For a perennial advertiser like McDonald's, the decision *not* to run a Super Bowl ad can become a significant news story in itself. This shows that strategically withdrawing from a major cultural event can be a powerful, attention-grabbing marketing move, proving that presence isn't the only way to make an impact.
Related Insights
Companies increasingly debut their Super Bowl commercials online a week early not just for hype, but as a crucial risk management tactic. By monitoring social media comments and public sentiment, brands can gauge reactions and pull an ad if it's unexpectedly controversial, preventing a potential PR disaster and protecting their massive investment.
The Super Bowl captures mass attention, making it a powerful marketing opportunity for all brands, not just consumer ones. By incorporating relevant themes, even "boring" B2B companies can significantly boost engagement because the topic is top-of-mind for their audience.
The backlash transformed a standard ad campaign into a cultural phenomenon that generated 45 billion impressions. This massive earned media reach dwarfed competitor campaigns, demonstrating that provocative work—even with negative reactions—can deliver far greater ROI than a safe media buy.
By dropping critical ads just before the Super Bowl and OpenAI's planned ad launch, Anthropic made it impossible for OpenAI to craft and run a response ad in time. This maximized the unchallenged impact of their campaign by muddying the waters at a critical moment.
The widely reported $10M price for a Super Bowl ad slot is only one-third of the true cost. The other two-thirds are spent on production/talent and, crucially, the post-game 'drag factor'—a follow-up marketing campaign to convert initial awareness into actual sales.
To counter a competitor's expensive Super Bowl launch, the Old Spice team posted their ad on YouTube and Facebook the Friday before the game. The ad went so viral over the weekend that it was included in Monday's Super Bowl ad roundups, achieving massive reach for free.
TBPN, a media company, ran a Super Bowl ad not to sell a product, but as a gesture to its community, featuring guests and partners. This counterintuitive marketing spend builds brand affinity and can be justified as being done "purely for fun."
The Super Bowl is a massive cultural moment. Even 'boring' B2B marketers can capitalize on this by incorporating relevant themes and language into their campaigns, regardless of industry. This taps into audience top-of-mind awareness and can lead to a significant lift in engagement.
The massive cost of a Super Bowl ad is only justified if it generates significant pre-game buzz and goes viral on platforms like YouTube. The ad spot itself is merely "permission to be evaluated." The real return comes from the earned media and social chatter leading up to the event.
Facing network TV restrictions for its Super Bowl ad, MANSCAPED couldn't use its typical humor. To bridge this gap, their organic social campaign became a meta-commentary on the challenge of making a commercial without mentioning "balls." This engaged their core audience while setting expectations for the mainstream ad.
