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SPORTS EXTRAFriday 29 January 2016
Celebrities are going to be huge in Super Bowl ads
MAE ANDERSON
Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) — The Big
Game is more than a week
away, but Super Bowl ad-
vertisers are already out
in force online, playing up
celebrity cameos to drive
buzz for their brands.
First-time advertiser Ama-
zon on Wednesday teased
its ad with Alec Baldwin.
On Thursday, Hyundai re-
vealed that Kevin Hart and
Ryan Reynolds will be in ads
showcasing Genesis and
Elantra sedans. Skittles will
have Aerosmith front man
Steven Tyler promote the
candy. Bud Light is creating
its own fake political party
with actors Amy Schumer
and Seth Rogen. BMW’s
Mini is cramming six celebri-
ties into its ad (if not into its
car). Even 1980s actor Scott
Baio will make an appear-
ance to promote avoca-
dos from Mexico.
Pre-game buzz is crucial;
ads will cost as much as
an estimated $5 million for
a 30-second spot, up from
$4.4 million last year. The
cost, and risk, is worth it to
the advertisers battling it
out for the more than 114
million pairs of eyeballs the
Big Game is expected to
draw on Feb. 7. The Caro-
lina Panthers will face off
A coffee named ‘Death Wish’ wins a Super Bowl commercial
JOYCE M. ROSENBERG
AP Business Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — A coffee
with an edgy name and
made by a small business
is getting a commercial in
Super Bowl 50.
Death Wish Coffee Co.
won a competition held
by software maker Intuit for
a 30-second spot during
the third quarter of the big
game on Feb. 7. The Round
Lake, New York, company
beat more than 15,000 oth-
er small businesses in voting
by the public and Intuit em-
ployees.
Death Wish was founded
in 2012 by Mike Brown,
who owns a coffee house
in Saratoga Springs, New
York, and wanted to find a
strong, highly-caffeinated
brew. Packaged in a black
bag with a skull and bones
label, the coffee, a blend
This image provided by Anheuser-Busch shows actors Amy returns go up,” says Tim
Schumer and Seth Rogen in the company’s Bud Light ad for Calkins, a Northwestern
Super Bowl 50. University marketing profes-
sor. “A celebrity is a great
(Anheuser-Busch via AP) hook.”
Companies also appreci-
against the Denver Broncos that investment over weeks ate celebrities’ reach on
in Levi’s Stadium in Santa instead of seeing it gone in social media, which can
Clara, California. 60 seconds. (Or even 30.) help boost online buzz.
Pre-game teasers, which “If an advertiser can get “Celebrities like Kevin Hart
debut online one or two people thinking about the are adding thousands of
weeks before the game, brand before the game, followers a day,” said Dean
can help advertisers stretch the risk goes down and Evans, Hyundai’s chief mar-
keting officer. “We never
know how much organic
shares or unearned me-
dia (media mentions that
aren’t paid for) we’re go-
ing to get from that kind of
celebrity and social reach
that that celebrity might
have.”
There are, of course, down-
sides. A star can sometimes
eclipse the brand, or worse,
drag it down if people re-
act negatively to a par-
ticular celebrity. Last year, and Seth Rogen. They fo-
T-Mobile’s Kim Kardashian
ad was a dud on social
media, said Devra Prywes,
vice president of market-
ing for research firm Un-
ruly, which monitors Super
Bowl ads’ online buzz. The
famous-for-being-famous
celebrity just provoked too
much Internet hate to be
effective.
“No matter how carefully
you choose a celebrity,
Michael Brown, owner of Death Wish Coffee Company, poses employees to prepare for a
for a picture during Intuit QuickBooks Small Business Big Game jump in business, giving him
finalists tour, in Round Lake, N.Y. Death Wish Coffee Co. won a a staff of 12.
competition held by software maker Intuit for a 30-second spot “If even half a percent of
during the third quarter of the Super Bowl on Feb. 7, 2016. The the people who watch the
Round Lake, N.Y., company beat more than 15,000 companies commercial decide to buy
in voting by the public and Intuit employees. a bag and give it a try, and
90 percent of them rec-
(Hans Pennink/QuickBooks via AP) ommend it to others, we
could have some amazing
that Brown created, is sold day, a number expected to growth in the future,” he
in a handful of stores and increase considerably after said.
online. Death Wish currently the Super Bowl spot runs. The commercial shows a
sells about 1,000 pounds a Brown recently hired two Viking galley ship in stormy
waters with the crew ex-
horted to keep rowing; the
ship and the sea end up in
a cup of Death Wish coffee
downed by a man in his
21st-century kitchen.
Super Bowl commercials
are usually bought by high-
profile brands like Chevro-
let, Doritos and Budweiser.
Some spots have been
used to showcase younger
but fast-growing compa-
they’re polarizing,” said Pe-
ter Daboll, chief executive
of Ace Metrix, a firm that
rates the effectiveness of
ads. “Not everybody loves
Justin Bieber.”
When there’s a good fit
between celebrity and a
brand, though, the payoff
can be huge. Daboll point-
ed to popular ads by Snick-
ers, which in the past have
featured Betty White toss-
ing around a football and
character actor Danny Tre-
jo playing a hungry Marcia
Brady, an ad that landed
in Ace Metrix’ list of top
25 Super Bowl ads of the
past five years. Snickers has
teased a spot this year fea-
turing Willem Dafoe playing
Marilyn Monroe.
Bud Light is hoping some-
thing similar happens with
its ad showcasing actor/
comedians Amy Schumer
cused on regular-Joe Bud
Light fans in last year’s Su-
per Bowl ad, but this year,
they went with celebrities
to introduce Bud Light’s
new packaging and logo.
“They’re current and rele-
vant, so they were the per-
fect spokespeople to bring
us back to the brand’s hu-
mor,” said Bud Light vice
president Alexander Lam-
brecht. q
nies, most notably Apple,
whose 1984 commercial
creating buzz about its Ma-
cintosh computer is seen as
the gold standard of Super
Bowl ads.
But with a spot costing $5
million for air time alone,
the game is far beyond the
advertising budget of most
small businesses.
Death Wish is the second
company that Intuit has
bought an ad for. In 2014,
it paid for a spot for Gold-
ieBlox, a toy for girls, after
holding a similar competi-
tion.
The Super Bowl is the most-
watched event in the U.S.
Last year’s game between
the New England Patriots
and Seattle Seahawks had
an audience of over 114
million people. The ads get
almost as much attention
as the game itself. q