Toucan Talks
Toucan Talks is a podcast for Wilmington-area business owners and entrepreneurs who are eager to learn from those on a similar journey. Each week, we talk with an area business owner about their successes, challenges, and experiences in business. Don’t worry – we keep it fun as we bounce from topic to topic.
Toucan Talks
EP25 - Minisode: Breaking Down This Year's Super Bowl Commercials
Join us as we breakdown some of our favorite Super Bowl ads from this year. This episode pulls back the curtain on big-brand maneuvers, revealing how they can be scaled for small and medium-sized businesses. From the importance of generating pre-launch buzz to the clever use of witty humor, this episode can help you with creating content that's not just seen but felt. We dive deep into some of the common themes from this year's big game, covering everything from big celebrities to dark humor and nostalgia.
We analyze how brands can create memorable moments with giveaways and how these initiatives can evoke a wide range of reactions. Whether you're crafting your first campaign or looking to refine your approach, we hope these breakdowns give your marketing efforts that championship edge.
Didn't see one of the Super Bowl ads we talked about?
Check out these links to watch along:
Michael Cerave
Paramount + "Football Shaped Head"
DoorDash Promo Code
Can't B Broken "Beyonce"
Game Time Glow "Cetaphil"
Jennifer Aniston and David Schwimmer Forget "Uber Eats"
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Kickstart Collective is a creative marketing agency based in Wilmington, NC. We offer our clients a creative advantage through creative content and marketing strategies.
Welcome to the Two Can Talks podcast brought to you by Kickstart Collective. Join us as we talk to local Wilmington business owners about what has led to their successes, challenges and more. No question is off limits as we bounce from topic to topic.
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Speaker 1:Welcome back to Two Can Talks, Luke. It's been a while.
Speaker 3:Thanks. Since I last left here, I have developed a cold.
Speaker 1:Awesome, yeah, congratulations.
Speaker 3:Sorry everyone that has to listen to me talk today.
Speaker 1:And just sniffle into the mic.
Speaker 3:I'm not going to sniffle into the mic. You actually want to probably listen to what we're talking about, so I will be courteous, cool.
Speaker 1:Well, today we're going to talk about what people can learn from Super Bowl ads, and by people, I mean small business owners, medium-sized businesses, just from a strategy standpoint, and all that. What can you take from what these big brands are doing on a massive scale and apply it to your business in order to make your campaign successful?
Speaker 3:So, First thing is you've got to date someone from the Chiefs. Then you get all the airtime you want. Your brand blows up.
Speaker 1:Or does his brand blow up because he dates her?
Speaker 3:Who really knows?
Speaker 1:But we weren't going to talk about this. But great segue to a thought, the oh shoot, See, and this is one of those things where We'll talk about this we're being your ad being memorable, but your brand maybe not being as memorable as the message of the ad. There's a disconnect. But there was an ad. It was for a skincare company.
Speaker 3:And it wasn't Cerevi.
Speaker 1:No, I can't remember. Well, not besides points, that's what we're talking about. Point made, but their whole ad spot was on how the stat who really loved football and his teenage daughter who loved Taylor Swift, how they bonded, that's nice over Travis and Taylor and her getting airtime during the games and how she never cared about watching football.
Speaker 1:But she just wanted to see Taylor Swift's face, yeah, and he Got it isn't Got it connecting with his daughter, but it was like it was a real father-daughter out of New York that was in the ad. But then a bunch of other people jumped on and were sharing and talking about, yeah, me and my daughter bonded over this or like. So it's kind of cool.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And then they jumped on that brand. I'll look it up and see what company it was, but it was relevant, it was memorable. And then you know just the brand part it was skincare. I remember that.
Speaker 3:This is why Josh should have his mic set up back there so he could Google it and tell us. Vr Jamie.
Speaker 1:If you could hack into my text messages me and Alyssa were texting about it.
Speaker 3:Well, yeah, it's not that. It is very pertinent to this.
Speaker 1:It is part of the conversation.
Speaker 3:Grandness game of what we're doing. But yeah.
Speaker 1:So I think we can go two directions. How do you want to start? Do you want to start by pulling out the few ads we pre-picked to talk about, or do you want to talk about the kind of main talking points of what's sort of the ads?
Speaker 3:Yeah, let's do that.
