Responsibly Different™
We started this channel in 2020 exploring how to best use business as a force for good utilizing our B Corp certification journey as our lens. Now, in 2025, we’re taking what we’ve learned and applying it more deeply to our industry of strategic media planning and buying. Tune in to our new Fireside series which are candid conversations amongst our team about the latest news in the industry, explore our upcoming Impact Chats episodes to uncover the power and role of media in shaping culture and examining the social and environmental impacts of our industry.
Responsibly Different™
Super Bowl Ads: Hype, Hustle, and the Hard Truth
It wouldn’t be a media podcast if we didn’t talk about the Big Game! But here’s the twist—Chris and David almost always agree on strategy… except when it comes to the Super Bowl. Who knew?! In this episode, we break down why the Super Bowl still matters (even if you’re not buying a $8M ad), how regional buys, social engagement & retail tie-ins can drive impact, and why mid-sized brands should rethink their Super Bowl strategy. No creative breakdowns here—just real talk about how smart brands win Super Bowl weekend without breaking the bank.
Welcome to Fireside, a responsibly different podcast where we spark candid conversations about media investments and the strategies shaping the way we connect and the strategies shaping the way we connect.
Speaker 3:All right, david, we're talking about the Super Bowl. It's upon us Chiefs versus Eagles. I know it's a big game. I think if the Chiefs get it, it's their. What? Their third? And that's a big, it's a big deal. I'm not a sport ball guy, but I hear it's a big deal.
Speaker 1:I mean like well, we're in. I mean, obviously people are listening to this from different places, but in our neck of the woods, this is Patriots. This is Patriots country.
Speaker 3:Is that who we root?
Speaker 1:for See.
Speaker 3:I just don't even yeah no, this is Okay.
Speaker 1:Yeah, this won't be a podcast about sports.
Speaker 3:We'll move on, it will not be.
Speaker 3:But I mean. So going into we're talking about the media, the advertising landscape, and I know you are have plenty of thoughts around this. I know I have one that people don't often like to hear because I'm not anti Super Bowl. I get that it has a cultural significance. I get the anticipation around it. I talk all the time about culture. I get how it impacts our culture. My whole perspective revolves around it's overhyped and when you look at long term the impact from ads that are placed there, it doesn't have lasting power and there's research that shows that and that's what I'm always interested in. So that's my it's, it's. I know I'm like I might be the only person in ad land. I feel like that's always like I. I just think it's a little overhyped.
Speaker 1:All right, I have the opposite take. I I hear you on like the spend as a part of an integrated media plan. As a student of advertising and as somebody that's been working in this industry for a while, I love it. I think it's really really fun to see the way. I mean we know that four out of five people watching the you know, the Super Bowl are also interacting on a second screen. So I think over the last decade or so it's been really really cool to see how brands have built in kind of extensions to different spots. Obviously, we're mostly talking about people that are advertising in the Super Bowl, but even brands that aren't really feel like they've been able to come up with cool, interesting ways to participate. I'm sure we'll get into all of that. So, yeah, different take here. What's that point?
Speaker 3:Don't you think it's self-manufactured? Our advertising people like this is a self-manufactured. Everyone pumps up their production budgets to make these big pieces that people do talk about, and there's plenty of research that shows that. Yes, the day of the Super Bowl, no doubt. There's research after research that shows 68% spikes of online buzz surrounding the brands that do that the day of the Super Bowl, 16% in total conversions, yes, but then all of that diminishes quite quickly following the Super Bowl. So that's my point. I know you and so many others get excited about it because they're like, yeah, that's what we pay attention to, but someone off the street will they remember the brand or will they remember? Oh, it was really cool to see Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan together. Everyone's talking like right now about them two together because we've already seen the Hellman spot ahead of the Super Bowl. So I talked to my barber yesterday. We're talking about that moment. Oh, I love seeing Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan together. Who was that brand for? Again, and couldn't you know?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think that there's a piece of this that is like what does this actually do for brand lift or any other kind of media or marketing KPIs?
Speaker 1:But then there's the kind of the human element of this which is, just like, for most of the year, people spend a lot of time avoiding ads, right, and as advertising professionals, it's cool that there's a day where a lot of people tune in to our industry and pay attention to like you know what I mean Like our profession, in a way that they don't normally do.
