Advertisers Make Big Plans for Super Bowl

via USA Today

Whether it's beer, cars or corn chips, the usual suspects are lining up to make the 50th Super Bowl more than a game to remember -- at least when it comes to the ads.

With the Super Bowl now almost two week away, advertisers are starting to give a peek at what they’ve got planned. They have a lot at stake as they prepare to drain their marketing budgets for what is perennially most expensive promotion opportunity of the year. Creative directors are angling to make an impact -- whether it's through a laugh or a pull of the heartstrings.

"It's brand strategy, pure and simple," says Erika Napolitano, a branding consultant for RHW Media in Chicago. "It's emotional, entertaining and most of all -- and more than any other ad buy you make for the year -- it has to have a clear message."

That's because so much is at stake: When the NFL championship airs on CBS on Feb. 7,  advertisers will vie for the attention of an audience that last year had a viewership of 114 million, making it one of the most watched telecasts

ever.

With so many eyes on the small screen, companies are willing to pay millions of dollars for 30 mere seconds of air time.

The average rate for a 30-second Super Bowl ad has risen by 76% during the past decade -- reaching $4.4 million in 2015, according to Kantar Media. It’s the priciest commercial time on TV.

"The demand for the Super Bowl has been extraordinary," CBS CEO Les Moonvessaid during a UBS conference last month, without disclosing specific price tags for this year's ad inventory.  "We've sold most of the spots for very, very high prices."

A wide range of companies have lined up for this year's action. But most haven't revealed their strategy or the actual ad. They are starting to be divulged, and one of the Super Bowl's most familiar advertisers is among the first to reveal some of the spots it has in mind.

Anheuser Busch, the Super Bowl’s exclusive beer sponsor for the 28th straight year, scooped up three and a half minutes of air time to run five ads for four brands:  Bud Light, Budweiser, Shock Top and Michelob Ultra.

“For us this is extremely important because we use the Super Bowl to make statements about our brands, to kick off the year with a vengeance,'' Jorn Socquet, Anheuser Busch’s vice president of marketing, said during a media preview Thursday.

Budweiser’s iconic Clydesdales will once again make an appearance.  Michelob ULTRA's 30-second ad will be its first in the Big Game since 2010. Seth Rogen and Amy Schumer will bring plenty of laughs to a “Bud Light Party" in an ad supporting that brand. And Shock Top, an unfiltered wheat beer, will feature comic T.J. Miller as its “unfiltered spokesperson’’  in a spot that will mark its Super Bowl debut.

Watch the Seth Rogen and Amy Schumer teaser here.

Soft drinks and sweet snacks will also be advertised, with as well as healthier fare such as the avocados from Mexico brand.

Skittles and Butterfinger will be in the big game, as well as Mountain Dew's Kickstart beverage.

Skittles'  ad will star rocker Steven Tyler, and marks the first time a celebrity has been part of Skittles’ “Taste the Rainbow’’ ad campaign.

And, as usual, a bevy of car companies will be represented -- more than nine so far. Among the brands planning one spot or more include Acura, Audi, Buick, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Mini and Toyota. Some, like Buick, are first timers.

All will be watching closely to see if they get their money's worth.

"The Super Bowl has become the Ad Bowl," Napoletano says. "Ads have become a culture in and of themselves."

JWT Brasil Teams Up with Dolby to Celebrate Sound of Coke

via AdWeek

While recent efforts for Coca-Cola have celebrated the centennial of the classic Coke bottle, JWT Brasil chose to highlight a different side of the experience of cracking open a Coke: the sound. The agency teamed up with Dolby to capture the sound of opening a bottle of Coke and pouring it over ice in Dolby 7.1 Surround Sound for a cinema campaign in Brazil.

The resulting 30-second spot presents a view from inside the bottle as it is popped open. As the carbonation bubbles and the soda streams upward, the shot changes to the soda being poured into a glass. All the while, the main focus is on the sound of the drink’s effervescent release. While it’s hard to get the full experience without being in a theater, JWT Brasil seems to have done a good job capturing the moment of opening a Coke in auditory form — not a bad way to get movie goers thirsty for the beverage.