Speaker 1:Okay, yes, you're right. Yep, see a fill.
Speaker 3:See to fill.
Speaker 1:See to fill. They're that moisturizer Another classic. All right, let's start with Paramount Plus. This ad.
Speaker 3:Give everyone a synopsis, for the people that don't remember.
Speaker 1:Okay, we'll also put a link to them in the show notes, so if you want to watch it, you can. But so this ad had a host of celebrities. There was a football player who was famous.
Speaker 3:Most notably, though, out of all the celebrities, was Hay Arnold.
Speaker 1:Hay Arnold was in it Football player Tua, tua, tua. Yeah, on the doffins.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:See, I didn't know who that was, but I knew who Drew Barrymore was. So they had a host of celebrities across different genres and age ranges, which is good, because their target audience, ultimately, is pretty broad.
Speaker 3:Everyone watches a Super Bowl.
Speaker 1:Everyone. So, yeah, let's back up onto why this works as a strategy idea. So we, being married in one household, you signed us up for the free trial.
Speaker 3:For Paramount Plus. For Paramount Plus, because we don't have any other way to watch the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1:Yes, we're cable cutters. Yep, so we signed up for that. In 30 days They'll start charging for your subscription, so not us.
Speaker 1:We don't remember to get them, but I would say your average person hopefully for them signed up to watch the Super Bowl and then you're getting ads for said streaming service being Paramount Plus. That is showing kind of a broad range of the different shows they have. They're the celebrities and the characters and whatever. So just from a pure strategy standpoint, I think that was smart and then more detailed. So basically it's the football player not my target demo trying to throw something up to like their Paramount, like actual real mountain situation in order for them to climb out of this valley or whatever they're in, and he can't get it to the top and they're like, oh, if we had a real football. And then said other celebrity yes, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:I think Josh should be over here having this conversation said to me, because I don't remember people's names and yeah, anyways, they were like if only we had something shaped like a football.
Speaker 1:and hey, arnold, football shaped head, kid character.
Speaker 3:Does Paramount now own the rights to stream Nickelodeon stuff? I?
Speaker 1:must I think yeah, I mean so that, yeah, the general consensus though I was getting to the point and they jumped into like dark humor as of, like the actual football player was like I'm not going to throw a kid, and then the Star Trek guy was like I'll do it. And so they throw a Arnold. It still doesn't work. And then they're like, oh, if only we had pig skin and it cut to Peppa Pig.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:And anyways, they jumped, they hit on humor, they had a host of celebrities.
Speaker 3:Well, they really touched all the different people that may have had their eyes on this and given them a reason to stick around for more than just the seven day free trial, exactly. That's what they were trying to do.
Speaker 1:That's what they were trying to do and they probably worked on. A lot of people did work on us, but here we are talking about it. So if you like Paramount Plus and you signed up, keep it.
Speaker 3:Or you like this, but your reminder to cancel If they keep coming back with the Yellowstone, maybe we'll sign back up.
Speaker 1:So interesting? Fun fact probably not actually. This is actually not fun, but interesting fact they did announce Paramount a few days after the Super Bowl that they are moving ahead with like a huge layoff. So that sucks.
Speaker 3:They had to pay for that ad.
Speaker 1:And all those celebrities. But you know they hit on dark humor, they hit on lots of targets. So, Luke, how would you say a small business can? What can they learn from Paramount Plus's ad?
Speaker 3:Oh man.
Speaker 1:I'm going to drink some coffee while you talk.
Speaker 3:That's a difficult one, honestly, because Typically as a small business, we're trying to get people to focus on their niche and in this specific example, they tried to cast the widest net they could cast by touching every different potential target demo.
Speaker 1:But, if you think about it, the actual target demo for this is the people that are paying for Target demo, correct?
Speaker 3:The target demo is probably a mother between like 32 and 46, if I had to guess, based on what they were trying to put out there.
Speaker 1:But they hit on nostalgia.
Speaker 3:They did hit on the nostalgia which the 30-somethings would know about. But I think the main thing that you, as a small business, you can learn from is I mean, it was pretty funny.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's happening in the humor.
Speaker 3:And people remember picking up hey Arnold and using him as a football. Yes, I think. I don't know, that's what I, if I you're like what do you? Remember from the Paramount commercial, the guy picked up a human and threw him like a football.
