Is the Cost of Super Bowl Ads Hurting Their Quality?
Watching this year’s crop of Super Bowl ads I was struck by how cheap they look. They’re still jam packed with celebrities and high production value but often one key element is missing.
For example, Jennifer Aniston and David Schwimmer star in an Uber Eats commercial, arguing over if they worked together for 10 years. Yet “Friends” isn’t mentioned and there’s not even a “we were on a break!” joke.
Meanwhile, Michelob Ultra has a soccer themed spot starring Lionel Messi and Jason Sudeikis, who is not playing Ted Lasso, the reason you cast Sudeikis in a soccer ad.
Additionally, between 2015 and 2017 Vanessa Bayer starred in a series of fake Super Bowl ads for Totino’s on Saturday Night Live. This year Totino’s is airing a real Super Bowl ad, and while it has nothing to do with the “feed her hungry guys” theme of the SNL ads, it does star Pete Davidson, who was an actor in one of those sketches.
Why Brands Are Trying To Save Money On Super Bowl Ads
The through line with all three of these campaigns is advertisers were willing to pay actors associated with beloved TV shows and sketches. However, advertisers seem less eager to pay the companies that own those TV shows, which are required to feature beloved characters in ad campaigns.
A huge reason why is cost; a 30 second Super Bowl ad in 2024 is $7 million. With brands paying such a high premium for the one TV event left with broad reach, paying actors to not play their most famous characters is only one way brands compromise to control costs.
Another cost cutting tactic is buying a 15 second Super Bowl ad, with Microban 24, U2 At The Sphere and Tubi being recent examples. Or splitting the cost, such as a 2023 Super Bowl spot promoting both Heineken and the Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania movie.
However, the path to an effective Super Bowl ad campaign is so narrow, that any compromise to the creative because of budget is a huge risk.
A study of the 2023 Super Bowl ads by the behavioral research company Veylinx found only a 6.4% increase in demand for products advertised. Meanwhile, a 2019 University of Minnesota study found word of mouth for Super Bowl advertisers increased by 16% in the month of the game.
So basically you have a situation where Super Bowl ads cost too much, you’re seeing watered down versions of the original concept, and most Super Bowl campaigns are minimally impactful anyway.
If you want to beat the odds and deliver a Super Bowl ad with good ROI, there needs to be a “wow” factor. Which means if you can’t afford to mention Friends in your Friends ad, you’re better off sitting the game out.