The Super Bowl is Sunday and many brands are getting in on the conversation with activations and social media efforts designed to get attention without having to purchase a pricey TV ad during the game’s broadcast.
Frito Lay brand Tostitos is opening a pop-up restaurant in Phoenix in time for the big game. “Being together with friends and family and enjoying really good food is one of the best parts of Super Bowl,” said Leslie Vesper, vice president of marketing, Frito-Lay North America. “As the official chip and dip of the NFL, Tostitos has always been part of game day traditions. This year, though, we want to show fans how they can elevate their Super Bowl celebration menus and use their favorite snacks in new and unexpected ways. Because of our long standing partnership with the NFL, it makes sense for us to bring this experience to Super Bowl.”
The KraftHeinz company is using the 57th annual Super Bowl as an excuse to take on Roman numerals. Ahead of this year’s LVII game, Heinz launched the “LVII Meanz 57,” campaign calling on the NFL to drop Roman numerals and adopt modern numbers, thus building a conversation online around the 57 on the brand’s iconic ketchup bottle.
“We are still activating for the Big Game this year – we’re just approaching it differently than ever before,” said Alyssa Cicero, brand manager at Heinz. “Our Heinz team, and the larger Kraft Heinz Company, are evolving marketing strategies to lean more heavily on creativity and disruption in culture. While we’ve created official Big Game ad spots in the past, with it being the 57th game, it was the perfect year for us to do something really big – like ending the longstanding Roman numeral debate in a way only Heinz can: with the iconic 57 on the ketchup bottle.”
Chicken fast food chain Raising Cain may not be investing in a TV spot, but the brand is closing its locations 30 minutes after kickoff “so our Crew can enjoy the game,” the brand tweeted. Definitely, a way to get people’s attention on game day.
Rather than running an expensive commercial during the game, State Farm is encouraging fans to participate in an interactive challenge, guessing how many times “State Farm Stadium” is mentioned during the game’s broadcast on Feb. 12.
“Over the past few years, we’ve seen success in the football space through having an ad spot during the big game, launching virtual AR experiences with NFT prizes, leveraging TikTok for fan engagement, and more,” said Alyson Griffin, vice president of marketing at State Farm. “The State Farm Stadium Challenge is yet another move from State Farm to modernize the advertising landscape, innovate around naming rights and sports strategy and show up in game day conversation in an unexpected way.”
MailChimp is livetweeting the Super Bowl using ChatGPT & GPT-3 technology to create email-based prompts with play-by-play highlights in real-time and tweeting them out on their Twitter account. The account will tweet about everything from plays on the field to commercials on the broadcast and the half time show.
“The Super Bowl is the loudest time for advanced marketing, and Mailchimp has the opportunity to prove that we know how to break through,” said Jeremy Jones, group creative director, advertising at Mailchimp. “With this activation, Mailchimp saw an opportunity to lead by example, using our own advanced marketing tools, to not only showcase its sophistication but demonstrate what we can do for our customers.”
Addition, an AI technology platform similar to Chat GPT, has released a new AI application called the Super Bowl Ad generator. Addition board member Jon Bond stated the Super Bowl Spot generator is “a public demonstration of what’s possible when you combine the latest AI models with high-quality creative examples and data.”