Speaker 1:A human cartoon character.
Speaker 3:A cartoon character.
Speaker 1:But yeah. So I would say I would agree kind of the humor aspect, but then making that humor relevant to your target audience and you want something that is memorable and that might mean you have to take a risk and make an ad about pretending to throw a kid.
Speaker 3:I saw that risky.
Speaker 1:No, we've thrown worse. We've thrown worse.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we threw one of our cameras.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I asked about how so.
Speaker 3:That's my. Don't worry about it, that's my thing.
Speaker 1:Y'all can talk about that in the next two can talks when we talk about video production. Perfect, the next many. So we'll save that camera Like a note for you. Okay.
Speaker 3:Well, you go on to the next one.
Speaker 1:Next one.
Speaker 3:I'm tired of talking about Paramount. Sure, you are After. They did their layoff.
Speaker 1:Well, that was just on social media, who knows. Okay, I mean, it seemed real, I don't know.
Speaker 3:I didn't do that. Probably not real, probably dogging them for no reason.
Speaker 1:Maybe. Okay, sarah V, do you know what that is?
Speaker 3:I'm not only because you told me right before we started.
Speaker 1:So Sarah V Long time moisturizer skincare situation. You could probably use some. They did their ad spot with Michael Sarah, who is a celebrity. The whole premise of that ad was like they're the perfect Partnership and he's cause that's what he was trying to sell.
Speaker 1:That's like his pitch, because his name Last name is Sarah. So this ad and the reason I Well, I mean again it tapped into humor. It's kind of lighthearted and funny, but he, before the Super Bowl, was like teasing out different things related to the ad and so it created buzz online about like is he doing a commercial with them? And then they capitalize on their actual Super Bowl ad spot and when you're paying, you know $7 million for a 30 second ad spot, you should really get your money's worth and get as much. I mean, I don't love when they release their ads before the Super Bowl because I think that kills some of it.
Speaker 3:Does that happen?
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, A bunch of companies release their ads before the Super Bowl. Where are you Like? Where have you?
Speaker 3:been I. You know I try to not. Yeah, when it comes to. When it comes to looking at ads before the Super Bowl, I like to be surprised. Yes.
Speaker 1:Same, but they, I think, did a good job, using his celebrity nests to tease out the fact that something was coming without you know this is true influencer marketing right here.
Speaker 3:That's a really expensive influencer.
Speaker 1:I would say more of like a celebrity spokesperson.
Speaker 3:But still if he's teasing it out beforehand. Um so on his own account.
Speaker 1:Yes, so, from a small business standpoint, thoughts on teasing.
Speaker 3:You just got to partner with your local celebrities.
Speaker 1:No, I mean not from, I mean there are taking applications. Luke gets paid from Instagram.
Speaker 3:Nope.
Speaker 1:Awkward pause. Um, he does Um, but that's a secret, right?
Speaker 3:Not anymore.
Speaker 1:Okay, anywho, the fact of building momentum and leaking for a better phrase like a pre launch or something like that, not day of your launching something, I mean sometimes that works and you can have them enough momentum, but trying to build some attention before your launch of your product or a service or business or something.
Speaker 3:I have questions for you on this, because I don't I'm not familiar with Sarah V. I have great skin, so I don't really need much as far as your hands, peel off and chunks. That's a medical condition. It's not. The doctor told me it was.
Speaker 1:Maybe you should get some Sarah V and moisturize your hands.
Speaker 3:Maybe but a Sarah V 10, do they tend to market towards a certain audience?
Speaker 1:It's like really it's like a CVS, like but is it like for older people?
Speaker 3:younger people doesn't mean.
Speaker 1:I think it's pretty across the board.
Speaker 3:It seems to me that they were just wanting some relevance.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, I think that's true, yeah.
Speaker 3:If you're teaming up with Michael Sarah.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And he's starting to push stuff out before to kind of build some buzz.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:I think some people thought that he was actually part of the company starting a skincare company.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And I think that would also be hilarious.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:But that didn't happen.
