The Super Bowl Has Changed. Hollywood's Boring Ads Have Not
Just trailers, again? Really? Marketing gurus tell me how studios have lost step in how to play — and win — within the Big Game's big game
David Lidsky is an executive editor at The Ankler. He previously wrote about streamers’ need for a “value meal” strategy, Endeavor going private and Participant shuttering.
This Ankler Feature is a 15-minute read.
The screen goes black. Suddenly, in white lettering the words “July 2nd They Arrive” come towards the viewer as a stentorian voiceover repeats them. Cut to a shadow enveloping a traffic-clogged street and people scrambling for safety.
“July 3rd They Attack.”
We get glimpses of that attack — flames reflected in a car windshield, a fireball roaring through the urban landscape.
“July 4th is . . .”
What? What’s gonna happen on July 4?
Now we see the White House, with what appears to be a spaceship looming above it. A shaft of blue energy beams from the craft and shoots down into the semi-circular portico. The building is immediately consumed in a massive explosion.
The last words we hear are “Independence Day,” but there’s one more onscreen message for viewers: “Enjoy the Super Bowl. It May Be Your Last.”
When I set out to consider how Hollywood uses the Super Bowl to advertise movies — and whether it works — I did not expect this 29-year-old ad for Independence Day to come up as often as it did. But once I watched it again, I understood: The ID4 commercial is an all-too-rare instance of studios deviating from what’s become a beyond-tired formula of airing teaser trailers during their Super Bowl ad time.
On Super Bowl Sunday, despite reports of Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Sony and Warner Bros. likely sitting out the game, Hollywood is expected to have a significant presence among the approximately 70 ads that will air during the Chiefs-Eagles matchup:
Universal: Jurassic World Rebirth, M3GAN 2.0 and the live-action How to Train Your Dragon
Disney: Thunderbolts, The Fantastic Four: First Steps and Pixar’s Elio
Paramount: Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning, Smurfs and Novocaine
None of these movies’ spots are expected to offer anything more than the trailer. Why, during the biggest monoculture event of the year — on a night when 75 percent of viewers are excited to watch the commercials, and 25 percent of the audience is there primarily to see them — are the ads for movies so uninspired?
“If you’re showing up to watch the ads, that’s the entertainment for you,” says Brooke Stites, CEO of Modern Arts, a creative agency she cofounded with former Anonymous Content execs Zac Ryder and Adam Groves. “Unfortunately, those trailers are kinda like a commercial you don’t want to watch. They’re interrupting the entertainment part.”
The irony is that so much of “the entertainment part” is now steeped in Hollywood talent, tropes and nostalgia for movies from the ’80s, ’90s and 2000s. Super Bowl ad breaks are awash in celebrities, a trend that exploded post-Covid, with many brands now packing in several stars in an effort to multiply the effect. Some spots build their campaigns around movie IP. This year, Hellmann’s mayonnaise has recreated the most iconic scene in When Harry Met Sally with Billy Crystal, Meg Ryan and Sydney Sweeney, and Häagen-Dazs has a Fast & Furious spot. Even brands going in a different direction will still get some residual benefit from Hollywood storytelling: Coors Light is riffing on the “case of the Mondays” line from Office Space that entered the cultural lexicon.
The Super Bowl has become a better showcase for the power of movies than 50 Oscars montages, yet studios aren’t seizing the moment.
Do Hollywood’s Super Bowl ads even work? What could studios do better? For this story, I assessed a number of measurement tools to consider whether Hollywood’s Super Bowl commercials are effective. I also interviewed advertising creatives, including CEO of Superconnector Studios Jae Goodman, the Martin Agency’s chief strategy officer Elizabeth Paul, Mischief USA cofounder and chief creative officer Greg Hahn and Giant Spoon cofounder Trevor Guthrie, who have worked with every major studio and streamer to learn how the film industry could best leverage the massive platform the Big Game offers.
In this article, you’ll learn:
Brand marketers’ modern Super Bowl strategy that Hollywood has yet to embrace
Whether the soaring cost of 30 seconds is worth it to studios
The size of the “brand lift” from a spot, and which movies last year saw the biggest bump
What Wicked did right during 2024’s Super Bowl LVIII
How Superman might win this year by not advertising during the game itself
How studios are settling for “a minimum viable definition of success,” according to one creative strategist
Ideas to break movie marketers out of their rut with spots that are “subversive” but still have “mass” appeal
The win-win formula when brands bankroll ads that amplify Hollywood IP
How to extend the impact of a successful spot with “shoulder programming”
Why Christopher Nolan should direct the Super Bowl ad for his next movie