Why reinvent the wheel?
In today’s episode, Quinn and Adrienne analyze some of the best and worst superbowl ads from the weekend’s big game and discuss how these ads could be made over to fit the industry.
How so?
Consider the classic, “is it real or is it acting” Pepsi commercials featuring Steve Martin or Ben Stiller. In the ad(s), the actors play off of the idea that sometimes they love the products they support and sometimes it’s acting. In the end, they drink the Pepsi sugar-free cola and remark on how delicious it tastes and then end with “is this real or am I acting?” No one knows for certain, but the commercial creates enough intrigue that now everyone wants to actually know…does it taste like the real thing?
Consider a remake to drive foot traffic. Mattress companies tout better support, cooling features and a variety of items. Put the mattresses to the “test rest” challenge and invite them in stores to see “does it really offer support or are we just saying it does?”
Among other the top favorites?
The Farmer’s Dog brand dog food stole Adrienne’s heart. It had sentiment, connection and tugged at the heartstrings and 48 hours later, it’s the one she remembers in vivid detail.
For Quinn, it was the homage to Breaking Bad and the Doritos addiction.
Which did they disagree on? Blue Moon.
What did you think of the commercials and which were your favorites?
FULL TRANSCRIPTION
Mark Quinn: Super Bowl 57 is in the back. Kansas City chief came out on top and the game was fantastic, but you know what was even better? The commercials. And we’re gonna break it all down for you on the fan marketing show. It happens right now.
Adrian, how are you doing? Did you watch the Super Bowl? Did you stay up too late?
Adrienne Woods: No, of course we watched the Super Bowl, but I will say I left probably the middle of the fourth quarter and apparently I missed what Jonathan told me was like the call that sort of solidified the game. I don’t know if you know that call that he’s talking about, but Jonathan goes, I don’t know that it would’ve changed the outcome, but it definitely solidified it.
So whatever call that was is kind of what put the. For sure winning the victory. So I didn’t actually, yeah. You know, I
Mark Quinn: got a thought about that score and, and it might be because I’m sorry, say again? Did I step on what you’re saying there?
Adrienne Woods: No, no, no, no. I didn’t see the final scores where it ended. Yeah. You
Mark Quinn: know, I, that final call, I think it was a little picky and especially for a Super Bowl, but at the end of the day, it never comes down to that.
So all the Eagles fans stop your complainant. That means you, David Saff. And, uh, who I think actually went to the game. But anyway, it was a great game, Adrian, as always. You know, it was interesting cuz normally we’ll go to a Super Bowl party or something like that, and my wife and I, Bridget just kinda said, you know what, let’s just stay home and do, like, just cook some really bad to eat food and uh, you know, just, uh, indulge all day long and watch it at home where we can hear everything and see everything.
This year, maybe more than ever, I was able to watch the commercials and I enjoyed the heck out of that. So you watched the commercials intently? Mm-hmm. . Did you have a few favorites or a few that you couldn’t stand?
Adrienne Woods: Um, I did have a few favorites, but before we get started on that, cuz we have a lot of good stuff since we’re analyzing the commercials, I have some Super Bowl trivia.
That I wanna, oh boy. Ask that we will answer at the end. Okay. And I anticipate big things from you, Quinn. So what was the average cost of a 32nd Super Bowl commercial? According to nbc, this is where I got the statistics from. 30 seconds. Some chose longer, like Anhauser Busch opted for, I think a total of three minutes over the course of the game.
And then some people chose like a 15 second ad. But what was the average cost of a 32nd commercial during Super Bowl 57? I’m gonna give you three actions,
Mark Quinn: man. You know, I used to, yeah, I, I used to know this. Um, I’m gonna say, My
Adrienne Woods: God. Well, here, hang on. Let me, let me, I’m gonna, I’m gonna give you three options.
We’ll roll it up at the end, but just so people can be thinking about it. Oh, got it. Okay. And I will, yeah, so that’s how, this is how this works. Okay. We, we pull it out so that people have a reason to stick around. Um, if you talk to Tara, this is her favorite part of the show. She’s like, I really just enjoy the trivia, so we have to make sure you stay on.
All right. The average cost of a Super Bowl ad, 30 seconds, was it 6 million, 8 million or 10 million? Those are gonna be your three options. We’ll wrap it up at the end of the show, but kind of be thinking of those, and I’ll give you the, I’ll give you your choices again, but let me just tell you, I’m glad you gave me the choices have been in years past.
