While the New England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles slogged it out against each other in Super Bowl LII, brands have rolled out their ads thick and fast over the last three weeks in anticipation.
It appears this year’s Super Bowl commercials have made a conscious decision to stay well away from politics and the #MeToo movement, instead opting for just good old humour.
Among the brands advertising heavily in the coveted Super Bowl slots is tech and retail giant Amazon.
Aussie actress Rebel Wilson along with actor Sir Anthony Hopkins, celebrity chef Gordon Ramsey and rapper Cardi B, get a guernsey in Amazon’s TVC to promote its voice-activated assistant, Alexa. Even the company’s CEO, Jeff Bezos, makes a cameo appearance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8ZMmgPcO-k
Amazon also used the Super Bowl to release a commercial for its Prime Video service, featuring snippets from its CIA original series thriller Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V69XYIRjKww
Car manufacturer Toyota topped Amazon for total number of Super Bowl ads, releasing three over the course of just two days.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwF3ipuNyfc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sefscV3GvWM
Tourism Australia utilised the talents of Chris Hemsworth, Hugh Jackman, Margot Robbie, Russell Crowe, Isla Fisher, Danny McBride, Ruby Rose, Liam Hemsworth, Jessica Mauboy, and Luke Bracey to release a series of ads masqueraded as movie trailers to promote the land Down Under.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7ZTh9Rd0aA
As for the beer brands, Bud Light went medieval for its 60-second spot, while Budweiser ditched its traditional Clydesdale horse mascots for this year’s Super Bowl, and Stella Artois teamed up with actor Matt Damon and Water.org for its plug.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zr4md5OqL60
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxGUmtRLm5g
Bud Light also had some Aussie influence in its Super Bowl marketing push, tapping Melbourne business Buzz to create approximately 80,000 interactive beer cups for those at the game and other fans attending at selected parties in the US, which light up to action moments during the game.
Actors were also prominent in commercials for junk food brands, with Morgan Freeman and Peter Dinklage appearing for Mountain Dew and Doritos, Danny DeVito helping promote M&M’s, and Bill Hader going ‘Wow’ for Pringles.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNzzJzdgUto
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfZcxeqa1g4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gk0nVMU76bc
Meanwhile, Pepsi’s throwback ad had a number of famous faces including Michael Jackson, Britney Spears and Cindy Crawford, with US talk show host Jimmy Fallon as the narrator.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlhQkTvDoho
Adding to the list of actors in this year’s Super Bowl commercials, website builder Squarespace wanted to show how it could ‘Make it Happen’ by getting Keanu Reeves to surf on top of a motorbike.
