Super Bowl 2010

Ad touchdown gets nostalgic

Rihanna referred to the Super Bowl as a “big, walking music video”, and the sporting and advertising highlight of the year didn’t disappoint on the music front in 2010. The Who’s performance during half time – a lucrative slot for any band – has been both praised and panned by critics – with one citing it as “an act of terrorism on US soil”. However, even if the viewing audience is equally split it will still mean the band have appealed to at least 50M possible music buyers. Good for the group’s sales and hopefully also for Bridgestone tyres who sponsored their appearance. Interestingly the iconic British band weren’t the only nostalgia bid, with numerous other veteran acts also appearing in ads:

Audi (Cheap Trick)

Dr Pepper Cherry (KISS)

Bud 55 (Electric Light Orchestra)

Honda (Kool and the Gang)

Electronic Arts (Bill Withers)

A large part of the blame for the leaning towards nostalgic sound tracks can possibly be leveled at the successful door of US music show Glee – which has brought guilty musical pleasures to the fore.  Contemporary artists even got in on the retro act and played the nostalgia card. Ads featuring more current acts such as  indie band Grizzly Bear, who had a sync in a Volkswagen commercial, were tempered with appearances from older artists like Stevie Wonder. Will.i.am even went as far as reworking The Who’s hit ‘My Generation’ as part of a whopping $10M ad spend by mobile TV company FLO TV.

Volkswagen (Grizzly Bear)

FLO.TV (will.i.am)

Interestingly Pepsi – who made a big splash with the juxtaposition of genres between will.iam and Bob Dylan at the Superbowl last year – steered clear of the event, focusing instead on a concerted social media approach. It appears to have paid off, with the brand gaining 21% of the media coverage and online buzz around Superbowl advertising. Also by comparison its $20M spend on the campaign is a sizeable $10M less than its usual Super Bowl ad spend. However, despite the absence of a direct ad presence the brand didn’t turn its back on music, netting high profile acts – such as Rihanna and Justin Bieber – to perform at the Pepsi Fan Jam Super Bowl concert. With 100M Americans tuning in, the Super Bowl remains a dominate force in advertising. And music, once again – whether during the event or in the run up to it – is very much the favoured mechanic by brands looking to create emotional bookmarks in the minds and hearts of consumers.