Context

Storytelling, celebrity appearances, and music became the key highlights of the Super Bowl 2022 commercials. Super Bowl LVI was here, and nothing stopped new as well as old brands from leveraging their commercial ads to be aired during the event’s uber-expensive commercial slots.

NBC — the Super Bowl’s broadcaster this year — acknowledged that ad sales were going at a “record pace”, and 30-second spots had sold for $6.5 million. That’s not stopping brand giants like Lay’s, Cheetos, Marvel, GM, and Pepsi from scooping them up. This is approximately $1 million more than spending in 2021.  

In 2021, CBS sold Super Bowl spots for an average of $5.6 million, as reported by Bloomberg. Modern-day rates illustrate a stark contrast from the $37,500 from the first Super Bowl’s 30 seconds screentime cost in 1967.

According to Dan Lovinger, executive vice president of advertising sales for NBC Sports Group, the number of ads aired during the game is going to be around 80-90, like in previous years. First-time advertisers like Crypto.com and Enfamil are joining longtime advertisers Budweiser, Pepsi, Toyota, and Doritos. At the same time, brands like Vroom made a comeback at Super Bowl LVI in SoFi stadium in Los Angeles.  

Advertisers’ main challenge is creating messages that resonate with the right people and grab their attention. Brands are eyeing the event to air catchy TV commercials that entertain viewers and woo them into buying their products. That’s because the game is a big stage for marketers, watched by roughly 100 million people.  

Brands have recorded measurable impact after airing Super Bowl commercials. These tactics are pivotal for brands, as they reach a highly targeted audience, making this a great place to advertise.

Enfamil

Its minute-long commercial celebrates preemies, titled “Premature,” features Super Bowl babies who arrived too soon!  

According to Entropik’s emotion insights, the ad recorded solid attention and engagement levels at 64.25 and 36.47. The ad collected a decent top-of-the-list Affect Lab score of 46.31. The ‘ad garners higher than benchmarking scores and performed at par for visual appeal and positive emotions.

However, the negative emotions were also significantly high – due to the children shown in NICU-like arrangements. From the 42nd second to the 46th second, when Mekhi Becton makes an appearance, attention spikes, and happiness and surprise emotions peak when viewers figure out the plot.

Towards the end, from 55th seconds to 59th seconds, the final brand name and tagline display perform superior when it comes to attention, engagement, positive and negative emotions.

Pepsi: Road to Super Bowl LVI

The 127 seconds starry ad features Super Bowl champions is grabbing eyeballs with nearly 290K views on YouTube. In this commercial, PepsiCo’s Beverage and Frito-Lay Brands Unite for Joint NFL Playoff Campaign, “Road to Super Bowl LVI,” advertising a wide range of products.

Stats reveal that 90% of households enjoy snacks and beverages together on Super Bowl Sunday.   The spot upsells the camaraderie that happens when viewers come together and enjoy football with their favorite snacks and drinks.

Entropik’s emotion insights tell the same story about this catchy ad as the commercial garners a strong attention score of 64.13 along with a decent engagement level of 35.35. The Affect Lab score remains at 46.05, significantly higher than the industry benchmark at 44.75.

The engagement rises when the players board the Superbowl bus and peaks at 116th second, where Bradshaw enjoys on the roof of the bus with a handful of snacks and drinks.  

2022 Chevy Silverado – Boyfriend | Chevrolet

In this commercial bagging 167K views on YouTube alone, ad uses a clever narrative to showcase Chevy Silverado’s latest features.

According to Entropik’s emotion report, attention levels peak to an average of 64.7, higher than the industry benchmark, and engagement chalks up to 28.7. The Affect Lab rating is 41.96, which is slightly less than the industry benchmarking.

The engagement dips at the 14th second during the conversation between the father and the boyfriend. The engagement rises again when the father explains the features of the car in the final segment.

However, scores peak again when the viewers can see the view of the car completely with the tagline” Find New Roads”.  

Cheetos | Questions?

Megan Thee Stallion may have exotic animals as co-stars in flamin’ hot’s super bowl ad, or that’s what the short commercial with over 3.6 million views on YouTube tells us.

Entropik’s emotion insights unveil that the ad records a strong attention score of 64.48 and an AL rating of 41.57. The engagement levels remain at 25.5. While the Cheetos commercial had high visual appeal, the comprehension was lower than the category benchmark.  

In Cheetos, elements like ‘sloth bear’ lack appeal. The creative also garners high negative emotions as the product window is small and limited. From 6th second to 8th second, as Megan Thee Stallion makes an entry with the product in her hand and converses with the lady, the attention spikes, and there is decent engagement.

Then at the 31st-32nd seconds, the ‘flamin’ hot’ tagline appears written on the board, and noticeability and earned attention are recorded at a high.

Marvel- Moon Night

The trailer sources reveal that Moon Knight collected more than 75 million views in its first 24 hours.

As per Entropik’s emotion insights, the trailer records peaking attention of 65.62 and engagement of 23.92.  The AffectLab rating reaches 41.39. Marvel, too scores significantly low on comprehension, positive and negative emotions vs. the category benchmarking scores.  

At the 1.08-1.12 mins, when the anti-hero gets a call and he is shocked talking to someone who addresses them as “Mark,” the attention and engagement rise.  

When the protagonist appears in a mask at 1.45 mins-1.50 mins, the emotion graph witnesses the maximum spikes and dips. Even with Disney, in spite of prolonged noticeability, there is high retention and high positive emotions. It highlights the high likeability of the brand and its content.

Besides, when the Marvel logo comes on early in the ad, gets clear screen time, and stands out against the black background, it records relatively high positive emotions and low negative emotions.  

Summary

While the price of ads has skyrocketed, Super Bowl viewership has drastically dropped in the last five years. The biggest drop was recorded in last year’s game, which garnered nearly eight million less viewers than the year before. Here, an exciting stat reveals that big names have theoretically increased viewership during halftime.

It’s not just another ad; Super Bowl

commercials are changing the dynamics of branding and marketing. Getting a Super Bowl commercial spot is a huge investment for any brand, so you need to be sure your ad makes the right impact!

Is it the story-telling, music, or celebs? What does it take to create the winning #SuperBowl ads?
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