A mother cuddling her child in bed, an older man in front of his laptop, a young man on his smartphone. These video sequences cut one after the other, emotional music in the background and the message: We are there for you, we help you to find a job in these difficult times. The people in the clip have different skin colors, different families and stories.
This is the company’s “Indeed” commercial that will be shown on Sunday during the Super Bowl commercial break. “The spot fits this year particularly well,” says marketing expert Thomas Levermann from the Fresenius University of Applied Sciences. “It shows people in precarious situations, takes up the topic of anti-racism and meets the current emotional state of Americans. He is emotional and authentic. “
One of the largest promotional events in the world
The final of the American football professional league is one of the largest promotional events in the world. Last year the station generated $ 450 million in advertising revenue in just one day. But the pandemic has made things different this year. Some companies that used to advertise can no longer afford it.
The Super Bowl has over 100 million viewers annually in the USA alone. Levermann estimates that there will be around 40 million viewers from other countries. Whether there will be more or fewer viewers this year due to Corona and the lockdown cannot yet be foreseen.
70 to 75 companies are involved
Usually, corporate commercial spots are all taken before Thanksgiving, but this year it wasn’t. Only a few days ago it was announced that, apart from special exceptions, there would be no more places.
Thomas Levermann says that 70 to 75 companies will be there again this year. “Maybe the corporations can negotiate discounts of five to ten percent,” he says. 30 seconds of advertising at the Super Bowl typically cost $ 5.6 million. But the crisis that the pandemic has created for many companies does not lead to prices falling significantly.
The automotive industry is one of the losers in the crisis
Rather, the companies that are ready to spend so much money on advertising in 2021 are changing. Levermann says that normally there would be ten to twelve automobile companies that run commercials. Last year, Porsche and Audi from Germany were there. But the automotive industry is one of the losers in the crisis. Therefore, only four car manufacturers are represented in 2021.
It looks similar with the film industry. “Why should you advertise films if nobody can go to the cinema?” Beverage companies are also big losers, who are less present this year. If there were no events, their sales would drop sharply.
Winner on the offensive
The Super Bowl is therefore also symptomatic of the pandemic, says Levermann. “The winners go on the offensive, the classic brands are more cautious”. The winners are providers who are not dependent on stationary retail. Such as the job platform Indeed in the example mentioned. This year there were a particularly large number of newcomers with 19 clips. Including the payment service provider Klarna or the delivery service DoorDash and Ubereats.
Coca Cola is one of the companies that are traditionally always there. But in the pandemic, the company had to lay off thousands of employees. Such expensive advertising, like the one at the Super Bowl, would not go down well with viewers and employees, so Coca Cola decided not to.
Not just economic reasons
Another example is the Budweiser beer brand. The Budweiser umbrella brand is also running several advertising clips this year, for example from Bud Light and Bud Light Seltzer Limonade. But the main brand has for the first time in 37 years of the Super Bowl to dispense with its own advertising clip and has announced that the money saved will be invested in education about corona vaccination.
For some companies that do not want to participate in the Super Bowl advertising this year, there are no economic reasons at all. “I suspect that it is also due to the cultural change,” says Levermann. It is customary for social debates to be taken up in the spots.
If companies hit the wrong note in their advertising clips, a shit storm could quickly backfire. There would be many social changes this year: the number of corona deaths, unemployment, racism debates, the political change with the US presidency. Perhaps that is why some companies would have held back this year in order not to take any risks.
–
