At $5 million for a 30-second spot, the stakes are high for this year’s Super Bowl brands and their advertising agencies. The big game next Sunday offers a global platform to promote, remind, and inform. Most advertisers use the opportunity to “entertain” the pigskin-watching audience, vying for the PR-value and water-cooler talk that follows on Monday. Until then, here are a few advertising, marketing, PR and social media highlights from this month; curated by the Springboard team. Topics include the Bud Light football commercials, Tide’s POD crisis, and the new flavors of Diet Coke. And as the NFL culminates the season next Sunday, a new league, the XFL will kick-off.
The Bud Light King to Eagles Fans: “Philly Philly!”
Football fans are all too familiar with the popular Bud Light commercials featuring a king who enjoys the finer things in life such as drinking Budweiser beer and chanting “Dilly Dilly!” To support each of the teams in the NFC Championship and AFC Championship games on Sunday, the Bud Light king raised his beer bottle to the Eagles of Philadelphia, the Jaguars of Jacksonville, the Football Warriors of Minnesota, and the Patriots of New England. However, it was the Eagles that received the best proclamation from the Bud Light king: “Philly Philly!” We’re looking forward to seeing more clever commercials from Budweiser during the Super Bowl. In fact, the Bud Light commercial that aired during last week’s games had a “Braveheart-like” theme that ended with “to be continued.”
Kids Seeking Social Media Fame Lands Tide in Deep Water – Tide Enlists Gronk
This month, many young adults and adolescents indulged in a dangerous new social media trend called the “Tide Pod Challenge” which involves biting into one of the chemical-laden laundry detergent PODs on camera. If you think this meme-fueled fad is too strange to be true, think again. This has led to grocery stores and many other laundry detergent retailers to begin locking them up to prevent theft and consumption. Tide is well aware of this controversy and has spoken out on Twitter against this action. They have even enlisted the help of Patriots superstar Rob “Gronk” Gronkowski to issue a PSA. Despite the controversy and this erroneous tweet, Tide will continue to sell PODs.
Can New Diet Coke Flavors Reverse Slumping Sales?
This week, Coca Cola has released four new fruit flavors of their Diet Coke beverage. The lineup of new flavors includes Feisty Cherry, Twisted Mango, Ginger Lime, and Zesty Blood Orange. The Coca Cola Company has also provided the brand with a refreshed sleek and colorful design. In efforts to cancel out slumping Diet Coke sales, these bold new flavors are looking to attract millennials. In a statement issued by Coca Cola, Rafael Acevedo, group director for Diet Coke in North America explained, “Millennials are now thirstier than ever for adventures and new experiences, and we want to be right by their side. We’re contemporizing the Diet Coke brand and portfolio with sleek packaging and new flavors that are appealing to new audiences.” If all fails, they have Dasani to offer a healthier alternative.
XFL 2.0
This week WWE chairman and CEO Vince McMahon announced the launch of the “new” XFL. The XFL debuted in 2001 and lasted for one season. It’s baaaaack! Planned for 2020, the new XFL will kick-off around this time (strategically placed after the NFL season ends). It will include eight teams with 40-man rosters playing a 10-game regular season schedule, plus playoffs and a championship. According to McMahon, “We want to re-imagine the game of professional football.” Given the issues the NFL has dealt with – concussions, political demonstrations, etc. the XFL has a shot to build an audience. If it does, the advertisers will follow.