Mark Quinn: Yeah. Well, let me tell you, if I had guessed it on my own, the, the guest would’ve been off in an embarrassing kind of way. So I’m glad that we did multiple choice. So we’ll come back to that,
Adrienne Woods: right? Yes. We will come back to that. Okay, perfect. My favorite Super Bowl commercial, I will link to these two. Nope.
Nope. So that, nope, nope,
Mark Quinn: nope. Okay. No, I don’t want you to gimme your favorite. I want you to talk about some that you liked and then we’ll save the favorite for the last, so, all right. What, okay. What made an impact? What stood out to you?
Adrienne Woods: This is so dumb, which is also an homage to the, the ones that I remember do.
Do you remember the Clueless commercial? I don’t even remember now what they were advertising, but they brought back Alicia Silverstone and all of the people from Clueless, which came out when I was in high school. And so I remember sitting there watching the commercial, and again, I don’t even know who they were advertising for.
That tells you how impactful it was. I just thought how brilliant that they literally went and got everybody back from that movie to make this commercial. Thought that one stood out to
Mark Quinn: me. You know, that’s not the on No, go ahead. Sorry. That that’s not the only one they did that with. And I’m sorry, I’m getting a little bit of a lag so I don’t mean to be stepping on you, but that’s not the only one they did it with.
They had John Travolta coming back, doing a little bit of grease. They had the guys from breaking back, coming back in a breeder spot that I wanna talk. So, yeah, there’s a co there’s, there’s multiple and, and then I heard some commentator making funny. He’s like, how old are we as a country that, like, we’re bringing all these people back.
Yes. For all these like, nostalgic looks at, you know, different shows and using them to sell product nowadays. But anyway, so yeah, I get that.
Adrienne Woods: Well, it just shows you the audience, the demographic, right? Because I mean, something like a clueless commercial would speak to my age group because we’re like, oh, it’s like all the people from the movie.
I mean, I think they, uh, did a payback to, was it Daredevil and the Duncan Donuts commercial? And they had Ben Affleck and the drive-through, and they obviously brought in J Lo. But I mean, these are, I don’t wanna say they’re old movies, but I mean, 10, 15 years ago, I mean, it just shows you the audience type that they’re trying to appeal to.
Mark Quinn: Let me ask you a question, Adrian. When you see something like that, and it’s a cast that you have an affection for, does it mm-hmm. give that product, they’re promoting more value or credibility with you?
Adrienne Woods: I would say yes. Um, clearly I don’t even remember the brand that the Clueless commercial was going for, but I will tell you this, and this is probably actually opposite of what you’re asking.
One of the worst commercials that I saw during the Super Bowl was the, M and M’s Commercial. Do you know the one I’m talking about where they were like, it’s, you know, clam baked chocolate cover. I’m not gonna stop eating m and ms. But I was just like, this is so stupid. Like it, it didn’t do anything to amplify the brand.
I really don’t care if I go out and buy a pack of m and ms now. And all I was sitting there doing is like, why, why are we having. Issues with the fact that Eminem wear shoes, like, I think that’s the whole debacle right now, which is why they brought her in to be the spokesperson for it. And then I’m like, you spent x number of millions of dollars on this stupid commercial that did literally nothing for you.
I don’t know, maybe you have a different
Mark Quinn: opinion. So explain that a little bit, Adrian, like the, the story arc of the commercial so everyone can underst.
Adrienne Woods: So it’s my understanding, and I haven’t looked into this, but what ended up happening is basically they decided to do way the Eminem spokespeople have been. I mean, as far as I know, they’ve, I mean 30, 35 years, something like that. They’ve used m and ms as the spokespeople. And then I guess there was some issue with them wearing shoes, and they decided that they no longer wanted to have the m and ms be like people.
And so they decided they were gonna get celebrities. To market for them is my understanding of the situation could be very wrong. I can look it up and, and put it in the show notes. All right.
Mark Quinn: So you, is that your understanding? No. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I got you. Now, I, I didn’t know the controversy around the m and m.
Adrienne Woods: Yes. So now I can, oh, it’s a big thing. It’s a big thing right now in the marketing world.
Mark Quinn: Uh, I need to pay closer attention clearly.
Uh, so the Super Bowl commercial I thought was interesting and not my favorite, but you, you mentioned it earlier, it was the Doritos, the Popcorn one.