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 3:He's just in there, this spokesperson.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I think relevance is important. I think. I mean, I guess, when we're talking to potential clients or clients and there is something they're trying to launch or something new, we start with okay, what are ways we can build an email list or like, start teasing things out to get leads or people who are interested, so that when you are ready to launch, we have a captured audience to launch it to? Obviously, that's not exactly what they're doing in this situation, but I think on a kind of a micro scale, especially for small businesses, you're not putting an ad out to 120 million people. So how do we get you a captive audience before you're ready to launch, so that you're not launching to your 20 Instagram followers?
Speaker 3:I think also, if and no offense Sarah V, your brand is much bigger than anything I've ever done. But if you're not aware of who Sarah V is or what they do, but you're attaching yourself to a popular celebrity like Michael Sarah, when you see a Sarah V commercial pop up, maybe you're not going to be as quick to walk and grab some more of that Buffalo chicken dip that everyone makes at the Super Bowl and actually sit there and watch it. So, with them attaching themselves to Michael Sarah beforehand and then seeing Sarah V pop up on TV, they're like oh.
Speaker 3:I want to watch this to see what's funny what is?
Speaker 1:he going to do.
Speaker 3:As opposed to just be like Sarah V, we make skincare products.
Speaker 2:I mean because of the end of the day you want to be memorable.
Speaker 3:but it seems like they went for getting the buy-in on the front end, which is smart because now you have someone maybe even looking forward to seeing this ad at the Super Bowl and, if not, maybe coming across some of those posts beforehand and being like, oh, I'm going to stick around and watch this because I know Michael Sarah is funny and maybe something will be funny. And it was funny.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think yeah, they actually executed on the ad, which was cool, cool. So all that to say from them.
Speaker 3:Congratulations, Sarah B.
Speaker 1:Do something before your launch to capture an audience or build some buzz so that you have some momentum going into your launch. That would be the core piece of advice for small business owners. Just to summarize that oh gosh what.
Speaker 3:I feel a sneeze coming. Oh no, it's coming down the pipe. I'll let you know.
Speaker 1:All right, mixed emotions from both of us on this. I know because we sat on the couch together watching the Super Bowl. What Door dash.
Speaker 3:Oh, great idea. Terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible execution.
Speaker 1:No no, no, no, no, no, no. That's not fair.
Speaker 3:I hated it. Yes, you did as soon as you like. I thought the idea was awesome.
Speaker 1:Okay, but let's talk about before I'm not sure right now. So from a strategy standpoint, I think it was brilliant. Was it annoying?
Speaker 3:Yes, can we explain the thing for people?
Speaker 1:So their concept, their ad from Door Dash was they gave away a prize from every single ad in the Super Bowl. So there was like three cars, there was like the Pluto commercial. They gave away a couch and a sack of potatoes.
Speaker 3:They gave away some M&Ms, I think 60 pounds of mayonnaise.
Speaker 1:Two of those cars, yeah, so so much mayonnaise, so many mayonnaise, so much mayonnaise, so much. The homeless ad was funny too, with Kate McKinnon and the cat Mayo cat.
Speaker 3:Anywho, that was the idea.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 3:They're giving away one thing from every ad in the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1:So and then?
Speaker 3:yes.
Speaker 1:Yes, so basically they had a landing, so they had their ad that played in the end of the Super Bowl and there was a promo code in it. You get the promo code. We'll talk about that in a second. While it was kind of annoying. You go to their landing page, you enter in the promo code, you're entered to win. I was on Instagram scrolling during the sports part of the Super Bowl because the actual Super Bowl, part of the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1:The marketing person in me was there for the ads and, let's be honest, half time.
Speaker 3:Quite a production.
Speaker 1:Great production.
Speaker 3:I'll show you a meme later.
Speaker 1:Of what?
Speaker 3:I'll show you a meme later.
Speaker 1:Me, are you trying to tell us?
Speaker 3:Of both of you, if you want to see it.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Continue.
Speaker 1:Anywho. So while scrolling I got an ad for DoorDash about the giveaway before we even like saw the commercial. So I, you know clicked through on the ad, went to the landing page, saw that there was going to be and they did have, like the. It wasn't live until after the ad aired on TV, but they had the YouTube like player right above where you entered the promo code so you could pause and enter in the code. Anyways, I saved it so I could go back later and I sent it to Luke.
Speaker 3:I was looking forward to winning three cars. Yeah, I could use.
