Ads that make people care – or purpose driven ads – are the industry’s new cachet according to Facebook’s head of advertising, David Fischer.
Fischer, who was speaking at the Adobe Summit in Las Vegas, cited the recent series of Super Bowl ads that had dispensed with the typical cheeky/humour/cute animal vibe and went for more meaningful messaging. Or purpose-driven marketing, as Fischer called it.
“If you watched the Super Bowl this year and just watched the ads, there weren’t so many of those funny beer, chips and laughing spots,” Fischer said, his comments reported on US industry site Adweek. “They were more a kind of purpose-driven, and I think that’s something that will continue.”
Many of this year’s Super Bowl ads still towed the comedy line, but many also voiced support for various causes and many had anti-Trump undertones.
Budweiser and 84 Lumber both pushed an immigration theme, Audi promoted equal pay for women and Kia promoted environmental issues.
One of Fischer’s favourite Super Bowl ads was Airbnb’s #WeAccept (above) which pushed acceptance of all people and was deemed to be a less than subtle dig at Trump’s immigration policies namely towards Muslims and Mexicans.
“I think it’s not that iconic storytelling is going to go away,” Fischer said. “But you’ve got to adapt to the times we’re living in.”