Oh, . And they brought the cast back from Breaking Bad. And I, not that I thought it was a great spot, but I loved, kind of like what you were saying, I loved the series. And so when Jesse and uh, God, what was his name? Not Mr. Jones in this show. I can’t think of his name. Uh, anyway, when they both came on screen and they were talking about a bag of Doritos, kinda like crystal meth, , right?
Yes. So I gotta have those and you know, we’re gonna sell a, a ton of these things. And so it was kind of clever the way they did that. But, you know, you and I were talking before this show, how to tie everything back to the mattress category. . Like if you, if you use the mattress as the, the subject matter in that spot and it’s like, you know, we gotta have that mattress and, you know, we know that it’s gonna help us sleep better and test better and run faster and like, you know, gotta have it.
And you think about like, people saying they wanna have more sex, but it’s also sleep. Right. You know, what do you want more of all the time? Sleep. Not sex. That’s the sleep, right? Yeah. And so it shows people’s desire, the craving, the affection for sleep. Kinda like they were trying to do with like the, the Doritos likening that to like an addiction almost.
I think you could do something. With sleep or the mattress as the addiction, the place you gotta go. The thing you have to have and the thing that will change your life. Right. I think you could do something funny with that, don’t you? I mean, I, it’s a little stretch, but I think you could do it. Do you
Adrienne Woods: wanna know, so we kind of talked about this before the show.
Do you wanna know the one commercial that I thought you could make into a good mattress ad? Yeah. Okay. I think the Pepsi commercial and the whole like, is it real sugar, is it not? With Ben Stiller and Steve Martin thought that was classic because here’s the deal, they picked two actors, so if you’re not familiar with it, I’ll link it in the show notes.
But the idea was they chose these two actors, and I think there was two separate commercials. They weren’t in the same commercial, but it was. They said, it’s my job to make you wonder, is this real or is it acting? And they were trying the Pepsi product and you had to decide are they, do they really enjoy the product that they’re advertising for or is it acting?
And I, I mean, what was your, what was your favorite commercial that you thought could become Okay,
Mark Quinn: well, but but go further. Like how would you tie that back to the mattress category? So I
Adrienne Woods: think we make a lot of promises or advertisements about certain mattresses like, oh, it’s cooling. Oh, it’s firm. Oh, it’s soft.
Oh, it’s all these things. And I think if you were to do the same sort of play that they were doing, you know, maybe you have a test. A test market, you come in, see, is it really cooling or are we just acting? Are we just saying it, is it really firmer or are we just acting? It can almost act as a foot traffic driver.
See,
Mark Quinn: I, I kind of went the same place. Right? So it’s incredible. It’s amazing. It’s comfortable. It solves my back pain. It gets me in zero gravity. Um, the sheets are so soft, the pillow’s so amazing at Crad. Like all of those things, but don’t take our word for it. You gotta come in and try it. See it yourself.
The whole idea was don’t listen to me. I’m an actor. I could be lying to you. Come into our stories. Yeah. Any moron could stand up here on camera and tell you how great this thing is. But don’t take my word for it. Come in, you gotta try it to believe it, right? Bring them in, create traffic with it. Or even to your point, like the test stressed challenge, right?
Make it fun, gamify it, let people come in and pick the champion and mm-hmm. , uh, and then, ooh, I like that, the champion. And then maybe put the champion on sale, right. No,
I
Adrienne Woods: thought that was, oh, um, I just thought, I mean, like, if I’m looking at all these commercials through the lens of the mattress industry, that was the one that I took away the most.
That was like, this is easily, uh, one that has a transferable concept and to the point we just talked about. You could use it as a foot traffic driver. What did you call the one thing? A stress test or a test? Stress challenge. Oh,
Mark Quinn: a a test rest.
Adrienne Woods: Oh, a test. Rest. So come rest. Challenge. I like that. Okay.
Mark Quinn: Test it out, give it a little rest.
You know? And the other part of that, Adrian, I think that’s funny is like when you, like if, if you think about like what advantage the brick and mortar guys have over the e-commerce guys, it’s the experience in the store a hundred percent. Mm-hmm. . And so I could almost see an ad where you have a consumer laying down on a bed and they’re like, oh, that’s good.
And then the retail salesperson gives them this killer $150. Molded pillow and then the consumer goes, oh my, but that, like, that combination is amazing. And then they put ’em on an adjustable bed and you know, zero gravity of that person. Then all of a sudden the person is freaking out. They’re like, oh my God, you have to come in and check this out.