Speaker 1:I could use a new car. Me Josh went to listen I could all use cars. That would have been a great thing for us to win, anyways. So yeah, we talked about it as as the Super. Bowl was playing.
Speaker 3:That's a cool idea, yeah, awesome. I can't believe they're giving away mayonnaise like stuff like that In a sack of potatoes.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so you get to the ad and if you guys watch this the Super Bowl it starts. It's like Door dash promo code. I mean it's probably five or six words kind of long, but then it goes into like roller coaster. Well, there's like an ellipses, like duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, and then it goes. We'll link it in the show notes. And that's all of the promo code. It's extremely long.
Speaker 3:Honestly kind of ripped off Mountain Dew. Yeah, I remember.
Speaker 1:So the thing with the Mountain Dew ad, which I think is interesting compared to what they did, the Mountain Dew sweepstakes was open for like multiple days after the Super Bowl. This closed that night because I went Monday. When I came into work I was like just looking up Super Bowl stuff and I looked on Reddit because the entire someone posted the promo code on Reddit, obviously.
Speaker 3:But they entered it, I assume. Yeah, I would hope.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and so then I went back to the post because you know I had saved it on Instagram so I could go back, but it was closed and I was like dang it. I do appreciate it.
Speaker 3:Dang it. Of course you're not going to get it. Someone's already put it in. Was it the first person, or was it just?
Speaker 1:I think it was just a drawing, like whoever put it in Mountain Dews was the first. Hmm, interesting. Maybe that's why it was open for so long.
Speaker 3:Well, because I don't know if you remember watching it, I think me and someone tried to look through it and it was just literally the most.
Speaker 1:It's obnoxious.
Speaker 3:There's no way.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:There was like 400 different like screens yeah, different screens, and every single one had like hundreds of mountain.
Speaker 1:How many mountain dew bottles were shown in this ad? And turn that for a chance to win something crazy. So I do appreciate the fact that they closed it that night instead of dragging it out like Mountain Dew.
Speaker 3:Um it just took someone that much time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the Mountain Dew one. Yeah, what I don't appreciate is how annoying it was. Yeah, it was a little much, I think, but someone won um, which is cool. So then they get publicity with the winner and that whole story, um they're gonna be on the hook for a tax bill. Yeah, they are. They're gonna be selling them cars.
Speaker 3:They can probably honestly sell like a car and I think it was like $400,000 worth of winnings. Oh, what's that? So that's like about $200,000. About 200 K in taxes.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Tax time is coming up folks.
Speaker 1:This is your friendly reminder Um don't win a sweepstakes, um or do Okay. So, besides the fact that the code was a little bit annoying a little much, people still entered. They still won. What I think is cool about this ad one, a giveaway is always gonna get you attention. So, even as a small business, as long as it's good, I mean don't make it something stupid, but as long as it's like a pretty decent giveaway.
Speaker 3:Don't give away $10.
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 3:I mean you could.
Speaker 1:You could.
Speaker 3:But a lot of people aren't gonna be stoked on one $10 gift card.
Speaker 1:Yeah, unless.
Speaker 3:Nope.
Speaker 1:I don't know, I want like a $10,. They know a coffee shop. I'd be like sweet, I'm gonna go get a coffee and a treat.
Speaker 3:We get a coffee.
Speaker 1:Yeah, a coffee. Anyways, giveaways are gonna generate buzz and attention and engagement, which is great for a brand. But what I like from what they did again, it was like a multi-channel. So they were running ads, they had the TV spot and then they're taking you to their.
Speaker 3:They're running digital ads, like social ads.
Speaker 1:Yes, they're running social ads.
Speaker 3:For all those, the scrollers that can't watch football.
Speaker 1:The game was great. I watched a decent amount of it, but that's also. I also put the kids down during the actual game.
Speaker 3:You know that's it the rest.
Speaker 1:I watched and it was great. They did a great job. Go sports. Anyways, they're running social media ads. They had the TV spot and then they're driving people to a landing page where I think they captured email addresses. I assume they have to capture some. Yeah, they had to have captured their personal information.
Speaker 3:A lot of them know you won.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so they're creating hello, they're creating a leads list and I am sure I haven't really clicked around enough, but anyone that's landed on that landing page, they're cookies, so then they can continue to retarget you with ads and if you have the app like they're tracking, you may know.