“Only an iconic brand like Coca-Cola can turn the act of opening a bottle into an amazing sensory experience,” said JWT Brasil chief creative officer Ricardo John, in a statement. “With that in mind, our goal was to bring this sensation to the extreme. To achieve that, we could only rely on the sound quality of a brand like Dolby.”

Watch the Vignette here

Watch the Full Video Case here

Coca-Cola Demands You Choose Happiness in This Gritty Anthem Ad for Europe

via Ad Week

Coca-Cola isn't just a soft drink. It's an essential part of the human experience—the key to true happiness—says a grand new ad from the brand in Europe. So, suck up your laziness and bootstrap yourself some soda.

The 70-second anthem by Ogilvy & Mather Amsterdam (it's the office's first work for the brand) introduces a new theme, "Choose Happiness," and continues Coke's tradition of casting itself as synonymous with joy. But it takes a more aggressive tone than usual. Not only can you be happy, you should be happy, right now, and all you have to do is reach out and grab it. That Coke, right there on the shelf, that is.

Set to a song and rap by Amsterdam-based HT, the spot (plus a more exhausting, full-blown branded music video, complete with an indecipherable hook) argues that happiness is a choice. Which is sort of true in some contexts, but is also oversimplified advertising-speak.

Click to view

The broad-reaching argument rests in large part on urging you to consider all the dandy things your hands can do. They can make beats, and hold jump ropes, and give hugs. (Incidentally, Coke would also like you to know your hands can make the shape of Coke bottles, if you join them together with other hands.)

The spot deserves credit for including moments that aren't totally pollyanna—there's a lover's spat, and even a pseudo-political statement encouraging protest. But it's also a bit divorced from reality. If you have a hard time smiling with a face full of pepper spray, try washing that down with a Coke—it might settle your stomach, too.

Naturally, what Coca-Cola really means by "Choose Happiness" is that you should choose among the red, green, black and white versions of its product. The branding at the end of the spot includes four bottles—representing Coke's Classic, Life, Zero and Diet offerings—part of a new European strategy to lift the profile of the smaller brands by attaching them to marquee advertising.

That may or may not work, but the creative approach in the anthem spot stems from a familiar problem for any soda marketer: It can't pitch the product on the grounds that you actually need it, so it has to manufacture your desire as well. This is how you should be living, the ad says, in an overbearing, if still somewhat convincing, attempt to lift millennial spirits by pandering to vain conceptions of empowerment.

Click to view extended version

Just In Time to Celebrate Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his win: the "Dale Call" Returns

via Sport News

The "Dale Call" is back, much to the delight of Dale Earnhardt Jr. fans.

Mountain Dew has re-released its popular "Dale Call" for fans to order online. It comes on the heels of Earnhardt's Geico 500 win at Talladega Superspeedway.

The "Dale Call" is based on a commercial for Diet Mountain Dew that began airing during Super Bowl XLVIII. In the commercial, a duck hunter tries to rustle up some birds with his duck call. The hunter with him then breaks out his "Dale Call," prompting Dale Earnhardt Jr. to roar into the picture with his car. He quickly stirs up a large number of ducks.

Click to view "Dale Earnhardt Jr. Call"

The "Dale Call" looks like a duck call but also mimics an engine. When you blow into it, it makes an actual sound of a car engine, though not as loud or effective as in the commercial.

After a lot of requests from fans begging for the call to be made, Mountain Dew put the wheels in motion and did just that. It was unveiled on Amazon late last year and quickly sold out.

The "Dale Call" is now available beginning today and will be sold at a price of $14.99-$19.99 at e-commerce sites such as Amazon and at select tracks. 

Mountain Dew also released a new commercial over the weekend that capitalizes on the success of the first commercial and the sale of the "Dale Call."

Click to view "Do the DEW"

Ad of the Day: Minute Maid Shows What Children Really Think of Their Parents

via Ad Week

Most parents underestimate their parenting skills, at least compared to how their kids view them. That's the premise of Minute Maid's new "Doin' Good" campaign, breaking today.

The four-minute video from Doner Detroit asks at least six moms and dads, "How do you think you're doing?" The parents are surprisingly candid, with one mom saying bluntly, "I failed, I think on a daily basis, to live up to my own expectations. I question if I'm doing a good job." Another parent chimes in: "I love seeing the world in their eyes, but when I can't spend time with them, I do feel like I let them down sometimes."

