This year's Super Bowl final will be unlike any other - firstly, it will take place at the stadium of one of the competing teams, and secondly, due to the pandemic, only one-third of the usual crowd will be in the stands.
The Super Bowl is a media spectacle where everyone finds something for themselves - sports fans are excited for the matchup between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the defending champions Kansas City Chiefs, music fans eagerly await The Weeknd's performance, and the marketing industry, as every year, keeps an eye on the ads aired during the final.
The scale of the spectacle and ad prices
The Super Bowl final attracts millions of viewers to screens every year. Last year's football matchup was watched by 102 million Americans, and the largest audience to date was for the 2015 final with 114.4 million viewers. This naturally affects the prices of ads aired during the event. This year, the network CBS sold advertising space two months longer than usual, and brands had to pay about $5.5 million for a 30-second spot! The pandemic meant, however, that some brands that have been advertising during the Super Bowl for years (such as Coke, Pepsi, or Budweiser) decided to opt out this time.
Below, we present all the Super Bowl 2021 ads published just before Sunday's final!
Uber Eats / Wayne's World
Tide / The Jason Alexander Hoodie
Amazon / Alexa's Body
Squarespace / 5 to 9 by Dolly Parton
Cheetos / It Wasn't Me
Scotts Lawn / Keep Growing
Michelob ULTRA / Happy
Doritos / Flat Matthew
Hellmann's / Amy Schumer's Magical Mayo Transformation
Bud Light / Bud Light Legends
Bud Light Seltzer Lemonade / Last Year's Lemons
Rockstar Energy / Spotlight
Frito-Lay / Twas the Night Before Super Bowl
Stella Artois / Heartbeat Billionaire
Chipotle / Can a Burrito Change the World?
M&M'S / Come Together
SamuelAdams / Horses
Pringles / Flavor Stacking Space Return Ad
Mountain Dew / Counting MTN DEW MAJOR MELON™ with John Cena
Vroom / Dealership Pain
Mercari, Your Marketplace / Get Your Unused Things Back in the Game
Ford / Finish Strong
Fiverr / #GoBigWithFiverr
Skechers / The Romos TO THE MAX!
State Farm Insurance / Tease
OikosYogurt / #PROFACE
Anheuser-Busch / Let's Grab a Beer
TurboTax / Spreading Tax Expertise Across The Land
Logitech / Defy Logic
Dexcom / Official Big Game Commercial 2021 with Nick Jonas
WeatherTech / #AmericanDreamAtWork
Jimmy John's PL / Meet the King
Klarna / The Four Quarter-Sized Cowboys
Indeed / The Rising
Cutwater Spirits / Cut Out With Cutwater
General Motors / No Way Norway
Concepts from the Article
Marketplace — A transaction platform. The platform connects many groups of sellers and buyers and facilitates search, payment, and transaction. Examples: Amazon, Etsy, Booking.com.
Super Bowl 2021 Ads — Which Brands Went for the Spectacle?
Super Bowl 2021 Ads — Which Brands Went for the Spectacle?
Why it matters: It builds a network effect and allows earning from commissions, fees, advertising, or additional services.
When it's used: When the market is fragmented and value increases with the number of participants.
What happens if omitted: Without critical mass on both sides, the platform is an empty catalog that no one returns to.
Summary
Super Bowl 2021 is a unique spectacle not only due to the pandemic but also because of record ad rates — a 30-second spot cost about $5.5 million. Although brands like Coke, Pepsi, and Budweiser opted out of advertising, the list of this year's spots includes dozens of productions, from Wayne's World to Alexa's Body.
Interestingly, this year's final took place at the stadium of one of the competing teams, a precedent in the history of the games. For the marketing industry, however, reach remains key: the record audience in 2015 reached 114.4 million viewers, making the Super Bowl one of the most expensive and effective advertising channels in the US.
