There are Super Bowl ads and then there are super bowl ads. Dogfish Head Craft Brewery is taking advantage of the difference between national and local ad rates to air its first Super Bowl commercial at a modest price.
While the going rate for national Super Bowl ads is around $7 million for a 30-second spot, Dogfish Head said the ad space for its local spot only cost $7,000. In keeping with the theme of doing things on a budget, the commercial features company founder Sam Calagione suiting up for a football game (in decidedly old-time gear) before revealing he is getting ready to play electric football.
The commercial will air only in the Delmarva (Delaware, Maryland, Virginia) area, which is a subset of the Salisbury Designated Market Area. The DMA is where the Milton, Del., brewery is based, ranks 137 out of a total 210 DMAs nationally.
“From one of the smallest craft breweries in America to one of the smallest Big Game commercial spends, we felt it only fitting to air our spot featuring a tiny football game exclusively in our slight but mighty backyard, coastal Delaware,” Calagione said in a release. “At Dogfish, we take what we do seriously … ourselves? Not so much.”
Using an electric football game in the spot is a reference to the brewery’s beginnings when Calagione used an electric football game to create his “continual hopping” method of brewing. The method cascades hops into the beer at a consistent rate, which resulted in a less bitter, but still hoppy, India Pale Ale.
The brand’s connection to the electric football game is larger than the commercial, however. Dogfish Head has signed on as the official sponsor of the Electric Football World Championships, which will take place on February 4th and 5th. The tournament will take place at Dogfish Head’s Tasting Room and will be livestreamed on the brand’s YouTube channel. Dogfish Head, in partnership with Tudor Games, which made the original game Calagione used in his brewing, will release a custom beer-themed version of the game through its online store later this month.