Speaker 1:Like it's like the one time of year where I feel like people are excited to see what our industry is up to. So I'm not saying that as worth the spend if you're a brand, but I do think it's really really fun to see people playing with advertising in a different way. I also think that it keys into some of the elements of advertising that work really really well that our industry has moved away from right. So, chris, we often talk about how our industry, to its detriment, has moved to this like performance driven landscape versus brand storytelling. I feel like the Superbowl is one of these spaces where brands really lean into humor, storytelling, emotion and then try and connect that across this larger ecosystem. I mean, that's what we preach every single day, and then there's a moment in time where brands do that. I feel like that's exciting.
Speaker 3:I think that's why I get frustrated around it, though, because it's like why do we save it for one moment? Because, when it comes to a cost perspective, if someone and I get this question all the time in media like because, when it comes to a cost perspective, if someone and I get this question all the time, media like is it worth the spend 100%? If you're trying to reach the people, I think ads this year we're going for 8 million nationally. You break that down to a cost per 1000. It's incredibly efficient. So, like from a spend perspective.
Speaker 3:But that's my whole point is I'm like why do we save all of this for just one time of year, when people, when this people culture's moving so fast? We need to be constantly thinking about how we're doing this year round to stay relevant, not one night where we'll get a bunch of buzz, or I mean, the smart folks are using the two weeks leading up to it now and then like a week of PR after to follow up with it. So it's like you're really talking about three week blitz, but it's like beyond three weeks, let's not put people thinking of them as data points and think about them as impressions and think about like cool, so we made this impact. They were paying attention. Now we go back to performance for the next 49 weeks of the year, like I think that's why I get frustrated with all the friends around the Super Bowl, because everything that people seem to self-manufacture around its importance in our industry then seems to go away, and there goes like how we communicate with people thus goes away as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I hear you. I think people are willing to take bigger risks and those risks typically pay off. And that's kind of what you're getting at is, people need to be, you know, take more chances with their marketing throughout the year and not just during tentpole events, and they would probably see the benefit of that, and not just during tentpole events, and they would probably see the benefit of that. But, in general, right, like most brands that are listening to this and most brands that we talk to every single day, like, aren't buying Superbowl spots, right, but they are participating in the media landscape around the big game, so maybe let's spend some time talking about that, just so that way we can add some value to the listeners who are like, okay, well, I'm running marketing for a brand, I'm not buying a Super Bowl spot. How do I capitalize on this kind of mass media moment? Because they are getting more rare and this is an opportunity.
Speaker 3:Despite your feelings on sportball, as you say, this is an opportunity despite your feelings on sportball, as you say, hey, sportball for the investment-wise. We invest in sports all day long, but yeah, myself I'm not a sports guy, but when it comes to investment-wise, it's one of the few areas that bring light into investing into some of these older channels. But yeah, I think you mentioned it before, there's a second screen, in many cases, third screens, that people have all day long during the Super Bowl, and I think what's just thinking about everything leading up to the Super Bowl? There's a ton of opportunity to play and engage.
Speaker 3:I think back to a campaign. Was it Hyundai? I don't even know when it was, but what was so memorable to me was they were like we're actually taking. I don't remember the year it might have been 2024 or 2023. But I believe they intentionally did not buy a spot in the Super Bowl, and I could be wrong about this. Maybe they did buy a spot in the Super Bowl. I don't think they did.
Speaker 3:But anyway, the crux of the campaign was they were like they were telling people to get away from their screens and like spend time outside, because I think they had their new Santa Fe that was being released and it was very built for like being outside and that was their whole story around it. So they're like we're taking the weekend off, we're going outside, share us your stories of how you're outside. And I thought that was really cool because they generated the same amount of buzz because they were playing into like hey, we're not in the Super Bowl, but like have fun with us. We know that you're doing other things and just staying glued to a TV screen and the amount of traction that they got from that I thought was really interesting and the amount that you can do with $8 million if you're on a national scale is immense. So you can do other really creative, powerful things outside of thinking of one screen and one 30-second moment in time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, speaking of the second screen phenomenon, especially around the Super Bowl, the biggest shift I think we're seeing in terms of media plans really is that for many, many years Twitter obviously now X was the second screen that dominated Superbowl viewing right. When you think about that, you know the cultural moment that everybody really remembers is that Oreo moment around the dunk in the dark that I've now I'm dating myself right, cause that was obviously a while ago but that that, like the conversation about that, was happening on Twitter. Most of the conversation around you know the ads that people would love was happening on Twitter, most of the conversation around the ads that people would love was happening on Twitter. But now, with all the things that have been going on between advertisers and Elon Musk and people pulling off X, also, a lot of that spend moved to TikTok. Last year we saw a big spike in kind of second screen investing on TikTok from brands last year.
