo per family at participating stores between 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. local time on Feb. 17.
“If we win Ad Meter, it’ll also be a big score for pizza lovers!” Little Caesars senior vice president of global marketing Jeff Klein said in a news release.
Check out the full spot, which will air in the third quarter, below.
Heinz decided to take a unique and artistic approach to its Super Bowl ad this year. In the 30-second spot, which was unveiled Wednesday, the company actually divides the screen into four quadrants, each airing a different scene simultaneously. The …
Heinz decided to take a unique and artistic approach to its Super Bowl ad this year.
In the 30-second spot, which was unveiled Wednesday, the company actually divides the screen into four quadrants, each airing a different scene simultaneously. The common theme in all four storylines turns out to be the presence of Heinz ketchup.
Roman Coppola, the son of renowned director Francis Ford Coppola, directed the visually striking spot, which will air in the second quarter.
“To think of a way that four stories can share resemblance, be on the screen together, be cohesive and visually attractive, and be inviting for the viewer to watch, was a fun challenge that gave a very interesting set of parameters to work within,” Coppola said in a news release. “We tried to be creative and also strict about the form, to make the ad best suited for people to see four things at once.”
Chrissy Teigen and her husband, John Legend, will introduce Super Bowl viewers to “new luxury” on Sunday night. Genesis, a brand of luxury vehicles under the Hyundai umbrella, released its first Super Bowl commercial Tuesday night, with Teigen and …
Chrissy Teigen and her husband, John Legend, will introduce Super Bowl viewers to “new luxury” on Sunday night.
Genesis, a brand of luxury vehicles under the Hyundai umbrella, released its first Super Bowl commercial Tuesday night, with Teigen and Legend serving as main characters at a party filled with “old luxury” stereotypes. The 60-second commercial starring the celebrity couple will air in the second quarter.
“We all believed that John and Chrissy best represent the kind of pure honesty and approachability that old luxury never had,” said Innocean USA’s Bob Rayburn, the executive creative director of the agency that created the spot. “Most luxury advertising acts like once your income reaches a certain level, your sense of humor gets surgically removed. As a vibrant young luxury brand, Genesis wanted to take a more humorous approach, John and Chrissy embody that flawlessly.”
MTN DEW Zero Sugar is out to prove that some things can be as good as the original and has brought in two new offseason residents at The Overlook Hotel to do it: Award-winning actors, Bryan Cranston and Tracee Ellis Ross. The two star in the PepsiCo …
MTN DEW Zero Sugar is out to prove that some things can be as good as the original and has brought in two new offseason residents at The Overlook Hotel to do it: Award-winning actors, Bryan Cranston and Tracee Ellis Ross.
The two star in the PepsiCo brand’s 30-second Super Bowl LIV spot, a nostalgic nod to the “The Shining” that adds a new twist on a classic introduction.
Ironically, although he downplays it a bit, Bryan Cranston does a pretty decent Jack Nicholson impersonation. When Ad Meter spoke to the actor about his role in the Super Bowl spot, Nicholson’s uniquely iconic voice and persona were mentioned, followed by a brief pause—and then ,it happened. “You can’t help but talk like him,” he smoothly exclaimed in classic Nicholson-ese.
The interesting thing, however, was the eventual answer to the question was no. It was something that he and the director Tom Kuntz—who won an Emmy for Commercial of the Year in 2010—both agreed would be a wise sidestep. “I told Tom that I didn’t want to do an impersonation of (Jack),” Cranston candidly recalled. “And he said, ‘Oh no. We don’t want you to do that either.'”
The idea instead would be to recreate the infamous “Here’s Johnny!” scene— including a set design that even used a few props from the original set to make everything as realistic as possible—and rely upon the actor’s talents to pull off a difficult challenge: make the product the star while not going overboard, or over time.
That left the possibility of things falling flat, but it also avoided any flashy takes that would overshadow the buildup. And it was that type of pre-production coordination between actor, director, and everyone involved, that allowed the story to be told authentically…and in 30 seconds.
The time crunch, as the Breaking Bad star humorously noted, certainly would have been a nightmare for the film’s original director Stanley Kubrick (whom he studied and admired). But it was something Kuntz was able to manage, and Cranston benefited from it.
“I leaned on Tom a lot,” he explained, “to keep me focused on the tempo and the timing of it, and how sometimes compressed that storytelling is—different from doing film or television, or even the stage.”
How the efforts are received on the biggest stage—Super Bowl Sunday—will ultimately reveal how much of a shining moment all of it is.
Check out the EXCLUSIVE behind-the-scenes photos with Bryan Cranston and Tracee Ellis Ross:
