So the Super Bowl is finally over: the Patriots won, Tom Brady is happy, and Richard Sherman is sad. In an incredible turn around the Seahawks made one the arguably worst calls in the history of the NFL, but enough about that. Every year we see some of the best commercials at the Super Bowl, and the commercials this year were very strange. It seemed like advertisers were doing their best to try and make us cry and feel bad. Still the commercials were interesting and we saw a few new companies taking a gamble with a Super Bowl ad. These new advertisers at the Super Bowl have spent around $4.5 million dollars for 30-seconds of commercial space, hoping their ads will introduce new people to their company/product/brand. We are going to take a look at eight companies who are first time advertisers at the Super Bowl and a look at their commercials.
Skittles
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDwRN2GBUj8
Skittles was actually a first time advertiser this year at the Super Bowl which may come as a surprise to some. The company is obviously well-known and the recently have become an NFL sponsor. Combine that with the popularity around Marshawn Lynch enjoying their products, and one can see why it was a good move for them to advertise.
Loctite Glue
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TjgUwNJ72k
One would’t expect a glue company to advertise at the Super Bowl, but maybe that’s exactly why Loctite Glue chose to buy a Super Bowl spot. The company has been in operations since 1956 and are just now choosing to involve themselves with the Super Bowl. Their advertisement was considered to be one of the few funny ones, as the nature of the commercial is funny given what the product is.
Carnival Cruises
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOzZNLW7r78
Carnival Cruises made their debut at the Super Bowl with a moving commercial that features a speech by the late President John F. Kennedy. The company hopes to attract new customers to the cruise line for 2015. We have seen Carnival making recent expansions and changes to some ships for the new year and they’re going to need a way to make that money back, but as one of the largest cruise lines in the world I’m sure they’ll be okay.
Clash of Clans
One of the more enjoyable commercials, in my opinion, was the Clash of Clans commercial featuring Liam Neeson. The popular mobile videogame company went all-in with this one given how much it costs for a Super Bowl spot and the fact they used a prominent actor. The videogame is strategy/RPG game where players have to build armies, construct bases, and then beat opponents in “clan wars”. This just goes to show some how much money some videogames can generate.
Mophie Cases
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuVsf_hE7gM
We see Mophie come out with a pretty large-production commercial for the Super Bowl. If you didn’t know, Mophie is a company that produces cell-phone cases that have an external batter. So essentially when using a Mophie case not only is your phone protected, but you are able to charge it back to full health. They sell a large range of cases for both iPhones and some Android devices.
Wix.com
The Wix.com Super Bowl commercial was pretty strong: It had Brett Favre, Emmitt Smith, Terrell Owens, Larry Allen, Franco Harris, and Rex Lee (Lloyd from Entourage). Wix.com is a company that helps users create, design, build, and then operate their own website. You can try out their service for free and the offer a multitude of different designs and formats to make sure your website is special.
Heroes Charge
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAaAQPA6QrI
Heroes Charge is another mobile-based videogame company that has been successful enough for it to secure a Super Bowl commercial. These types of videogames are seeing more and more popularity, and are very accessible as nearly everyone has a smart device. Heroes Charge has been downloaded between five to ten million times on just Android. While it is free to play, games of this sort offer options for players to purchase things that will benefit them in-game. This new model of video games have been criticized by some, however they are certainly some of the more-successful business models for videogames in recent years. In the videogame you control characters and combat in-game enemies, or other people via a platform-based RPG.
Avocados From Mexico
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ih_iLjenftw
In one of the more enjoyable commercials, we see an unlikely company make its Super Bowl commercial debut. Avocados From Mexico is a company that does exactly what you think they do: they import and sell avocados from Mexico. While this is probably one of the stranger companies we’ve seen at the Super Bowl, make no mistake these guys are big players. According to their website they control 60% of the avocado market share in the United States. As the obvious dominating force in the United States avocado industry, it’s now clear as to how they could have afford the commercial spot.
Photo from Lockite
