Super Bowl LVII is almost here. Like every year, this year will see several Super Bowl commercials. But the best commercials have one thing in common: they are remembered for years. So, how can brands create effective and memorable Super Bowl commercials? Rudy Mawer, CEO, Mawer Capital, shares a few tips.
Super Bowl commercials have become their own form of entertainment, and the stakes for creating a great ad are almost as high as winning the game itself. With brands spending up to $10 million for a single ad, one might think every commercial featured during the Super Bowl would be brilliant. Yet, each year, mediocre clips — and even downright bad ideas — somehow slip through the cracks and into our living rooms.
The rare “greats†have one thing in common: we remember them for years. So, how exactly do brands stake a claim to millions of viewers’ cluttered mental real estate in 15, 30, or 60 seconds? Super Bowl commercials do not showcase a product; they give us an experience. Each year, the brands that go all out with a compelling story, a relatable character, a catchy slogan, or well-timed humor are the ones that immortalize themselves in our minds.Â
Offer an Engaging Plot
One of the most challenging techniques for creating a memorable Super Bowl ad involves packing all the elements of an engaging plot into one short clip. When done well, it can be highly effective. In the 100 days after Apple’s 1984 spot aired at the Super Bowl, the underdog tech company sold 72,000 computers. The ad won the best Super Bowl spot in 40 years and was awardedOpens a new window the title of one of the greatest commercials ever made.Â
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As for why this ad, in particular, was so successful, its primary appeal is an intriguing plot that hooks viewers from start to finish. The commercial opens on a dystopian scene of pallid men in drab gray clothes shuffling from an industrial tunnel toward a large screen. Viewers hear a jarring alarm, echoing footsteps, and the speaker on the giant screen spouting propaganda for the “glorious Information purification.â€
Suddenly, a girl in bright orange shorts bursts from the tunnel, pursued by angry guards. Before being overtaken, she swings a sledgehammer three times and hurls it at the speaker on the monitor. The screen shatters in a brilliant flash of white light, leaving stunned viewers only with the message: “On January 24th, Apple Computer will introduce Macintosh. And you’ll see why 1984 won’t be like ‘1984.’â€Â
In this ad, the creatives at Apple throw down the gauntlet for IBM, who dominated the personal computer market at the time. When the lone runner destroys the monitor for thousands of brainwashed workers, Apple represents itself as unique, powerful, and innovative. And apart from a sketch on the runner’s shirt, the product featured — the Mac computer — never even makes an appearance. This ad works because Apple grabs our attention, creates tension that plays on our emotions, and wraps the storyline up in 60 seconds.
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Feature Relatable Celebrities
Celebrity endorsements can attract attention and increase awareness in Super Bowl commercials. But to succeed, the celebrity must be relevant to the product being promoted and resonate with the target audience. Celebrities have to form a deep connection with viewers to create those rare, memorable experiences that last a lifetime, and they have 60 seconds to do it. If their status garners extra media coverage from news outlets and social channels, that is the icing on the cake.Â
An undeniable super bowl success is McDonald’s 1993 Showdown between Bird and Jordan. In this ad, the mega athletes challenge each other for the prize of a Big Mac and fries. Obviously, this commercial banks on two all-time sports heroes, but hiring celebrities does not guarantee super bowl success. This ad’s appeal springs from the chemistry and relatability of Jordan and Bird. In the ad, the two basketball legends compete with hilarious trick shots, and they really appear to be having fun. “Off the expressway, over the river, off the billboard, through the window, off the wall — nothing but net.â€Â
Viewers instantly relate to it. What kid in 1993 had not challenged someone to a game of horse? The fact that the two pros were fighting for the ultimate victory of a burger makes them even more engaging. The spot was so successful that McDonald’s remade it in 2010 with Lebron James and Dwight Howard.
Leave Viewers With a Memorable Slogan
Wendy’s “Where’s the Beef†ad from the 1984 Super Bowl presents a catchphrase so memorable that it still resonates four decades later. In the spot, three older ladies analyze burgers from Burger King and McDonald’s and are left frustrated at the ratio of bread to meat.Â
The ad hooks viewers with humor, but its real sticking power is in the catchphrase. The question “Where’s the Beef?†is now synonymous with a lack of substance. The slogan appeared on bumper stickers, t-shirts, and even in that year’s presidential campaign as Walter Mondale called out the fluff in Gary Hart’s policies.
Employ Humor
When reliving the best Super Bowl ads, we typically turn to the ones that made us laugh. Who can forget Snicker’s 2010 ad featuring Betty White as a battered football player and Reebok’s 2003 commercial with Tarry Tate boosting office productivity?Â
Humor can make a product appealing, memorable, and relatable, but it is a difficult form of advertising to pull off because humor is incredibly subjective. Case in point: while many people find Doritos’ 2016 Super Bowl ad hilarious, others find it bizarre, and many more find it downright disturbing.Â
In the spot, a man snacks on Doritos while his wife receives an ultrasound. The dad realizes his unborn baby is drawn to his chip and moves it in different directions to get his baby to follow. When the mom hurls the chip across the room in frustration, the baby leaps out of her body to run after the snack. Controversy swirled around Doritos’ trivialized portrayal of pregnancy and birth, stirring up political commentary around everything from sexism to abortion. After the ad’s contentious reception on social media, it was pulled from the Super Bowl.
The list of legendary super bowl ads gets a little bit longer each year. It is difficult to quantify what makes a great Super Bowl ad rise above the rest, but the ones we store in our memories impact us with messages that resonate for years. Brands give us an experience packaged in powerful storytelling, relatable characters, a catchy slogan, or humor. When they get it right, it just sticks.
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