Fantasy And Nostalgia Mark Ad Land’s Homecoming

Michael Hedges February 16, 2022 Follow on Twitter

The Happy Advertising People - OUR Happy Advertising People - have been down in the dumps for a couple of years. Their clients - mercuriously referred to as brands - were mostly hiding out, holding out or engaging in behaviors inappropriate for public discussion. Finally, relief came, news cycles being shortened by TikTok. Ad-land is again at the forefront of popular culture.

There are a few venues specifically for the Happy Advertising People to display their craft. Obviously, nearly every medium known to humankind shows advertising, messages designed to sell. The annual Cannes Festival of Creativity is just for ad-land, and those who write about it. The biggest advertising show, arguably most important, is a sports event - the US NFL Super Bowl 56, broadcast and streamed last Sunday (February 13).

Through the broadcast, in the US on the NBC network, ads were shown every six minutes or so. NBC reaped about US$6.5 million for each one and an estimated US$500 million total. For some the production costs were several times that amount. The mix of advertisers was not so wide or varied. Sure, there were cars, trucks, movie previews, snacks, soft drinks and beer. But then, 40% were advertisers new to the Super Bowl or any other consumer platform.

There was fantasy, nostalgia with instant cravings mixed in. Leading the fantasy group were cryptocurrency platforms. Ad watchers all voted for the Coinbase ads, which began early in the broadcast with a QR code bouncing across every screen. Those brave enough to wave their mobile phones and click were rewarded with a promotional credit; classic marketing. The app crashed under the weight of 20 million hits in “one minute,” said Chief Product Officer Surojit Chatterjee, quoted by Marketplace (February 14). Of course, the Super Bowl game was held at the SoFi Stadium, owned by the financial services company with the same name that trades in Coinbase.

Other crypto-brands used celebrity appeal; basketball icon LeBron James “you gotta call your own shots” for Crypto dot com and comedian Larry David extolled the virtue not missing big things, like a moon landing, for FTX. eToro pitched “social investing” and Budweiser - yes, the brewer - promoted its Bud Light Next NFTs (non-fungible tokens). Canadian cryptocurrency exchange Bitbuy, only shown in Canada, also pitched “don’t miss out.” The tech establishment was miffed that the crypto Super Bowl ads only pitched “the future of the internet,” wrote The Verge (February 14) rather that trying to start a conversation about the inner virtues of blockchain. Ahead of the Super Bowl the New York Times (February 11) referred to the “crypto bowl” due to the plethora of similar ads.

Post-lockdown regret coupled with fantasy in other Super Bowl ads. Online booking portals Booking dot com and Expedia reminded viewers, with another set of celebrities, of missed opportunities. Turkish Airlines, on the other hand, actually showed a few rather brilliantly. Along the same line, sports betting ads, limited by the NFL to 6 spots, pitched the thrill. DraftKings in two 15 second spots offered free betting in the games’s fourth quarter.

Several ads featured actors and celebrities known for popular roles from television’s past. The famous opening sequence to “The Sopranos” was recreated by Chevrolet to pitch its all-electric Silverado, with actor Jamie-Lynn Sigler, who appeared in the series two decades ago in the driver’s seat. Rocket Mortgage pitched home financing with a reference to classic kids toy Barbie’s Dream House.

After opting-out of last year’s Super Bowl due to the coronavirus pandemic, beer brand Budweiser tugged many strings with a new ad, directed by Nomadland Oscar-winning director Chloé Zhao. A single Clydesdale, the horse breed Budweiser had featured for 37 years, is shown galloping across a field with his dog pal. The horse fell attempting to jump a fence, the dog running to his side. The horse healed, the trainers had a Bud and the tagline said "In the home of the Brave, down never means out."

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