Speaker 3:I wonder if anyone that is listening to this actually entered. Entered.
Speaker 1:Ooh, let us know.
Speaker 3:You did, let us know and then, if you did, let us know how many times you've been emailed afterwards, because I'm sure they're sending out promo codes left and right now.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah.
Speaker 3:So let us know about that. We did not do it because I did not feel like spending multiple hours reading a promo code.
Speaker 1:Yeah, a lot of people have tried. I think it would tell you, like, what percentage of it you got correct to, which is kind of cool.
Speaker 3:That's kind of cool, but like also.
Speaker 1:Cool technology.
Speaker 3:Jeez, that's a lot of stuff to do during the Super Bowl, trying to see. Well, it was at the end when they went over time. When they were over time.
Speaker 1:So, anyways, summarize that multi-channeled doing something again you're building awareness for your main launcher attraction and then you're capturing leads that you can then retarget, email, whatever, to get to a actual conversion. Again, downloading an app and ordering a meal is really all they're going for, so it's not that crazy. I do think it's funny, though, in terms of like, add and creative the Uber Eats ad I thought like in terms of a concept and creative.
Speaker 3:I don't really remember that one. What?
Speaker 1:It was the one with, so it was for Uber Eats and it was like you have to forget something in order to remember, cause they're like oh, I always forget. I can order like office supplies off of Uber Eats. So I had Jennifer Aniston and David.
Speaker 3:Schrumer.
Speaker 1:Ross Schrumer, whatever Schrumer Schrumer.
Speaker 3:Ross, they had Ross.
Speaker 1:And she was like, yes, like couldn't remember. They had Victoria Beckham, yeah, david Beckham, but then they also had like a guy in like office scenes, so like non-celebrity, like things that were just like funny. So I thought that creative on that one was way better, just in terms of an ad.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but they didn't give away $400,000 worth of stuff. No, of mayonnaise, of mayonnaise.
Speaker 1:I didn't know getting mayonnaise memories.
Speaker 3:I can't believe they gave away $400,000 worth of mayonnaise.
Speaker 1:Yeah, just spreading falsities. Yeah, so I think in terms of ads we're talking about, I think that was the bulk of it, but generally speaking, this year's Super Bowl ads hit mostly on humor and nostalgia. Even like the age range of the celebrities, it was more like millennial to Gen Z. Is that our parents?
Speaker 3:I don't remember.
Speaker 1:Gen C, the one older than the millennial. Is that the younger Gen Z's? I might be Gen Z, oh then not you, that's the odd one. Millennials to Boomers, I forget the middle generation, whatever they're called, but the celebrities were more that age bracket. So what are small businesses? Just from the overall theme, because I get a little bit more into this than you do, but the Super Bowl and kind of the ads and the creative that you see there, it kind of drives typically the rest of the calendar year of where brands grow on a creative standpoint, so like people weren't really hitting on hot topics, they weren't. It wasn't like emotional heartstrings like you've seen in the past with some brands, like pretty much everyone hit on just humor and certain different degrees.
Speaker 3:Except for Budweiser and the.
Speaker 1:Jesus commercials.
Speaker 3:Well, yeah, the story commercials, what? Yeah, jesus, I don't know what those are called. Do you remember? I remember them, but I don't know what they're called. Yeah, those are the only two emotional ones, yeah. There was one trunk, one where they. There was one where they Like. This little girl was in the trunk for her brand.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, I think it was Kia. That one was cute, the little girl.
Speaker 3:Yep, when they drove up, did the ice skating rink in the backyard.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that one was good. Yes, yeah. Yeah, that was a good one, yeah. And then I think about the stat was like 60 plus of the ads use celebrities and then like 30% use multiple celebrities in their ads.
Speaker 3:So you don't have an option to not use celebrities. Do they use a celebrity or multiple?
Speaker 1:celebrities, but you had, like We'll talk about that in a second. But okay, humor and nostalgia, setting the tone for that's kind of what you're going to see this year in marketing in general, like from bigger brands. I think, from just what I've read and looked at, like it's an election year. People don't want more drama, they don't need more heartstrings, please. So brands are kind of going a different direction to Brands. Bigger brands and companies are going a different direction than they do some other years, where it is more emotional ads Great so.
