The Kansas Metropolis Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles face off on February 9, 2025 (6:30 p.m. ET on Fox, if it’s not in your calendar already).
To get 30 seconds of advert time in the course of the large sport, manufacturers coughed up a cool $7 – $8 million per spot. If that’s not within the price range, listed here are seven Tremendous Bowl advert alternate options that can value you a large number much less.
I’ve additionally bought examples of massive manufacturers with significantly inventive alternate options to Tremendous Bowl adverts, plus tips about utilizing Tremendous Bowl advertising methods in your individual <$7 mil campaigns.
Desk of Contents
What Large Manufacturers Do As a substitute of Shopping for Tremendous Bowl Adverts
In 2021, at the very least 10 large manufacturers — Budweiser, Coca-Cola, and Pepsi amongst them — sat out Tremendous Bowl LV and directed their funds elsewhere. Anheuser-Busch, Budweiser’s father or mother firm, donated cash towards COVID vaccine efforts.
Right here’s how two manufacturers can be celebrating this yr’s large sport with out an official advert spot, an honorable point out, and one iconic different advert:
Perdue Rooster: Wingin’ It
On February 9, Perdue will associate with actor/singer/comic Wayne Brady for a non-Tremendous Bowl Tremendous Bowl advert. Reasonably than shopping for a $7 million advert spot, Perdue will characteristic Brady on Instagram Dwell all through the sport — anticipate skits, Q&As, and different comedic bits.
Captain Morgan: Rum Avenue
Tremendous Bowl LIX can be hosted by Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana, well-known for its French Quarter, Mardi Gras celebrations, and Bourbon Avenue.
Besides that this yr, Captain Morgan is popping bourbon into rum with its Rum Avenue activation. The dwell occasion is accompanied by interactive on-line treasure hunts, weekly prizes main as much as the sport, and at-home cocktail recipes.
Duolingo
We’re calling this an honorable point out since Duolingo’s 2024 Tremendous Bowl marketing campaign started with an official advert — nevertheless it was solely 5 seconds lengthy.
The true marketing campaign got here within the type of coordinated push notifications — despatched instantly after the advert aired — reminding learners to apply.
Duolingo known as it a technical threat: “Our groups had by no means tried a coordinated push marketing campaign at this scale, and we didn’t know if it was even technically potential to ship a push notification to 4 million learners in 5 seconds with out crashing our app.”
It was, they usually did. It’s value noting that the owl app solely took the chance as a result of it had accomplished a whole lot of social listening and different market analysis to determine what would resonate with its viewers.
Skittles: The Musical
Again in 2018, Skittles determined it did not need to shell out $5.2 million for a Tremendous Bowl advert. So it took that cash and created a full-length Broadway musical as an alternative (as you do).
Skittles’ intelligent anti-marketing stunt might have woke up your inside theater child, nevertheless it was nonetheless fairly costly. And, as a small- to medium-sized enterprise marketer, you doubtless cannot afford a Broadway manufacturing.
So, what do you do if you do not have tens of millions in your price range just like the manufacturers above?
Beneath, I‘ll record seven promoting methods that manufacturers use in the course of the Tremendous Bowl. For every, I’ll stroll you thru how one can reap the benefits of every on a a lot smaller scale whereas nonetheless successfully gaining model consciousness.
7 Inexpensive Advertising and marketing Alternate options to Tremendous Bowl Promoting
1. Purchase video advert house on social platforms.
As a small enterprise marketer, you need not pay for a high-priced televised advert slot to get seen by the suitable audiences — social media performs a predictably big position in promoting.
Twitter was a chief spot for Tremendous Bowl-adjacent adverts, with its personal Model Bowl roundup of greatest model tweets. However because it reworked from Twitter to X, advertisers are spending considerably much less cash there — 50% much less, in response to some projections — as X customers scatter to different platforms like Threads and Bluesky.
And in 2023 — the final time the Chiefs and Eagles performed for the Lombardi — AdWeek famous that manufacturers had been ditching X and placing that cash into different social platforms like TikTok and Instagram.
If you buy a extra budget-friendly skippable advert placement, you’re competing with the attract of the “Skip Advert” button, so that you’ll have only one or two seconds to get your viewers’s consideration. Right here’s a intelligent method to that from Burger King:
Think about using different strategies to attract consideration, akin to presenting a relatable ache level, providing a price proposition, or inserting viewers into an action-filled scene when the video begins enjoying.
If you happen to want extra inspiration, right here’s some fan-favorite adverts (and a few advertising classes) from Tremendous Bowl 2024.
2. Dive deeper with a video narrative.
Tremendous Bowl adverts usually really feel like miniature films. Reasonably than establishing a fundamental ache level and providing a easy product-based answer, they usually inform wealthy tales.
Take Clio Corridor of Fame and Cannes Lions winner “1984.” Directed by Ridley Scott for Apple, the advert aired throughout Tremendous Bowl XIII, when Apple was extra underdog than tech gargantuan, and IBM dominated the PC world.
On the finish of the industrial, a narrator publicizes, “On January twenty fourth, 1984, Apple will introduce Macintosh. And you will see why 1984 will not be like ‘1984.’”
The industrial is a deep metaphor for the way Apple’s model, modern merchandise, and mission would free pc customers from the monopolies of previous tech giants.
Though Apple had extra sources than the typical small biz, all it takes to create an attention-grabbing narrative advert is a few inventive workforce members and reasonably priced video gear.
