Deutsch on Bringing Kieran Culkin as a Beluga Whale to the Super Bowl

Last week, NerdWallet unveiled its Super Bowl LIX ad, directed by Tom Kuntz and created with Deutsch. Sparked with charm and wit, the ad stars NerdWallet’s first “spokesanimal” - a genius beluga whale, voiced by Kieran Culkin.

While NerdWallet is no stranger to live sports, this year witnessed the release of the brand’s first ever Super Bowl spot. The talkative whale made a splash amongst the Super Bowl LIX ads as the friendly "spokesanimal" brought to life NerdWallet’s goal of making finances fun and approachable.

LBB’s Lucy Briggs speaks to Alison McCoy, NerdWallet VP brand marketing, and Ryan Lehr, Deutsch co-chief creative officer, about humour, creating adorable characters and immersing audiences into surreal Super Bowl ads.

LBB> Whilst NerdWallet isn’t new to advertising during live sports, this is the brand’s first Super Bowl spot. What was the starting point for taking on the project?

Alison> Live sports has been a very effective way to connect with our key audiences and build our brand. We’ve advertised in the NFL’s conference championship games the last few years, been active with the NBA, MLS, and across college sports. We’ve seen the benefit of tapping into those key cultural spaces. Because of that success, we’re now at a point where our audience recognises us and understands who we are and what we can do for them, which is critical for a huge but crowded platform like the Super Bowl. We’ve been building up to do something like this in an impactful way. We’re there now.

Ryan> NerdWallet has been a national advertiser for about five years, and while it is no stranger to live sports, the Super Bowl is a step-up opportunity to present our brand to a wide audience in a major cultural moment. The brand is at a growth stage where most people are aware of it but might not yet be familiar with all the ways to use us to make smarter financial decisions. We see the Super Bowl as a jumping off point to not only reach a wider audience but also more deeply connect with our consumers in the cultural moments they are leaned into most. 

LBB> What specific brand awareness goals did you have for the ad?

Alison> We want people to understand that shopping for products doesn’t have to be difficult or time-consuming, because our nerds simplify the process and have already done the work. If exiting our campaign - more people are inspired to use NerdWallet to make smarter financial decisions - that is success to us! 

LBB> How did you want the audience to feel about NerdWallet after watching the ad?

Alison> Hopefully they are thinking that NerdWallet is smart, accessible, and entertaining - and they’re curious to hear more about what this genius beluga has to say about the value of our offering.

LBB> What inspired the surreal element of the talking whale?

Ryan> It really is genius to use NerdWallet to find the best financial products for you - because our Nerds have done all the research on credit cards, insurance policies, loans and more - so you don’t have to. We wanted to find someone genius to share this news - someone with credibility but also someone our consumers would want to hear from. 

One of our creative directors went on a whale watching tour during our concepting phase and was fascinated to learn belugas are known to be highly intelligent--even genius--creatures. We got to thinking … if a beluga whale could talk…he would probably recommend using NerdWallet. And who doesn’t love the idea of hearing from a genius beluga whale? 

LBB> The CGI whale could be seen as an ‘adorable’ character, was there a particular audience you wanted to reach with this when creating the role?

Ryan> NerdWallet is known for turning personal finances - what some perceive as a dull / daunting category - into something approachable, even entertaining to learn about. Our target audience for this campaign is certainly savvy when it comes to making financial decisions, but they just don’t want to spend a ton of time researching and comparing their options. So they often turn to friends and family vs. online resources like NerdWallet. To capture their attention - we wanted them to hear about the benefits of NerdWallet from someone surprising, atypical for the personal finance category - and so we landed on a genius beluga whale.   

LBB> Was having a humorous element to the ad integral or always planned, if so why?

Ryan> Humour was definitely a very big part of the recipe--as well as a strong consideration in casting the voice of the beluga. We knew we wanted to feature an unexpected, but perfectly fitting voice to bring the Beluga to life. We couldn’t be happier with Kieran Culkin’s performance. He brought his own brand of dry wit and really took it to the next level. NerdWallet has always aimed to bring a loveable charm andwit to our brand advertising.

LBB> What was the design process like when creating the whale character?

Ryan> We worked very closely with Untold Studios, who are absolute masters at their craft. 

As we explored the look of the Beluga we saw that they each really have their own distinct personality. We wanted to make sure we brought some individuality to ours, while still making him seem real. We went through many iterations, honing in on everything from exactly where his eyes were, to the shape of his mouth, the size of the melon, etc.

LBB> Did you plan any particular elements of the ad to appeal to both sports fans and general viewers?

Ryan> While the Super Bowl spot is universally charming to all viewers, we have some fun social content rolling out soon specifically tailored to sports fans, and other social content that appeals more to the celebrity / entertainment value of Kieran. We see this Super Bowl campaign as a true jumping off point - so while appealing to sports fans is certainly an objective - it extends broader than that as we work to help everyone make smarter financial decisions with confidence.

LBB> How involved were NerdWallet in the creative process? Did the brand have a lot of input or was Deutsch given creative freedom to shape the concept?

Ryan> The brand team at NerdWallet is fantastic, and they are engaged creative partners. They respect the creative process and our expertise in shaping the concept, while also being responsible marketers and pushing the agency when needed. 

LBB> What kind of challenges did you encounter when creating the ad, particularly with the CGI elements or talent coordination? How did you overcome them?

Ryan> Shooting with a floating beluga bust standing in for our hero character was of course something we had to work around and particularly keep in mind as we got into edit--knowing that Untold was going to be bringing him to life and filling in gaps was an exercise in imagination. And of course, simultaneously working on different pieces of a spot is always challenging. For example, the VFX was getting refined alongside the mix, so it was a bit of a back and forth to make sure everything was lining up perfectly throughout the process. We had such incredible teams on all sides who really went above and beyond to make sure the end product was as strong as it could be.