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Mindless to Mindful:  Super Bowl LII Ads

2/9/2018

14 Comments

 
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by David Hagenbuch, founder of Mindful Marketing & author of Honorable Influence

The latest NFL championship was one for the ages.  The football was exciting, and the ads were pretty good too.  How did the spots stack up in terms of Mindfulness?  There was at least one commercial for every category of the Mindful Matrix.

Given the weighty issues facing our nation and our world, it’s not surprising that a variety of spots took on important social concerns like diversity, overcoming physical limitations, and the role of families.  These ads gave us a warm hug and put a smile on our face.

However, a few days later, do we even remember the companies that paid $5 million for a 30-second spot.  For instance, which firm showcased a variety of people serving others while an audio clip of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. played in the background?  The answer--Dodge Ram.

Dodge did attempt to make a reasonable connection between its trucks and the ad’s theme (“Built to Serve”), but most of the video footage had nothing to do with pickups (e.g., a pregnant woman having an ultrasound).  Meanwhile a few very short clips of Dodge trucks were overshadowed by all of the ad’s other visual and audio activity.  I doubt I would have remembered that the spot was for Dodge had I not been keeping track of every ad.
 
It was kind for Dodge to spend millions of dollars to extol service, but will one 60-second spot make people any more inclined to serve, and will they associate Dodge with that call to action?  Two likely “No’s” make this ad and most of the game’s other social cause spots “Simple-Minded Marketing.”



Speaking of ambiguous advertising, there was also an ad that featured actor Keanu Reeves motorcycle surfing.  Even as I wrote this paragraph, I remembered the ad, but couldn’t recall to whom it belonged until I checked my list and saw it was for the online website creation software Squarespace.

However, the fact that the commercial had no discernable connection to web design was not the ad's only problem.  One can imagine that the stunt, which Reeves preformed himself, was extremely dangerous for him and other drivers, like the one in the pickup truck that flashes through the scene going the opposite direction about seven seconds into the ad.

The Los Angeles Times reports that 103.4 million people watched the latest Super Bowl, which represents every age demographic from toddlers to senior citizens and unfortunately includes any number of daredevils who need little encouragement to attempt Reeve’s stunt.  The Tide Pod Challenge, which has killed at least eight people, is a tragic reminder of the power media has to spur irrational imitation.  It’s irresponsible for Squarespace to glamorize another dangerous act, which makes its Super Bowl ad “Mindless Marketing.”



Thankfully there were also commercials for which it was very easy to identify the advertiser.  Diet Coke’s Twisted Mango spot was one of those ads.  The commercial is pretty simple in terms of its creative execution.  A girl with short bangs and long legs mentions the name of the beverage and starts dancing.  Could anything be wrong with that ad?  Well . . . yes.

The dance gets a little “sexier” near the end, but that’s not the main concern.  The potential issue is that the actress in the ad is extremely thin.  Skinny people deserve to feel good about their bodies like everyone else, but this young woman looks emaciated, skeletal.  In other product/ad contexts, such a body image might not be as problematic, but this commercial is for Diet Coke.

When people talk about dieting, it almost always means they’re trying to lose weight.  About 30 million people in the U.S., or a little less than 10% of the population, suffer from eating disorders, which “have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness.”  It’s reckless for the Coca-Cola Company to use an actress whose body type can easily become a dangerous aspiration for people already thinking about dieting.  Diet Coke’s ad will likely help sell soda, but it’s “Single-Minded Marketing.”



There were many ads from the latest Super Bowl that both created stakeholder value and upheld societal values.  One of the best of the lot was for Pringles snack chips.  The Kellogg Company’s iconic chips-in-a-can have been around for over 50 years, during which time there have been some new flavors, but little else has changed.  How, then, could the company get enough bang for the buck from a Super Bowl spot?

Kellogg’s rose to the occasion by using its ad to suggest a very simple yet intriguing concept: stacking different types of Pringles to create unique flavor combinations, for instance, jalapeño-barbeque-pizza.  Such palette-pleasing options are probably especially appealing to Gen Z and Millennials, who likely are the biggest consumers of these types of snacks.
 
Two other things going for the ad were its use of comedian/actor Bill Hader, well known for his work on Saturday Night Live and recognizable to many young people.  Also, TV viewers consume a significant number of snacks, especially while watching the Super Bowl.  That relevant context makes remembering snack food ads easier, and all of the above make Pringle’s commercial “Mindful Marketing.”


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14 Comments
Jenna
2/27/2018 01:57:34 pm

Hello Dr. Hagenbuch,
Thank you for your thoughtful and descriptive blog post. As someone who watched the Super Bowl this year, I enjoyed reading along and realizing, that like you, I did not remember some of the commercials or what businesses they were for. The commercial that stuck out the most to me were the Tide ads. They were very funny. Do you think they were trying to compensate because of the negative Tide Pod challenge?

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David Hagenbuch link
2/27/2018 10:32:59 pm

That's a very interesting idea, Jenna. Honestly, I hadn't given the connection much thought. You may be onto something. I can't think of another reason why Tide would want that much advertising during the Super Bowl. Yet, so many very unique and memorable spots during TV's biggest spectacle, probably helped change the narrative about Tide.

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Caleb Kneale
3/7/2018 12:44:57 am

Dear David Hagenbuch,

Thank you for this very informative post about a few of the different ads that aired during the super bowl. Many of the things that you pointed out I did not even realize while I was watching the ad. I did not even think about how Keanu Reeves motorcycle stunt could fuel the dangerous act like the tide pod challenge. This post helped me understand more about how you consider marketing to be mindless, simple-minded, single-minded, or mindful. I do have one question for you. Where would you put the tide or the Martha vs Jack ads on your mindful meter?

