The Best of 2019’s Super Bowl Advertising

This week in sports advertising, we celebrate the biggest day of the year for brand marketers. A 30-second Super Bowl spot costs advertisers between $5.1-5.3 million, and that doesn’t even include what goes into creating, producing and activating on their ads.

Super Bowl ads are as notorious as the game itself. That’s why we are bringing you five of our favorite ads from the big game, including Expensify’s music video about fiscal responsibility, Pepsi’s venture into rival territory, and smart speaker ideas that didn’t quite work out.

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1. Expensify — Expensify Th!$

Agency: JohnXHannes New York

Influencer: 2 Chainz and Adam Scott

For Expensify’s Super Bowl spot, they showed the capabilities of their product by creating a song and music video about expensing the costs involved in the making of their music video “Expensify Th!$.”

The creative minds at JohnXHannes, 2 Chainz, and Adam Scott are making financial responsibility cool again. Expensify used the opportunity to engage fans and consumers by encouraging them to expense the receipts from the music video and commercial for a chance to win cash.

2. Pepsi — More Than Ok

Agency: GSP

Influencer: Cardi B, Steve Carell, and Lil Jon

Often, the question, “Can I get a Coke,” is accompanied by the response, “Is Pepsi okay?” Pepsi and GSP set the record straight and prove that Pepsi is more than okay in their Super Bowl spot featuring Steve Carell, Cardi B, and Lil Jon.

In addition to this hilarious spot, Pepsi was featured in the halftime show as an official sponsor of the NFL. They made it their goal to go into Atlanta, Coke’s hometown, and come out with a victory just like the New England Patriots.

3. Planters — Mr. Peanut is Always There in Crunch Time

Agency: VaynerMedia

Athlete / Influencer: Charlie Sheen and Alex Rodriguez

Planters used their airtime on Sunday to influence Super Bowl snacking in a high-octane spot featuring Charlie Sheen, Alex Rodriguez, and of course Mr. Peanut, who came through in crunch time.

With VaynerMedia’s help, the spot had all of the cinematic elements of a trailer, including a quick start, a slow-mo dramatic moment, and an ending where Mr. Peanut walks away as the hero. They even made movie poster!

4. Amazon — Not Everything Makes the Cut

Agency: Lucky Generals

Athlete / Influencer: Ilana Glazer, Abbi Jacobson, Forest Whitaker, and Harrison Ford

Robots and smart speakers seemed to be a theme across this year’s Super Bowl commercials, and Amazon took the opportunity to get involved in a hilarious yet cautionary spot detailing all the instances where their implementation of Alexa went awry. They splurged on a 90-second slot for the biggest day in advertising rather than limiting themselves to the confines of a 30-second commercial.

The spot, which features Forest Whitaker, Harrison Ford and the stars of Broad City, Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer, takes Alexa’s technology to the next level in the form of smart hot tubs, dog collars, an Alexa toothbrush, and international space station.

5. Budweiser — Wind Never Felt Better

Agency: DAVID

Budweiser has been a long-time Super Bowl staple, with the famous Clydesdales often taking center stage. Last year, they shifted away from the horses to tell the origin story of the company’s namesakes, Eberhard Anheuser, and Adolphus Busch.

This year they brought Clydesdales back and introduced April the Dalmatian in a spot geared towards creating goodwill with consumers. With the help of DAVID, they used the “Wind Never Felt Better” campaign as a medium to educate everyone about renewable energy’s role in their brewing process.

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