Then we get their kids' perspectives with a nice mix of ages, from teenagers to elementary school children. The kids write their parents letters, which are are heartfelt—several of them explain the tough experiences their parents have gone through.

Ultimately, the parents get a new perspective on how they're handling their parenting skills.
Watch it here

The idea is a fun twist off of Minute Maid's "Put good in. Get good out" slogan and is part of a broader #doingood campaign that also includes partnering with bloggers, Facebook and YouTube to distribute the video and a new website.

Ad of the Day: Coca-Cola Embraces the Fist Bump and Gets Serious About True Friendship

via AdWeek

Showing teens how not to be cruel at 'crossroads moments'

Coca-Cola has embraced a useful visual shorthand for friendship—the fist bump—in its new marketing in Latin America. But that's just the beginning of a campaign that talks frankly to teens about stepping up for friends in difficult moments.

The work, by Pereira & O'Dell, includes Web films, social activation, mobile, print, TV, radio, packaging and out-of-home. The fist bump is being employed most notably within Coke's iconic white ribbon on a red background—it will even be on the packaging, and on merchandise including T-shirts and iPhone cases. (This isn't the first reworking of the white ribbon—Ogilvy won a Grand Prix at Cannes in 2012 for its own version of it.)

The broader Pereira & O'Dell campaign focuses on friendship by framing it against its opposite—the cruelty, loneliness and isolation that can be worse than ever nowadays because of cyberbullying. It's a theme Coke tried to tackle on the Super Bowl. But that work, with its grand visual metaphor for spreading good vibes online, felt a bit removed from the real social difficulties teens face. By contrast, this new work feels fresh and immediate.

The campaign suggests that shared moments offer a sense of identity and belonging. And in three short Web films (two have been released so far), high schoolers step up for their friends at crucial times—when it's uncomfortable, and requires bravery, to do so.

"The Rumor" is about a breakup and some scandalous gossip that ensues:

Click here to view

"Something Unexpected" deals with dating and an embarrassing moment in class:

Click here to view

"Coca-Cola is shedding light on what we're referring to as 'crossroad moments.' These are the times when friends can choose to step up for a friend in need selflessly," says P.J. Pereira, chief creative officer of Pereira & O'Dell. "We hope these scenarios inspire conversation among teens and put a spotlight on how we can choose not to be cruel to another human being, especially with words."

The campaign calls for teens to show not just friendship but "true friendship." The hashtag is #VerdaderoAmigo. The insight is that a true friend is the most valuable commodity at a time when cruelty is everywhere.

There is a TV spot as well, showing another moment of friendship in a time of crisis:

Click here to view

The stories are well told and memorable, and feel like they might actually have an effect on behavior, even if the fist bumps and product integrations at the end feel a little blatantly commercial.

One Direction's "Clouds" is the featured theme music across the campaign. The band will also appear in Coke print ads and Vines. The brand is also working with MTV on short documentaries about digital influencers and their own crossroad moments. Finally, the campaign will also feature Vines, print and a choose-your-own-adventure interactive video staring soccer players such as Javier "Chicharito" Hernández and Raúl Jimenez.

Print work and credits below:

Coke Zero Pours You a Drink from the TV

via PSFK.com

'Drinkable advertising' campaign shells out free soda from an on-air commercial, billboard and more

Whenever a commercial comes on TV of a warm pizza or a sweet treat near to dinner time, how quickly does it trigger your desire to order in? Considered one of the great successes of advertising is a brand’s ability to translate broadcast activations into purchases. With marketing moving farther and farther away from the ‘traditional’ in any sense of the word, age-old brands look to new forms of delivery to engage the modern consumer. So, instead of looking at a warm pizza or sweet treat through the screen, what if you could eat it at the cost of . . .nothing?

Coke Zero has launched a new initiative that has been touted as “drinkable advertising,” creating a fun way to shell out free products to unsuspecting consumers. In a series of drinkable campaign activations and events, Coke Zero has partnered with advertising agency Ogilvy & Matherand music discovery app Shazam.

The unveiling of the campaign coincides with Coca-Cola’s sponsorship of March Madness of the NCAA Men’s Final Four with a 26 x 36 foot drinkable billboard. The first-of-its-kind structure features a massive contour bottle and a swirling straw, spelling out the words “Taste It.” Weighing in at 23,000 pounds, the billboard magically appears to pour out ice-cold soda into six drinking fountains for anyone at the sampling station.