Speaker 3:Please do that. Don't tell me what to think with your ad.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like no one wants to hit on hot topics, no one wants to be dramatic and like, at this point in the year, make a stand as a brand.
Speaker 3:Just tell me what you sell and why I should buy it.
Speaker 1:And make it funny. Maybe, Okay so.
Speaker 3:I like, I like funny.
Speaker 1:Yes, apparently most of America does this year, I think they always have, I think they always have. Yeah.
Speaker 3:I think people just I think there was a lot of brands that got captured and feeling like they had to say things in the past few years.
Speaker 1:So yeah, which is fine, but my point I don't think it's fine my point and where I'm trying to guide you in this conversation.
Speaker 3:I have my own brain in here.
Speaker 1:Yeah, this is why you should definitely always do podcasts with your spouse From the standpoint of hitting on humor and or nostalgia for small businesses, and you're more on the video side of things like what is your advice or what would be your takeaway for small businesses or medium size Wilmington businesses, let's say, of any size you have a takeaway.
Speaker 3:Yeah, this is the best take, this is like the best thing I can draw. Like everyone, sit there for a second and just think like one of the most memorable movies you went and watched when you were in high school. Guarantee you, most of them are comedies. People remember stuff that makes them laugh because when you're laughing you're happy. Yeah, I mean, you do remember sad things too, but you know, I would say a vast majority of people when they're thinking about content they've watched over the past and you know content is a newer word. Yeah, but like movies, tv shows, like there's always a thread of funny in there, and not always, but most of the time there's a thread of funny in there that makes stuff memorable. Like when you're quoting movies from your childhood, you're not quoting like Braveheart. I mean, actually some people do quote Braveheart, but that's just strictly a freedom thing which continue to quote that. But you know a lot of times when you're quoting stuff you're quoting stupid, like Napoleon Dynamite stuff or you know any kind of funny comedy from from back in the day.
Speaker 1:So to that point that, all that to say, it needs to be relevant to your target audience not just you as a business owner.
Speaker 3:But even if it is relevant to just you as a business owner, if it makes people laugh, they're going to remember it If it makes, but you have to figure out what makes people laugh.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, okay, that's fair.
Speaker 3:I know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I think making making it memorable and making it memorable to your target audience, but then making sure your brand like your brand has to be remembered in there, not just your ad. Correct, and I'll use Beyonce's ad and I'm calling it Beyonce's ad because it's not Verizon's ad. It was definitely Beyonce's ad, in my personal opinion. I'm sure you could Google it and experts would disagree, but her whole thing was like the Verizon Internet, like even Beyonce can't break the Internet, right, but all I remembered was Beyonce. And then, right after that commercial aired, or Super Bowl night, she dropped new music. I'm like genius on your side to like use your celebrity in this ad.
Speaker 3:They paid me to do this and then I dropped music, got him yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, she did, she dropped stuff with the Grammys, but yeah. It was a Verizon ad. But when I was thinking through ads I was like that Beyonce ad was good and I was like Beyonce didn't run an ad in the Super Bowl. What brand was it for? Oh, yeah, which the break the Internet. It's a good connection, but I don't know.
Speaker 3:I think she capitalized it on us Must be a great connection if she didn't break the Internet.
Speaker 1:That was the point of the ad. You got him honey.
Speaker 3:You said, good connection. I know that was just fine on the words.
Speaker 1:Yeah yeah, you tied it back to the actual company that ran the ad. Not to say that ad wasn't successful. I just think it was great for Beyonce.
Speaker 3:It was a good concept.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 3:Because if you think of who could break the Internet, Beyonce and Kim K. I don't know about that.
Speaker 1:Oh, I need Alyssa in here. I should have heard you this with me. Nah, you know who?
Speaker 3:would break the Internet Hands down. Kanye for sure he could break the Internet.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think having Beyonce in your ad as a celebrity was a better brand move than Kanye at the moment. I don't know.
Speaker 3:I had a gone straight Kanye, and then the Internet would have broke. Well, that's the thing Verizon couldn't have, because he would have broken the Internet.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but not in a way your brand wants to be remembered.
Speaker 3:It would have been broken.
Speaker 1:That whole strategy would have broken right there. But I think to that point also, having Beyonce in your ad makes a statement on the level of your company is anyways because you're not getting Beyonce just in any brand of mill brand.