Speaker 1:But with everything going on on that platform, if you're, if you're you know somebody that one has invested in a Superbowl spot or somebody that has a you know your Superbowl playbook. Let's just say maybe you're a CPG brand, that that is in the. You know the food and Bev space and the Super Bowl is a big deal for you. Your playbook probably looks very, very different than in years past, because I'm imagining we need to think about blue sky, we need to think about threads, we need to think about meta, we have to think about X if you're investing there, but just like the fractured landscape of second screen viewing YouTube shorts, it's just there's so many, yeah, so yeah, it's immensely fragmented and I think that's a challenge.
Speaker 3:But opportunity too. I mean, I think as someone who recently joined Blue Sky, what an opportunity there. It's hardly being utilized in the brand space yet. I'm actually not really seeing anyone with the amount of time that I'm spending on there, and there's great conversation happening and that goes to saying you don't need to be everything to everyone. Find your zone of excellence and dive in Reddit.
Speaker 3:Another area, pinterest is also doing really interesting things. I'm like so bullish on Pinterest, as you know, I talk about Pinterest all the time lately, but they're doing some really interesting things. I'm like so bullish on Pinterest, as you know, I talk about Pinterest all the time lately, but they're doing some really interesting things too. So it's like you don't need to be everywhere to everyone. If you mobilize an audience, you can have a really strong business built around a core audience that's deeply engaged and loyal to you. So it's like just really carve yourself in deep in one place where it's trying to be everywhere, because you can't be everywhere. No one can be everywhere, even these brands that are going to be spending the $8 million for a 30 second spot. They also recognize that you can't be everywhere.
Speaker 1:So let's be specific, right. So as a, as an agency, we work with, you know, alcohol brands. We work with CPG brands, we work with um, qsr, uh brands, and so the Superbowl is a, you know, is a time where people are thinking about buying beer, picking up snacks, and, you know, delivery is really really, really big on super bowl sunday. So if you're a brand that hasn't invested in a spot in the game but want to participate in the media ecosystem, essentially what we're saying is there's still a tremendous amount of opportunity to run paid advertising really really targeted paid advertising but also engage in kind of real-time moments organically on the platforms where your core audience lives. And for us, I think one of the important parts is that we feel like we can create sequential, connected journeys on second and then retargeting um in the in the weeks following the Superbowl in a really, really effective way that still leans into that storytelling and, you know, emotion that people love around the Superbowl.
Speaker 3:They're to your point earlier. They're more open to what brands are putting down that day, cause it is a day of advertising for many folks, um, so their eyes are open, their ears are open, so you can play into that. We've run literally campaigns with a couple hundred bucks around it just during the game and it speaks to that second nature of people are on another device, because we've seen some of the best engagement on some just standard regular ads. We didn't make them any things special for the Super Bowl, it was just running our regular social ads, but going in heavier during that time and everything spiked. There's a lot of really simple ways to activate on Super Bowl Sunday where you don't need to go through the extent that the larger brands can.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean you also just touched on there like the regional buy right. So there's many people don't think about that. There's opportunities to buy regional spots, both linear broadcast as well as I'm sure we're going to talk about streaming in a second but just I mean we've worked with clients where we've bought regional spots that have been extremely effective. Yeah, we've worked with national chall. We've bought regional spots that have been extremely effective.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we worked with National Challenger brands that instead of you know they don't have the 8 million but11,000 to $15,000 for a 30 and a mid-size DMA. To some of the top DMAs, $100,000 to $200,000. So you can they're not all those multi the million dollar price tags. So, yeah, be focused around, not just when you think about the demographic that you're trying to reach in regards to your generalities of age, but location. Think about the markets that you want to have a larger presence in and just buy that market.
Speaker 3:Every local market has their local ad break specifically for their local sales reps to sell. So lean into that and oftentimes you can get a deal, because there have been many cases where we, just based on the relationships that we have and as an agency that you know, we get a call gosh, this has happened more than once the Friday morning before Super Bowl Sunday or Thursday before Super Bowl Sunday, where we get a call from a local market and they're saying, hey, we just had someone pull out last minute. They had copy changes, whatever it may be, do you have anyone for it? And we get it like at a discount. So it's like keep your eyes and ears open to local opportunities across the country, because there's great opportunity to be out there.