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Liam Lilienthal
3/7/2018 11:17:30 am

Dr. Hagenbuch,

I really enjoyed reading this post. Over the past few years that I have watched the Super Bowl I have been blown away by some ads, and just left confused by others. There are many ads that I can remember what happened in the ads, but I cannot match the ad to a specific product or company, similar to the Keanu Reeves ad that you mentioned. I also think it is interesting that most car companies, like Dodge, try to appeal to the emotions of the viewers, instead of directly advertising the car. Most car commercials have a long dialogue and back story, but only show the car for 2 seconds at the end of the ad, or not at all. Applying the Mindful Matrix to the different ads makes allows me to view the ads in a very different way.

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Desmond Simmons
3/7/2018 06:15:00 pm

Dr. Hagenbuch,

I had a great time reading this post. Whenever I watch the Super Bowl it seems that I retain more information about the commercials than I do the actual game. So I found it interesting when you said that a lot of the ads have no reasonable connection with their product. When it comes to this kind of marketing I never knew how deep one could analyze these ads but you were spot on! I agree with you that the image brands project on their customers can become dangerous (referring to the Coke ad) however we have to remember the power does lie in the consumers hand to succumb to these messages in my opinion.

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Nathan
3/9/2018 01:37:06 pm

Hello Dr. Hagenbuch,

For years, Super Bowl commercials have been a reason many viewers watch the Super Bowl. Those who do not typically view football games do so just to see the commercials and half-time show. In the past, many commercials have relied on humor, but recently more and more companies are relying on emotions in their Super Bowl ads. Those that are not using emotion or humor use some form of shock value, as seen in the Squarespace ad featuring Keanu Reeves. I enjoyed your analysis of different commercials using the Mindful Matrix and Mindful Meter. Analyzing commercials using these metrics helped me to understand why some Super Bowl commercials are more effective than others.

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Allison Torres
3/11/2018 04:57:34 pm

This blog post was a very enjoyable read. When watching the Diet Coke commercial, I had not thought that the body type of the young woman could have such an impact on the overall message. I had realized how mindless it was for the other companies to have commercials that had nothing to do with their product. While it is nice to inspire people to make a difference, that is not the point of an ad or commercial. Dodge could have tried to tie both in a little more properly, but that was not the case with their commercial. Marketing is supposed to market the product or business and these commercials were not examples of this.

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Kristoffer Swodeck
3/12/2018 06:30:52 pm

I could definitely see all of these aspects as I was watching the superbowl commercials. The difficulty in identifying advertisers was especially noticeable. The term "Mindless Marketing" fits perfectly with many of the advertisements that were shown. Many of the advertisements were highly entertaining, funny, and goofy, however, they seemed to be rarely tied well to a brand. What's the point of advertising if the consumers don't even remember what company was represented in the advertisement?

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Sam Mgrdichian
3/12/2018 07:20:07 pm

I loved this article, because I have questioned myself why companies would spend millions of dollars for a seemingly pointless ad that no one will remember. I am not sure what research they have done to calculate the opportunity cost of taking out a Super Bowl ad, but it does not seem to make sense in the vast majority. There were some points that you brought up as well that I never though about, such as the messages that Coke brought forth with their ad. It is very hard to make an ad that is memorable and brings forward good messages. This year I think Pringles and Tide had the most memorable ads. Having a Super Bowl ad is risky just because of the price, but it can be worth it in the long run if you advertise properly. Thank you for sharing!

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Angel Escobar
3/12/2018 11:14:54 pm

Dr Hagenbuch,
Thank you for this post. I found this post very interesting and insightful. I am a huge sports fan so I thought this post was a very good read. Yes I think that one of the reasons that people watch the Super Bowl is for the comical commercials. I do agree with you that it isn't really worth it to spend a ton of money to advertise during the Super Bowl. I liked how you mentioned that people don't even remember what they see a few days later. I don't think the Super Bowl ads make much of a difference in purchases anymore. I think people just watch the commercials for entertainment purchases mores than anything. They really have to be smart about how they advertise.

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Mark
3/12/2018 11:26:30 pm

Hello Dr. Hagenbuch,
I found this blog post about super bowl ads to be very interesting. I personally didn't get a chance to watch the Super Bowl but its apparent how important these ad slots are to companies because super bowl ads in itself have become a reason to watch the game. I think that nowadays, the ads are meant to not necessarily display the product but to have their name be recognizable and to create an advertisement that the people can go back to and rewatch. An interesting aspect that you noted was the deeper issues that the ads can subconsciously resonate with. I didn't take into account the emotional response that people get from advertisements that can lead to, in extreme cases, damaging and dangerous consequences.

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Jeremy
3/13/2018 01:26:58 am

It's often easy to overlook the impact that ads themselves have on us. They have the power to influence the way we think, feel, and perceive others. I think it's important to note that these ads themselves were originally the prime reason for the creation of television shows. Ads were another message billboard created for the television long before tv shows were introduced. With this in mind, we must remember that there are always root reasons to each ad and that we must greet each one with a good amount of thought.

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Paula Giraldo
3/13/2018 06:29:35 pm

In my opinion, it is very hard to actually remember the ads of the super bowl. I only do when they are repetitive and contain a product or service that I am really interested in. I was very confused by the first commercial. I had no idea what the focus was, until i realized that they were relating “diet coke” with a skinny figure, which is something that really catches people’s attention like any other ad for the superbowl. They do not intend to make you remember the brand of the product but by making an impact in you they can easily make you remember what the product is as well as its brand.

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9/22/2018 09:38:01 am

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