For many, the best part of the annual Super Bowl is the commercials. Every single year, there is intense competition, and huge money, for a 30-second spot during the Super Bowl. Some brands have made it a tradition to unveil a new and amusing, controversial, conversation starting or heart-warming ad each time. Super Bowl 53 in 2019 was no exception, and there were a number of car commercials that debuted.
Why are the Super Bowl ads so important?
A 30-second spot for advertising during the Super Bowl can cost as much as $5 million! It’s no wonder that brands put a lot of effort and energy into creating what they hope will be memorable, water-cooler-conversation-worthy adverts for the Super Bowl. Good, bad, or ugly – over 111 million people see them. 111 million reasons to advertise.
There are many brands that compete for viewers’ eyes and minds during the Super Bowl, such as beer, food and commercial car insurance companies. Every year though, car manufacturers feature heavily. Indeed, the Volkswagen Das Auto commercial that riffed on Star Wars and ‘the force’ is still talked about and is the most shared Super Bowl commercial of all time. The adorable kid in Darth Vader costume changed Super Bowl commercials and turned them from being just standalone spots to part of a longer, more developed marketing campaign for many brands. Let’s take a look at the car commercials that were shown during Super Bowl 53.
Audi’s ‘heavenly turn’
A man visits his elderly grandfather, decides to take a concept E-Tron GT (an electric car) for a spin, chokes on a cashew he’s been munching, and ends up in heaven (don’t worry, it was a temporary death) was an ad with a message. And that message was that there will be some element of electrification in one third of all of Audi’s cars by the year 2025.
Hyundai’s ‘car shopping is worse than vegan food and a root canal’
Deciding to poke fun at the mostly unpleasant experience that buyers find car shopping to be, Hyundai’s ad featured a list of things less unpleasant – including a root canal treatment, jury duty, and eating vegan beetloaf at a party. There had to be a catch, right? Indeed, and it was that if buyers used Hyundai’s Shopper Assurance program, car buying wouldn’t be unpleasant anymore, since it assures them of perks like transparent pricing and a three-day return policy. This ad sparked outrage with vegans everywhere, much to the joy of everyone who isn’t a vegan.
Kia humanizes manufacturing
This ad featured the brand’s new Telluride, an SUV that seats eight. It spoke about the people of West Point, Georgia, where the Telluride is manufactured, pointing out that their chances of getting rich, popular on social media, and famous are near to nil, but they are okay with that. And why? Because what they want to be remembered for is what they create and manufacture in West Point, like the Telluride.
Mercedes Benz’s voice for all
The Mercedes Benz’s most advanced infotainment system to date, MBUX, is installed in the brand’s 2019 Mercedes Benz A-Class sedan. Voice recognition is the cornerstone of the tech, with the car reacting to statements like “I am hot/I am cold” and responding by turning on the heat/air conditioning. Taking that as the base, the commercial extrapolates to voice recognition technology being a part of every single aspect in life, from who wins a game of football to the operation of New York City’s traffic lights, with hilarious results.
Ram featured all super bowl brands
With an impressive 35,100 towing capacity, Ram’s 2020 heavy-duty pickup was the star of the brand’s Super Bowl commercial, but rather than making it only about Ram, the series of shorts featured the pickup towing other brands that were part of the Super Bowl commercial line-up. Anyone up for a humungous bowl of guacamole made with Mexican avocados?
Toyota puts a man in a pinball
The moment the strains of The Who’s “Pinball Wizard” sounded, you knew there was going to be something interesting in the Toyota ad for their new and much talked about Supra. The ad had the Supra coupe inside a gigantic pinball machine, with the driver drifting through the machine…. Ding! Ding!
Defy assumptions, said Toyota
Toyota chose to debut not one, but two of its latest offerings at Super Bowl 53. The second spot was an inspirational ad for the RAV4 Hybrid car, a gasoline-electric hybrid/crossover model that was created for speed. In it, the brand’s offering was compared to Toni Harris, the first ever female footballer to play in the NFL, with the concept saying that both defied assumptions. Harris, by going where no female athlete has gone before, and RAV4 Hybrid by being a speedster – not something expected of a gas-electric hybrid model.
So what’s next in 2020?
No doubt, the advertising geniuses will be planning the 2020 Superbowl commercials already. Because these legendary ads live long in the public’s memory and the benefits far outweigh the hefty price tag. If you are looking at purchasing one of these make sure that you factor in the cost of car insurance. AMI offer a range of car insurance options from third party insurance to fully comprehensive. They also have a handy online quote form.
