Top 10 Winning Ad Themes from 50 Super Bowls

SMITH BRAIN TRUST — A feminine care brand sponsoring a football telecast might seem odd. But the Proctor & Gamble Always Like A Girl commercial that aired during the 2015 Super Bowl dovetailed with the NFL’s “Football is Family” marketing campaign. It also reaffirmed the Super Bowl as advertising’s biggest stage. “It’s a platform broadly reflecting what it means to be an American with all the complexities and nuances,” says marketing professor Hank Boyd at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business.

Progressive Insurance recently tapped Boyd to work with its marketers to identify trends that have impacted Super Bowl advertising over the past couple decades. Themes range from puppies to tech to humor and are adapted to Progressive’s Super Duper Bingo. The online game involves Super Bowl 50 viewers downloading a bingo card that’s outfitted with illustrations of common Super Bowl ad symbols and playing for a chance to win their home and auto payments for a year. The Associated Press previews this year’s ads here. 

“Certain recurring themes crop up,” Boyd says. “I more or less tapped into two questions: ‘What moves consumer audiences to respond?’ And, ‘What executions have resonated with viewers?’”

He says the groundbreaking “Like a Girl” spot effectively identified and challenged widely held stereotypes about women’s athleticism. “The message that girls can compete and ultimately win tapped into the generational divide experienced by Millennials and Generation Z,” he says.

Elsewhere, Boyd says, Budweiser stands out for its “different, nifty” forms of execution with its Clydesdale horses. The 2007 Donkey spot, for example, draws viewers to identify with a "hard-working and persistent underdog achieving the American dream, symbolized by the donkey earning a place among the majestic, beautiful and exotic Clydesdales.”

The effect illustrates why Super Bowl ads are entertainment productions within themselves, Boyd says. “We’re talking about 100 million viewers, and many of them have parties going on in their living spaces,” he says. “So when your commercial appears, it better be a nugget of entertainment or it’s not going to work.”

10 WINNING AD THEMES

Boyd identified 10 themes for spawning commercials that, years later, people still talk about: 

Humor/Parody: Attention is rewarded with a hearty laugh. Think of the Snickers Betty White (2010) spot.  

Sex Appeal: Go Daddy’s Danica Patrick (2010) spot helps illustrate that each generation has its bevy of sex symbols.

Cute Kids: Doritos’ Sling Baby shows why children trigger our hard-wiring to respond with emotional outburst. “It’s the classic little brother ribbing that gets foiled by the grandmother,” Boyd says. “It appeals to Super Bowl watching as a family affair.”

Dogs and Puppies: Similar to cute kids, Budweiser’s Dalmatians (1999) and Puppy Love (2014), and Doritos’ Pug Attack (2011) spots demonstrate “man’s best friend as an affective charge,” Boyd says.

Tugs at the Heartstrings: Feelings matter more than thoughts, and “connection then action” play out through Google’s Parisian Love (2010), Budweiser’s Clydesdale Brotherhood (2013) and Microsoft’s Empowering (2014). “These ads capture the power of human emotion,” Boyd says. “In the latter, technology opens new worlds for those most in need — like mobility to those without limbs and passing along sound to the deaf. It celebrates mankind’s power to uplift the less fortunate.”

Musical Artists: “Pop music defines each generation,” Boyd says. Pepsi’s Britney Spears (2002) and P. Diddy (2005) spots helped to cultivate that brand’s image as the drink of choice for the youth market or “Generation Next.” 

NFL Heroes: The “Kings of the Gridiron” command awe and respect, Boyd says. Coca-Cola’s Hey Kid, Catch! spot is an early example of marketers wisely tapping into the NFL for one of its most popular players, “Mean Joe” Greene,  to appeal to a broad range of viewers.

Notable Voiceovers: Chrysler connected with viewers with its Clint Eastwood-narrated It’s Halftime (2012) spot addressing Detroit’s trials, recovery and hope for the future. “It demonstrates how the right voice can summon emotions,” Boyd says.

Animated Characters: Advertisers often rely on the use of cartoon characters and their universal appeal to garner attention. “Ideally such spots capture the character’s personality in a funny situation,” Boyd says. Think of Wile E. Coyote (Pontiac, 1998) in need of a new-and-improved means to catch his eternal nemesis, the Road Runner. Another example is Homer Simpson, the “the lovable everyman” (MasterCard, 2004). He finishes his errands so he can spend time with his family — the patrons at Moe’s bar.

Personality Symbols: Geico’s Caveman (2008)  spot is a good example of a fictional character becoming strongly associated with the brand.