Why Super Bowl Ads Shouldn't Forget Their Audience

Super Bowl week, and my industry group chats are popping off. What we like, hate, why has it taken 31 years to see Seal as a seal. But the personal ones? The family, school mum, pals back in Oldham group chats? Not a sausage. Granted, between engagements, divorces, and “has anyone seen little Tommy’s trousers” chat, no one has much headspace left to discuss why moving facial hair is having a micro moment.

And therein lies an interesting conundrum, doesn’t it? These are some of the biggest, most disruptive ads we’ll see all year. And still no one in the real world is talking about them.

Of course, part of that is simply down to geography. But I’ve got plenty of friends over here talking about the Superbowl itself. Just not the ads.

The industry is, of course, talking about them. And rightly so. It’s an amazing place for us to look to for inspiration, and emerging trends. Though many think pieces will tell you this is Not A Vintage Year. Not like the Good Old Days. And that might be true. But that’s only because they’ve set an insanely high bar for themselves. Any one of us can immediately mentally compile a Superbowl case study that contains some of the greatest ads of all time. Apple 1984. Always Like A Girl. That weird Coinbase one. And it’s these we subconsciously compare any newcomers to.

Not the real people though. In fact, System One analysed the reactions of over 60,000 Americans and found these were actually their favourite set of ads in years.

So maybe it’s time we thought a bit less about what us lot in adland think about the Super Bowl ads, and a bit more about the audience thinks.

Of course, the audience for the Super Bowl itself is incredibly unique. It’s not just a football game. It’s an unmissable cultural event. 200 million people are watching one TV event at the same time. And that’s the audience the brands need to be considering. Not just the one they defined though data, research and intel many months ago. But the mums. The dads. The Grandparents. The friendships groups. The ones sitting on the coach, surrounded by snacks, ready for game day.  

And some of the best work this year didn’t forget that. If the YouTube figures are anything to go by, the people’s favourite ad was Booking.com featuring The Muppets. Big, populist storytelling, starring characters we know and love. And it worked for the 94 million people that actively sought it out.

It’s also probably why we saw a lot of brands leaning on nostalgia again. A la When Sally Met Hellmann's. People watch the Superbowl with their friends and family members of all ages. By tapping into big, famous, cultural moments, brands can appeal across generations – whether it’s an older viewer recalling it, or a younger viewer discovering it for the first time.

My personal favourite this year is Nike So Win. The craft is exquisite, of course. It’s a swearingly good piece of film. But what I love most is thinking about those people on the couch. Not the kids, actually. If Like A Girl taught us anything, it’s that the kids are the ones that know damn well that girls can do anything. It’s society that’s the problem. What I love is imagining that through the eyes of those kids, the mums, dads, and grandparents might start to take in the message too.

So if Super Bowl has taught me anything, it’s think big, think bold, think disruptive. But don’t forget that person on the couch.