Speaker 1:Yeah no absolutely. What about you know streaming? As an agency, we're pretty high on CTV. We talk, obviously CTV is something that we feel like is really, really effective. I think you know we've talked, even had conversations on this podcast, about the power of being on. You know that that screen in the center of the home, more and more right, people are streaming, uh, the super bowl, uh, this year's on to be.
Speaker 3:I think Right.
Speaker 1:Um, so when you know, what do we think about opportunities for brands there? I mean, it seems like it kind of democratizes it a little bit because folks can can lean in on the streaming side of things and not feel like they need to buy like the big broadcast uh.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I think that's it.
Speaker 3:In the future there will be a lot more opportunity because more people, as they try to apply their performance marketing mindset to these larger brand moments for better and worse they're going to be buying more on the way that they buy their digital, their programmatic media.
Speaker 3:So they will be buying more regionally focused, because even the national brands are typically targeted on certain areas and not looking for everyone across the country. So you'll start seeing that more and I think that's where it will be really interesting to see the future of the relevance and that buzziness of the Super Bowl and like what's happening in the ad breaks won't matter because someone's going to see a Cheetos ad in New York, someone else in Tampa, florida, is not going to see the same Cheetos ad. You're going to have a disconnect in giving that opportunity for people to connect. So that makes me sad a little bit, because what I do appreciate and love about Super Bowl anytime we can talk about media moments, moments in general that bring people to connect in authentic ways I'm a big advocate for and this is one of those that I do appreciate. Um, but yeah, your point, you start breaking these up across streaming platforms and you're not going to be served. The same ad breaks the same messages. The same time blocks as uh in other markets.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, totally One of the things that obviously we're hyper aware of because of who our clientele is. But there's a tremendous opportunity for on-premise in-person activations to create brand extensions, right. So, whether or not that's collaborating with restaurants and bars, collaborating with, you know, different watch parties, thinking about ways in which brands can inject themselves in that moment and create these kind of textured interactions that will always be there and especially, as you kind of alluded to there, as it gets harder and harder to have like one strategy and it's getting fractured anyways, I think we'll see more and more brands spin up really, really cool activations where they have a whole bunch of earned media that comes out of it. So they'll they'll have, you know, a small paid piece of it, they'll have an own piece of it and they'll have an earned piece of it and also create really really nice moments with their customers. Obviously, we're biased, having worked with, you know, cpg, qsr and, you know and alcohol brands, but I think there's a lot of opportunity for a number of different verticals to engage there.
Speaker 3:Yeah for sure, and experience is always a great opportunity. And experiences with the media, publishers and networks as well. Because, I mean, that's what also feeds into this whole frenzy is every newsprint to magazine to local morning news magazine show is talking about the Super Bowl for weeks leading up to it. So you brands can be talking with their agencies, their agencies can be talking with publishers and networks about what are you doing to hype this up? Your audience as a publisher network cares about this, hence why they're putting so much content of their own towards this. Every local affiliate station, every network publisher is sending people to the Super Bowl and covering it. So, as an extension, how can we as a brand contribute to your audience? And I think that's something that's a question that every brand can be thinking of.
Speaker 3:Oftentimes, brands will think to go to publishers and say what can you do for me? The real question and opportunity for brands is what can I do for you? Because if you start thinking of yourself as a media company and you start thinking about serving people, not consumers, then you start getting in that mindset as a media company and you start thinking about serving people, not consumers, then you start getting in that mindset of a media company of like we are here truly just to serve the audience in the best way, and then you can do really interesting experiential collaborations to across their own platform, and they're more than happy to do that because they get to promote their own presence in and around this event and then that, of course, helps the brand. So, yeah, take that experiential thinking, not just in how you co-collaborate with other brands, but also as you think about the brands that have trust. Think about the media companies that have that built-in trust, because it's huge.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's probably a good place to wrap. So, as I mentioned, patriots fan, I hate the chiefs rooting for the Eagles and also I'm rooting for advertising. I think advertising very rarely is enjoyable for people. It's very rarely done right, and this is a day where I think a lot of brands do it right, so I'm rooting for the. Eagles and for the industry.
Speaker 3:I'm going for the chiefs because we have a team member out that way that I think she's rooting for them. So I am just rooting for them. In regards to that, I'll go Chiefs, and I agree, I'm always in favor of what can support our industry. We need it. Our culture needs it more than ever. So go Superbowl Sunday.
Speaker 2:You've been listening to Fireside from Campfire Consulting. Join us again by the fire as we explore more ways to connect through media. Till next time, be responsibly different.