For Coke fans outside of Indianapolis, Coke Zero has also created a drinkable commercial so people watching TV can enjoy the beverage at their leisure. As it works, an on-air commercial synced up with Shazam, the service that lets users discover music and TV streaming around them, will offer mobile coupons for a free 20-ounce bottle of soda.

During the live broadcast, viewers watch a Coke Zero poured from the iconic glass bottle and are prompted to log in into the app. Within Shazam, the Coke Zero will continue to fill up until it reveals a free bottle to the user at any participating retailer.

The marketing campaign is rethinking traditional advertising in a way that offers consumers a refreshing opportunity to experience a physical product they might not otherwise engage. Following in the vein of the second screen user experience, the brand has created new touch points for consumers through direct out-of-home advertising.

Coke Zero will host other events that include a drinkable flyer and drinkable interactive mall kiosks where participants will also receive free soda.

Ogilvy Sydney Asks ‘Which Part Will You Play?’ for Coke

via Ad Week

Ogilvy Sydney has launched a ten spot campaign promoting Copa Coca-Cola 2015, “a Coca-Cola-sponsored youth soccer tournament uniting talented teenagers from over sixty countries in support of teamwork and sportsmanship.”

The 45-second launch spot (featured above) introduces each teen ambassador as they receive a letter from Coca-Cola giving them a nickname describing their style of play and step out of their front doors right onto a soccer field. All of the spots were directed by award-winning filmmaker Marc Raymond Wilkins, with follow-ups documenting the stories of each individual ambassador. Profile spots were filmed on-location in Poland over the course of six days, incorporating text into the live action to  help tell each individual’s story and describe their contribution to their team. The campaign is airing online globally on Copa Coca-Cola’s ambassador page and will culminate in a finale, which has yet to air.

“I love that soccer can eliminate boundaries and be a catalyst for growth, determination and collaboration,” Wilkins said, in a statement. “In that vein, I wanted to create profiles that were intimate, while at the same time universal in their message. Each of these teens is inspiring and authentic, so using a raw visual style rather than enhancing or finessing served to underscore the reality of their stories and the sense of humanity and common ground that drives the tournament.”

Coke's Super Bowl Ad Seeks to Make the Internet Happier

via AdAge

Coca-Cola has an ambitious plan for its Super Bowl ad. "Our goal is to inspire America to become a collective force for positivity," Jennifer Healan, Coca-Cola's group director of integrated marketing content, said Monday on the marketer's corporate blog, which previewed the 60-second spot.

The ad, by Wieden & Kennedy, Portland, will "tackle the pervasive negativity polluting social media feeds and comment threads across the Internet," the company stated. At the end of the spot Coke will tout the hashtag, "#MakeItHappy," as "a call to action to promote positivity both online and in the real world."

The ad will run in the first quarter and will not be released early. But the brand will seek to build buzz by releasing three short teaser ads on TV and at cinemas. Additionally, Coke will post four web-only vignettes on social channels, featuring "testimonials from teens and celebrities who have experienced online negativity, including race car driver Danica Patrick and football player Michael Sam, as well as those who make it a mission to spread happiness online, like Kid President," the company stated.

Coca-Cola is alo partnering with DoSomething.org before and after the game, "mobilizing the organization's community of 3.3 million young people to help spread the importance of making the Internet a happier place," the company said. The organization gets involved in varying causes, from "from poverty to violence to the environment to literally everything else," according to its website.

"Coca-Cola has always stood for optimism, uplift and inclusion … and these core values have been a common thread in our advertising through the years," said Andy McMillin, VP and GM of Coca-Cola Trademark Brands. "The brand is at its best when it expresses a point of view that reinforces its values and represents the cultural times and communities in which our brand lives -- from 'Boys on the Bench' and 'Hilltop' to 'Mean Joe Greene' and last year's Big Game spot, 'It's Beautiful.'"

Last year's "American Is Beautiful" was among the most talked-about Super Bowl ads last year, sparking debate for its use of several diverse faces singing "America the Beautiful" in several languages.

This is the ninth consecutive year Coca-Cola has advertised during the Super Bowl. This year's buy is down from last year, when Coke ran two 60-second spots.