Like you have to be fitted for a bed. Like this is, this process is amazing. Like, you could make it like so big that people are like, okay, I gotta come try that out. Is it really that comfortable, right? Mm-hmm. just create that question.
Adrienne Woods: Okay, so we only have like a few more minutes. So what were your, did you have any others?
That was the big one that I pulled. And then we can talk about our
Mark Quinn: favorite. I did, I did. You know, another one I like Stop calling yourself a rockstar. You had KISS , you had Paul Stanley and Ace freely. Uh, I think Paul, yeah, I think it was Paul Stanley. I used to be a KISS fan. Um, anyway, and so the, the whole spot was stop saying you’re a rockstar, right?
Like that’s common business tra vernacular. The operations guys crushed it, reducing cost and saving a bunch of money for the quarter. Man, Jimmy, you’re a rockstar. And then everyone’s like, no you’re not. If you’re gonna be a rockstar, you have to do all the drugs, you have to have all the sleepless nights, you have to wreck all the hotel rooms.
It was all these rock stars coming on and going, dude, you, you don’t get to call yourself a rockstar just cuz he saved money in shipping. Right? And so I thought it was a clever thing to do. And now tying that one back to the mattress industry. What if you said, you know, okay, nutrition, okay, exercise, okay.
Like mu, like all of you want to claim that you are the key to health and wellness. You’re all pretenders. The real key to health and wellness is sleep. Right? That’s the one. Oh, like that’s the. That’s the benchmark, that’s the end all be all. If you get good sleep, like everything in life is better. You can eat better, that’s fine.
You can, you can in exercise, that’s fine. You can go to the beach every now and then. But if you do something for yourself every single day and you get great sleep, that is the benchmark of a great life. And so I thought you could like say, you don’t get to say you’re the king of health and wellness. We get to say we are the king of health and wellness.
So that’s what that made me think
Adrienne Woods: about. I like that. I like that one a lot. One more. The
Mark Quinn: last. What’s that?
Adrienne Woods: I said Okay. And one more?
Mark Quinn: Yeah, one more. The Hellmanns one was kind of funny. The guy from, uh, You know the guy from Madman John? Mm-hmm. John. So something. Anyway, um, , I think he’s clever. He was a lot of fun and it was kind of like the Hellmanns saying, Hey, like we go with everything.
We can take all the items in this refrigerator and make them all incredible, because with the little hellmanns, like, everything’s better, everything’s better. What about tying? Yeah. What about tying that back to the, the, the mattress industry and going look. You know, like whatever you’re gonna do in your life, sleep on a great mattress makes everything better.
It makes flowers smell better, it makes music sound better. It makes time with your kids more meaningful. It just, you know, all of those things. So I think you could tie the mattress to, hey, life just gets better. And then talk about the application of that. Okay. But you’re not sharing one thing. I want you to end.
On the one that you loved the most and it was a commercial with the dog. Of course, it’s a, it was
Adrienne Woods: the commercial, of course, it was also your friend that you were talking about, John Ham, cuz remember they did a playoff of Bree and Ham? John Ham. They, it’s all better with him and Brie, but yes, you’re absolutely right.
I mean, think about it though. I here somebody needs to make this. Everything is better with the great mattress. Better sex, better sleep, better relaxation time. All of it is better on your mattress. My map. This is one of my favorite places to be. So anyway, my favorite commercial was the Farmer’s commercial, and if you haven’t seen it, please Google it.
I think it made like the top two list on a lot of different people’s. But it was this idea where this little girl I, I read this morning, they had five different girls and five different dogs. Or maybe it was four different dogs. Play the parts. But this girl gets a puppy. It’s a black lab when she’s like four years old.
And then you switch to the next scene and it’s the dog with her while she’s in high school, and then the dog at her college graduation. And then her dog walks down the aisle with her when she gets married. And the ending scene is, you see her cuddling her newborn baby. Her husband’s asleep next to her and she’s singing, you are My sunshine, my Only Sunshine.
And you think. That she’s singing it to her baby just by the way the camera angle is, but then the camera like pans out and spins around and you see she’s actually looking at her dog while she sings this. And then from the dog’s perspective, they replay how he saw her when she was four and how he saw her at in middle school and how he saw her at the college graduation.
And the dog, you know, has a lot more white whiskers. And it’s just this heartfelt like dog food brand that you’re like, I will be going to get that dog food brand because they. Just dug at your heartstrings and it was a great commercial. And of all the commercials from, that’s the one I remember the most.
