Super Bowl LVI Competition
Predict This Year’s Super Bowl Ads to Win USD$1,000 for a Charity Of Your Choice
Written by
Michael Murray
February 7, 2022
3
min read
For marketers with the budget to spare ($5.5M for every 30 seconds of ad time), the Super Bowl is an unmissable cultural moment. Reaching over 100 million people, the Super Bowl is the most-watched show in the U.S. Ever. Of its ten most watched shows (averaging over 100 million viewers), nine are Super Bowls (the other being the final episode of M*A*S*H in February 1983).
Last year, we wanted to understand how the macro-environmental and economic changes of 2020 would shape this year's Super Bowl commercials. To do this, we analyzed nearly 400 unique video ads from Super Bowls 2016-2021 (we excluded all NFL ads, film trailers, and network commercials). To quantify how creative decisions evolved during that time, we leveraged two technologies:
We then offered our clients the opportunity to win USD$1,000 to a charity of their choice by predicting how all the world events of 2020 (pandemic, Black Lives Matter, US presidential election, etc) would shape the creative decisions that marketers made in 2021.
This year we’re offering you the same chance, with a slightly different competition - because not all Super Bowl ads are created equally.
It’s a fact that great ads are well-branded (or distinctive). They should also be representative of your audience. But some of the other creative choices are more contentious: purpose-driven messaging, celebrities, cute animals. Do we need these creative elements to make effective ads?
To draw attention to the importance of the creative choices we make - especially when putting $5.5M in ad spend behind it - we’re offering you the opportunity to win $1,000 for the charity of your choice.
To win, you need to accurately predict/rank the 3 most frequently used creative elements and 3 least frequently used creative elements in this year’s Super Bowl ads. The competition closes 12:00 GMT Saturday, 12th February, 2022. There are 20 options to choose from (definitions for each category below).
Creative passes this guideline if a fluent device or brand character (M&M mascots, Geico Gecko, etc.) is present in the creative at any time.
Creative passes this guideline if a brand logo, product, or brand character is present more than 5x in the creative.
Creative passes this guideline if a brand logo, product, or brand character is present more than 3x in the creative.
Creative passes this guideline if a brand logo features in the first 2.99 seconds of the creative.
Creative passes this guideline if a brand logo features in the final 2.99 seconds of the creative.
Creative passes this guideline if the number of male and female characters present as main characters (or in the foreground) is present in the creative at any time.
Creative passes this guideline if there are no instances of: female characters in domestic settings or Black characters in physical settings are present in the creative at any time.
Creative passes this guideline if there are no female characters in revealing clothes, a bikini, or appear disembodied is present in the creative at any time.
Creative passes this guideline if a female character or Black Male is featured in leadership positions in the creative at any time.
Creative passes this guideline if two or more female characters talk to each other about anything that is not a man - at any time throughout the creative.
Creative passes this guideline if three or more celebrities are present in the creative at any time.
Creative passes this guideline if a social hashtag (directs to Facebook, Twitter, Tiktok, etc.) features at any time throughout the creative.
Creative passes this guideline if a celebrity is present at any time throughout the creative.
Creative passes this guideline if two or more characters are talking to each other at any time throughout the creative.
Creative passes this guideline if an animal is present at any time in the creative.
Creative passes this guideline if a green product is present in the creative at any time.
Creative passes this guideline if a charitable donation message is present in the creative at any time.
Creative passes this guideline if a carbon neutral message is present in the creative at any time.
Creative passes this guideline if the pandemic or covid is present in the creative at any time (either visually as face-masks or audibly as a message, or visually as text-overlay).
Creative passes this guideline if a montage of ‘faces and places’ - set to music and a voiceover is present at any time throughout the creative.
If no-one can correctly rank all 6, we’ll pick the person who comes closest. This way, if you win, you can kick off 2022 by directly contributing to making someone's life just that little bit better, in whichever way you see fit.
We will then use our creative analytics technology to measure the frequency of each creative element in this year’s Super Bowl. Results will be announced by 18:00 GMT Monday, 21st February 2022. Terms and Conditions here.
Only one submission per person. The deadline to submit your predictions is 12:00 GMT Saturday, 12th February 2022. There will be one prize and the prize may not be sold, transferred, and is not convertible to cash. The user with the closest prediction will be deemed as the winner. In the case of a tie, the winner will be drawn at random. Results and the winner will be announced by 18:00 GMT Monday, 21st February 2022. All rights reserved. You can view all the Terms and Conditions here.
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