Taken with crafting a compelling commercial script? Try this template. You probably have an excellent thought however aren’t certain the place to begin production-wise, learn this step-by-step information.
3. Leverage main occasions or holidays.
Main cultural occasions just like the Tremendous Bowl or the Oscars are marketing campaign alternatives for large manufacturers, who abruptly have the eye of an infinite viewers — not simply in the course of the occasion, however usually for weeks earlier than and after.
It doesn’t value gazillions of {dollars} to create campaigns with references to popular culture or present occasions. These may embody weblog posts about how an occasion pertains to your business, social media posts that leverage topical hashtags, or a advertising video about how your clients may be celebrating an occasion.
In the course of the large sport in 2020, vitality drink model G-Gasoline requested Twitter customers to answer with who they suppose will win the #SuperBowl. The tweet contains a picture of two G-Gasoline drinks in entrance of a soccer area:
This capitalizes on the #SuperBowl hashtag, which can be seen by tens of millions of soccer followers. You’ll observe that the Tremendous Bowl isn’t talked about within the advert itself, although — it’s a trademark owned by the NFL, which doesn’t enable manufacturers to make use of the occasion identify “with industrial intent.”
One in all our previous masters in advertising, Hassan S. Ali, has some inventive concepts on skirting authorized points. So do Newcastle Brown Ale and Anna Kendrick:
4. Lean into co-marketing.
Even large manufacturers search for extra budget-friendly promoting, like this 2015 co-marketed Tremendous Bowl advert. Co-marketing is when two or extra manufacturers be part of forces — plus cash, time, effort, and sources — to create a single piece of content material that highlights all of the manufacturers concerned.
For this advert, Newcastle pooled its cash with 37 different manufacturers to purchase a Tremendous Bowl advert slot, which they appropriately titled “Band of Manufacturers”:
5. Take into account influencer advertising.
Other than high-budget productions and gripping narratives, Tremendous Bowl commercials are additionally recognized for his or her star-studded casts. Keep in mind this Amazon Echo industrial the place Alexa is voiced by a handful of in style celebrities?
Though you in all probability cannot rent stars like Cardi B, you might need price range for a micro-influencer who’s credible and extremely adopted in your business.
Whenever you sponsor an influencer who actually understands their viewers and your business, they’re going to create and publish content material that intrigues their viewers whereas additionally highlighting your product.
An influencer advertising technique can be particularly efficient on social media channels like Fb, Instagram, YouTube, or TikTok.
On this instance, the smartphone sport “Run Round” sponsored a TikTok consumer who’s gained greater than 15,000 followers just by recording herself enjoying cell video games. The model recognized that gaming-oriented audiences had been on TikTok and sponsored an influencer whose viewers anticipates her cell sport evaluations and demonstrations.
6. Use counter-programming.
Positive, greater than 100 million individuals within the U.S. can be watching the massive sport, however one other 200 some million received’t be. In case your viewers is among the many latter, you’ve gotten the chance to seize their consideration whereas everyone else is watching Taylor Swift’s boyfriend.
Two phrases: Pet Bowl.
Two extra phrases: Kitten Bowl.
Some years in the past, Twitter customers made their very own counter-programming, gleefully sharing footage of owls as an alternative of becoming a member of the Tremendous Bowl convo.
Social listening might provide help to decide what your viewers is considering and what they’re doing in the event that they’re not consuming seven-layer dip and shouting at males in tight pants on TV.
7. Take into account digital out-of-home advertising (DOOH).
Steve Nicklin, senior vp of selling and analytics for the Out of Residence Promoting Affiliation of America, argues in a current weblog submit that “DOOH provides a compelling different to conventional Tremendous Bowl promoting on the similar value.”
Nicklin cites a month-long, $7 million DOOH marketing campaign that confirmed 7.5x extra attain than a 30-second Tremendous Bowl spot. He additionally factors out that this isn’t a zero sum sport:
“In fact Tremendous Bowl adverts are nonetheless a serious model second, however to maximise their impression and funding, manufacturers ought to contemplate an built-in, omnichannel method, one which makes use of DOOH in pre-game buildup, enhances TV spots with real-time DOOH updates and continues the dialog post-game to bolster key messages and leverage large sport moments.”
His recommendation for reaching youthful audiences? “Savvy manufacturers may also incorporate social media components in DOOH adverts to extend on-line model engagement, particularly amongst youthful followers.”
Making a Tremendous Bowl-High quality Advert
As you’re employed in direction of creating a top quality advert on a price range, preserve these scalable large model suggestions in thoughts:
- Inform an excellent story: Pull your viewers in, enable them to narrate to your model, and hook them by presenting how your product might help them.
- Embrace present occasions: Craft campaigns that contact on extremely mentioned on-trend occasions, such because the Tremendous Bowl, award exhibits, or holidays — particularly in the event that they relate strongly to your model.
- Leverage manufacturers and influencers: Partnering with manufacturers and influencers can earn consideration from comparable audiences that you have not already reached. To get began, analysis and construct relationships with manufacturers and influencers that your audiences or industries look to for credible suggestions.
Tremendous Bowl Promoting for the Remainder of Us
Even on a small price range, just a little planning and a whole lot of creativity go a great distance. Use and adapt these classes from the massive manufacturers to make tremendous adverts all yr lengthy.
Editor’s observe: This submit was initially printed in January 2020 and has been up to date for comprehensiveness.