That’s the one I remember two or three days later.
Mark Quinn: I, I love it. That’s a great spot. Okay, so here’s the real test and then let’s get into the trivia answer. I’m a little nervous about that, but the test for you is, what was the dog food brand farmers? Oh, farmers, I, you said that Farmers at the beginning. I don’t recall.
I don’t even know that brand in, when you said farmers, I was thinking insurance even though we went into the conversation
Adrienne Woods: about the doctor anyway. No, it was the farmer’s dog food brand and that’s why I remember it. It was such a great commercial. I was like, I’ve never heard of that. But that’s a, you know, they played right into the, well
Mark Quinn: done.
I was listening for the record, I just heard insurance. When I heard farmers, I wasn’t thinking dog food out, . Let’s get into the, uh, trivia. Adrian, hit me up. I’m, I’m, I, I think I have the answer, but go ahead and recap it for us.
Adrienne Woods: Average cost of a 32nd Super Bowl commercial. Is it 6 million, 8 million or 10 million for 2023?
Mark Quinn: I’m gonna say 10. Say that again.
Adrienne Woods: No, I was like for 2023. Super Bowl 57. Yeah. What
Mark Quinn: was the average question? Yeah, I’m gonna say 10 million because I think the audience was so big this year, like it really came. , uh, the two teams in it, um, are watched a lot, so I think the audience was bigger. So I’m going big on this.
Adrian, I’m saying 10 million for 30 seconds.
Adrienne Woods: So actually it was between six and 7 million. I think where the variable ended up was like whether you wanted to be at the beginning of this c at the beginning of the, uh, game or towards the end. But I will say it increased 20% over 2022. And back in 2021, the average cost was 5.2 million.
Again, all according to nbc. So, Between six and 7 million. Obviously you had some brands like Anhauser Busch, they paid for three full minutes, so who knows how much they actually ended up, um, paying for. I will say this and then we can end the show. Do you remember the Blue Moon commercial?
Mark Quinn: I was just about to talk about that.
I think it was my favorite spot. Tell me why you like that. Yeah. Yes.
Adrienne Woods: I didn’t like you. Okay, here’s, here’s why I didn’t like it. Because they spent the entirety of their commercial talking about Miller Light and Anhauser Busch, and then in the end, and they’re like, it’s a Blue Moon commercial. And I went, you just wasted valuable airtime talking about your competitors.
Mark Quinn: What? But did. But did they now? Because here we
Adrienne Woods: are even, I guess I know it. Talking about it, .
Mark Quinn: Yeah. Here we are in this podcast. Now let me tell you why I loved. I hate it. Like the whole, and, and it was weird because I’m watching it also and I’m like, Miller Light in, Coors Light in the same spot. And I’m like going, this is like Epic.
Did, did like a merger happen that I’m not aware of? Did they just get smart and there’s a collaboration that they’re doing? And so the whole time I’m watching it, I’m trying to figure out what I’m watching and I’m like, this is like, I’ve never, like, this could be one of the most epic marketing moves these two beer companies have ever made.
And then at the very end they put that blue moon bottle right in the hero shot of the screen and it’s about Blue Moon. I’m like, that is hilarious. And I’m like, I would totally remember the brand because they had me, the, the, the unclosed loop in my brain of trying to figure out what the hell these guys were doing.
And then they hit us with the Blue Moon. I’m like, yep, you got me Blue Moon. That’s pretty funny. I thought it was clever . Well,
Adrienne Woods: This is why we’re not in charge of, you know, commercials. At the end of the day, there’s people smarter than us putting these
Mark Quinn: together. I love that. We hadn’t talked about that and you hated it.
And I loved it. That is the best part of this show.
Adrienne Woods: That’s, that’s the best way to end this show, . All right, well, Mr. Quinn, let’s do this again soon, shall we? I know that Kinsley is, you know, flying around doing all the Vegas things, so come back next week. He’s, he’s
Mark Quinn: back to Vegas. That guy is crazy. Um, we will do this.
And if you’re listening to the show now, go on Spotify or to iTunes or wherever you listen to your podcast and, uh, give the show a review. And most importantly, share it. We want everybody in the end, absolutely the street together and the campfire, and to share in the fun and let us know in the show notes or wherever we post this and wherever you watch it.
What was your favorite Super Bowl commercial, and why, and how would you tie it back to the matches industry? Adrian, thanks, uh, for today, it’s always great being with. It’s
Adrienne Woods: always fun. See you Quinn.