Speaker 3:That's the level of where you don't say status, you say status Okay, we have a high status.
Speaker 1:Yes, sir, cool. I'm just looking through my notes to see if there's anything else I want to talk about. Yeah, I think, at the end of the day, knowing your target audience, making sure that ad is relevant to them, is important. I think we are in the prime generation age range for Super Bowl commercials just because our generation currently has buying power in the market and we're still watching the Super Bowl where you know.
Speaker 3:Not falling asleep at eight o'clock, although I'd like to Not just there for the party.
Speaker 1:I'm there for the ads, you're there for the game. So yeah, we didn't go to a party this year. We didn't, we stayed home.
Speaker 3:We stayed at our house First time ever. I've not gone to a Super Bowl party in my life.
Speaker 1:Yeah, wow, you're in my name.
Speaker 3:So are you? Well, it was great, though. We made steaks and watched a Super Bowl.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we ate dinner after the kids went to bed on the couch it was nice.
Speaker 3:Yeah, check a glass of wine.
Speaker 1:Watch the Super Bowl, watch the ads, you mean.
Speaker 3:Watch the Super Bowl yeah. Yeah, be funny, that's the takeaway Be funny this year.
Speaker 1:Humor 2024 humor Stalja being memorable but making shorts relevant to your audience and your brand, and your brand is ultimately remembered. And then this obviously is geared towards like one super event of night of advertising. But the brands that I think are going to succeed and see like an actual ROI are the ones that are playing it out beyond one night. You know, you don't know.
Speaker 3:I mean, I'm just thinking, I don't know how to speak to ROI on when it comes to spending seven plus million.
Speaker 1:Well, these braids On just ad spot plus, whatever the budget production. That was that Uber Eats ad with.
Speaker 3:Ross and Rachel.
Speaker 1:Ross, rachel, victoria Beckham, david Beckham, jelly Roll. I think that was all the celebrities. Anyways, that ad budget celebrity.
Speaker 3:That's what I'm saying. I can't really. If you have that ad budget, give us a call.
Speaker 1:We are really funny.
Speaker 3:We can make some funny stuff.
Speaker 1:But just thinking like, thinking it through in terms of, like, how are you going to extend? Like, if you're, we can pick on mess hall because they're easy to pick on for this, for us, like, there is not in that way. But like, look at, like with the outer banks, like spoof campaign from last summer, obviously that video and launching that video was the main attraction, if you will. But then playing it out through, you know, coming in to get the t-shirt and then the giveaway, and just like different avenues, like obviously you can post that video and it's funny and it's going to get attention, but then what are you actually doing to convert customers or to capture leads? Like? You need to think it through a step further. Just throwing out like a funny ad or sending out a really good, it needs to be part of a plan.
Speaker 1:It needs to be part of a strategy.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Have a strategy. Um sweet, is there anything else?
Speaker 2:No you want to talk about nothing else.
Speaker 1:Nothing else you talk about, just Super Bowl.
Speaker 3:In general, life in general. No, now's your chance. I hope next year it's not the chiefs in the Super Bowl again, were they in it last year or something They've? Been they what had four wins? What is it? Third win, third three yeah.
Speaker 1:Are they like the new Patriots or people are going to start hating them for winning? Yeah, who is Taylor the new Giselle? Because that was another level Is she, I wonder. Her net worth is higher than his. It has to be so much higher?
Speaker 3:Well, who's net worth is as high as well?
Speaker 1:It was like that, beyonce maybe Absolutely. She's just been around longer. She makes that in your sleep she probably makes that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, in a in in one section of a tour. Yeah.
Speaker 1:We don't know if those are facts you can Google them for yourself but maybe facts, probably facts.
Speaker 3:Google. No, we have nothing else to say. Cool, other than be funny this year.
Speaker 1:Yeah, thanks for tuning in to this mini. So I don't know, was even many or did?
Speaker 3:It's pretty long.
Speaker 1:It was pretty long.
Speaker 3:Thanks for tuning in to this almost regular episode of two can talks.
Speaker 1:Bye, bye. Thanks for tuning in to another episode of two can talks brought to you by kickstart collective. If you loved this episode, be sure to subscribe wherever you watch podcast and follow kickstart collective on Instagram at kickstart collective.