On February 1, people all across the country will come together to watch the Seattle Seahawks face the New England Patriots during the 2015 Super Bowl. While The Motherhood team is excited for the camaraderie and great food that accompanies most Super Bowl parties, we’re most looking forward to seeing how brands execute their related ad campaigns this year.
Here are three Super Bowl advertising trends and predictions we’ve been seeing this week:
1. Auto brands bow out.
Auto brands have always filled the Super Bowl advertising spots, but not this year. Audi and sibling brand Volkswagen, as well as General Motors, Lincoln, Ford, Jaguar, Honda and Acura, have announced they won’t be airing a Super Bowl commercial this year. For Audi, this will be the first time in seven years that they keep themselves on the bench!
You’ll still see at least six automakers during game-day commercial breaks, but that’s a significant decrease from the 11 auto brand commercials that appeared last year. Right now, the only explanation for the sudden change is the cost of a 30-second ad spot: $4.5 million. Forbes points out that auto brands have a harder time standing out among other other auto brands and rarely see results worth the price tag of a Super Bowl ad.
2. Hashtags!
In 2012, only seven percent of Super Bowl ads contained a hashtag. That percentage jumped to 50 percent in 2013 and 57 percent in 2014. We can only expect the number will continue to increase as brands attempt to reach the widest audience possible via social media. Some are predicting that up to 75 percent of commercials will contain a hashtag in 2015 Super Bowl ads.
3. Ads that live on beyond the 30-second screen time.
Forbes is also predicting that “many advertisers have woken up to the fact that a spot on the Super Bowl is not effective as a standalone effort,” and are therefore developing campaigns that can be accessed before or after the commercial’s airing.
Budweiser is one example: The company built a life-size Pac-Man maze in Los Angeles’ Fashion District that will be seen in its Super Bowl ad this year. Another bubbly brainchild comes from PepsiCo and their filming of a reality show video series called “Game Day Grub Match.”
With hashtags reaching ubiquitous status, brands are smart to increase the lifespan of their hashtag beyond Super Bowl Sunday. Brands that air Super Bowl ads have invested heavily in their creative concepts, so getting more mileage out of them with pre- and post-game extensions is a worthwhile strategy to sustain engagement among consumers.
The Motherhood team is looking forward to watching Super Bowl 2015, as well as paying attention to how brands aim to make a big splash on game day!
Top Photo Credit: Flickr Creative Commons – Parker Anderson
