Gary Vaynerchuk warns that using high-profile celebrities can be a trap. The audience often remembers the celebrity but not the brand, leading to poor recall and wasted ad spend. The key is ensuring the brand remains the undisputed hero of the creative.
Tree Hut CMO Luis Garcia featured their creator community in their Super Bowl ad, not traditional celebrities. For a brand built on social media, these creators are the real stars to their audience. This approach maintains authenticity, energizes the core community, and generates powerful organic amplification.
Gary Vaynerchuk argues that the marketing industry wrongly demonizes a high volume of creative output. He reframes it as taking more "shots on goal," a strategic necessity in an algorithmic world that allows brands to efficiently test relevance with different consumer segments.
Gary Vaynerchuk observes that brands are now treating major events like the Super Bowl as efficient production opportunities. Instead of just hosting parties, they leverage influencers and on-site activations to generate a high volume of social content, maximizing ROI on expensive experiential marketing.
A Super Bowl spot is not a standalone event. Vaynerchuk's team succeeded by executing a 10-day "surround sound" strategy before the game. This included seeding anonymous photos to the press and a heavy media tour to build buzz and ensure the ad landed with maximum impact.
Cadillac F1 innovated the traditional product reveal by synchronizing their Super Bowl ad with a live car unveiling in Times Square. This created a powerful dual-platform moment, capturing both a mass television audience and an engaged, in-person crowd, which in turn generated massive digital content.
Gary Vaynerchuk predicts a shift from top-down creative development to a bottom-up approach. Brands will identify their highest-performing organic social media posts throughout the year, and that winning content will become the brief—and perhaps the literal ad—for their Super Bowl spot.
High-stakes campaigns like a Super Bowl ad are significant team-building moments. Mondelez's Stephen Sainan highlights that celebrating the culmination of this work together creates strong bonds and pride, which directly impacts employee retention and provides a powerful, often overlooked, economic return.
Novartis CMO Gail Horwood used the Super Bowl to address a lack of awareness about a specific health issue (prostate cancer screening via blood test). The platform's massive audience is ideal for taking a little-known fact and making it common knowledge, driving immediate behavior change.