There’s no bigger stage, and no higher creative risk, than the Super Bowl. And while some may say Super Bowl ads are not worth the multi-million dollar investments, the fact is it’s one of the few broadcast events that people will tune in to just to watch the commercials. And for those lucky brands that get it right, the organic media and amplified reach are worth every penny and more. Below are the integrated, multi-channel Big Game efforts I’ve led over the years. Hopefully they look familiar to you. In a good way.
“Yearbooks”
To promote the redesigned CR-V during the Super Bowl we leaned into Honda’s “Power of Dreams” philosophy. Their tireless quest for better has propelled the CR-V to the #1 selling car in America over the last 20 years. But they’re not the only big dreamers out there. In our star-studded Big Game spot we celebrate those who have doggedly pursued their dreams for decades on the way to becoming some of the biggest stars, sports figures and cultural icons in the world. How? By throwing it back to high school.
Awards: #2 USA Today AdMeter Ranking // Cannes Shortlist - Film // One Show Merit - Social Influencer Marketing // Super Clio Shortlist // Clio Shortlist - Film Technique // Indie Award for “Best Creativity”
“Yearbooks” case study
The campaign kicked off with a teaser that launched the week before the game.
“Yearbooks” teaser
The Big Game ad included celebrities, athletes and icons from across the decades: Tina Fey, Steve Carrell, Amy Adams, Viola Davis, Stan Lee, Magic Johnson, Robert Redford and Jimmy Kimmel. To bring their high school photos to life we combined cutting-edge CG, stunt doubles and facial mapping.
“Yearbooks” :60
On the Thursday before the Big Game, we took advantage of the #tbt hash tag and had the stars of our spot, athletes and influencers encourage people to share old photos by sharing their own.
And on Twitter we had the stars from the Big Game spot, as well as Olympic athletes and influencers, offer words of encouragement to people who had hit a roadblock in the pursuit of their own dreams.
“Matthew’s Day Off”
“Live life to its fullest in the redesigned Honda CR-V” — that was the strategy that drove the launch of the best-selling SUV, and the reason why we asked Matthew Broderick to kinda-sorta-reprise his role as Ferris Bueller. The spot almost didn’t happen. But thank goodness it did. It’s been viewed over 25 million times on YouTube. It’s ranked #18 on the list of most-watched ads ever on YouTube. It was considered by critics to be one of the top Super Bowl commercials of 2012. And a few critics were kind enough to include it on some Best Ever lists.
Awards: Top Super Bowl Commercials of All-Time, Entertainment Weekly // Top 10 Super Bowl Ads All-Time, Mashable // Mixx Award Gold Winner 2012 - Viral Single Execution // #18 Most-Watched Ad on YouTube
It began with an unbranded teaser a few weeks prior to the Big Game, which got five million views on YouTube and over 300 articles written about it in three days time. It went so viral so fast that Jon Stewart, then-host of The Daily Show, said “it nearly broke the Internet.”
“Matthew’s Day Off” teaser
Four days later we spilled the beans, and released an extended version of our Super Bowl spot online. The nearly five-minute film is a homage to the classic, with nods to the original throughout. In an effort to excite fans of Ferris Buller (and let them know we were huge fans too), we hid over 30 "Easter Eggs" from the movie throughout, transforming it from mere entertainment to engaging treasure hunt.
“Matthew’s Day Off” full-length film
As a tribute to the ardent Ferris fans out there (who might have been angry their favorite character was being used for corporate purposes) we filled the spot with over 100 Easter eggs from the film.
The case study below outlines the entire campaign and the results.
“Matthew’s Day Off” case study
“A New Truck to Love”
After a long hiatus Honda decided to get back into the truck game with the all-new Ridgeline, and in doing so, faced an uphill battle. The truck category is dominated by American ruggedness, outrageous stunts, and testosterone-fueled one-upmanship. So how can a company like Honda, known for making reliable cars, convince people to take the all-new Ridgeline seriously? The Ridgeline was never meant to out-man the competition. It’s a truck built for every day life, the smart man’s truck. We decided to craft a story around one of the many features that make the Ridgeline unique – the first truck bed audio system.
Awards: Fast Company's Top 5 Super Bowl 50 Ads // #7 USA TODAY Ad Meter // Top 10 Super Bowl Ads, Business Insider // Creativity’s Top 5
“Hugfest”
Safety is important, but a boring and somewhat generic topic amongst car companies. We had to figure out a way talk about it that would stand apart from everything else that’s been said, and stand out among a crowded, noisy Super Bowl environment. So we got the toughest of the tough guys to deliver a very sensitive message - Honda cares about the people you care about, which is why they build the some of the safest cars on the road. Then he asked the audience to do something - hug someone you love. When it’s Bruce Willis asking, you’re going to listen.
‘Hugfest” :60
Instagram became a virtual #hugfest. And it was Twitter’s 2nd-most-used hashtag during the game. One reason for that — the chance to have Bruce rate the quality of your hug.
Bruce also gave out hugs to folks who needed them IN THE GAME. Quarterbacks who were intercepted. Running backs who fumbled. Kickers who missed kicks. Refs who didn’t get a call right. And of course, the city that ended up losing the game.
“Big Game Reactions - Seattle touchdown”
“Big Game Reactions - Holding”
And Honda kept the love going after the game. We invited people to send a virtual hug from Bruce to someone they care about but couldn’t hug during the Big Game.
And lastly, below is the case study for the entire Hugfest campaign.
“Hugfest” case study
“New Fun, Old Friends”
For Meta Quest’s first ever Super Bowl campaign we didn’t just create a spot, we created the first spot you could actually go into. In the Super Bowl film we told the heartfelt, quirky story about a Chuck E Cheese-style animatronic band that, after years of playing together at Questy’s restaurant, is separated. They find their way back together in Horizon Worlds on Quest 2 (aka the metaverse) and ultimately get band back together. The ad resulted in the highest jump in brand consideration to date.
In Horizon Worlds on Quest, we created a metaverse-version of Questy’s, the space-themed pizza restaurant in the ad, so people could hangout and experience socializing and connecting together in VR for themselves. We teased it on Good Morning America with Meta teammate, Chelsey Susin Cantor.
Our Social Media Creative Director also went into Questy’s to give people a sense of what awaited. This video was posted on our social channels during the game.
And as the cherry on top, we offered an exclusive Foo Fighters post-Super Bowl VR concert in Quest. As a thank you, a FOMO moment for non-Quest users and to show people what a shared experience in VR was like.
