The Big Game: Crafting a consumer-relevant commercial
This post contains contributions from: Bailey Winston, Russell Evans, Eric Swank, Lucy Ogaz, Nitin Ajan Gupta and Aditi P Singh.
Each year some of the biggest brands in the world look to The Big Game as a venue to engage a wide audience. This year’s event brought in 123 million viewers, the largest viewing figures domestically for the United States since the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969, according to CNN. This airtime comes at a cost of $7 million per 30 seconds for brands, CBS revealed. This places a premium on every second, and brands must do what they can to capitalize.
Ads run during The Big Game can serve a variety of purposes, whether it’s announcing a new product, trying to make a new brand into a household name or establishing a new marketing campaign. Our perspective is that, regardless of specific objectives, ads must still address the fundamental needs of the targeted audience. To assess this year’s commercials, we have utilized our proprietary tool, ZS Atlas Intelligence.
ZS has developed ZS Atlas Intelligence, which is powered by AI and data-driven insights to identify consumer needs and expectations directly from the source. In contrast to traditional market research where consumers are fed a series of prompts and questions to respond to, ZS Atlas Intelligence enables us to analyze millions of reviews across categories, platforms, and products written directly by the consumers.
We’ve used our robust dataset and analyses created through Atlas Intelligence analysis to identify what matters to consumers, and we’re putting this year’s crop of commercials to the test, to determine which ones hit the mark, and which ones missed. While we recognize there are creative elements that are important to consider in any ad creation, outside of consumer needs and preferences, we believe it’s crucial for a commercial to still hit on the relevant consumer profile. We will provide our in-depth perspective on three brands and their ads: poppi, BODYARMOR, and Michelob ULTRA.
poppi
Overall assessment: Hit the nail on the head.
As a new-age soda, poppi is creating a healthy alternative with a specific focus on prebiotics to support a healthy gut environment. In their ad, poppi paints a picture of “the future of soda”. The ad highlights generation-defining innovations like space travel, automobiles and cell phones to pivot how people think about soda to a good-for-you drink that still tastes like a treat, instead of an unhealthy, high-sugar beverage — something the ad argues only poppi can achieve. The ad specifically highlights that poppi is low in sugar, has no artificial ingredients and functions as a prebiotic, while importantly still having the same taste, fizz, smell and overall feel of a traditional soda.
Our Atlas Intelligence analysis informs us that a key function consumers are looking for in the hydration category is to achieve holistic wellness. While consumers are looking for a product to provide health benefits, their primary need is still taste. The taste of the product has more than twice the impact on a consumer’s preference for a holistic wellness hydration product than any other need, according to Atlas Intelligence analysis. Beyond taste, consumers prioritize “better for you” claims like low sugar, no artificial ingredients and specific health benefits like gut health.
FIGURE 1: Performance of poppi across key consumer needs within holistic wellness
Throughout the ad, poppi focuses on each of these needs specifically, both through narration and on-screen text. People watching this ad can immediately see how poppi’s products can fulfill their holistic wellness needs in the hydration category, which is key to capturing consumers. Currently performing on par with these needs, relative to other brands in the space collected and analyzed through Atlas Intelligence — including key competitor Olipop — poppi needs to differentiate itself to capture further growth and success.
It’s crucial to note that poppi performs well below average in value — the fifth most important need for those looking for holistic wellness beverages based on Atlas Intelligence analysis. Short of pricing their products lower, poppi’s best solution to overcome this obstacle is to make the consumer perception of its products’ taste and healthiness as strong as possible, not only performing at expectation — as they do today — but by meaningfully overcoming the average and becoming a leader in the category.
BODYARMOR
Overall assessment: A good attempt, but missed the mark.
BODYARMOR focuses on making sports drinks packed with electrolytes to support hydration, particularly before, during and after athletic activity. BODYARMOR’s ad begins as a parody of the over-engineered AI-generated imagery we’ve all gotten used to seeing in the past year. The ad then launches off from this, painting BODYARMOR as a clear disruptor in the exercise support hydration category, focusing on natural ingredients with none of the artificial chemicals consumers may have gotten used to with other products in the space.
In focusing on the consumer needs of “real” and “no artificial” ingredients, the ad takes a creative approach to reach the consumer but misses the mark on the underlying consumer needs that would resonate most. Atlas Intelligence analysis suggests that consumers prioritize the taste and performance of the product over everything else in this category. In other words, consumers need the product to taste good and get the job done in terms of keeping them hydrated and helping them perform athletically before they are concerned with whether it does or doesn’t contain artificial ingredients. Even within the different “better for you” claims made by brands in this space, “sugar-free” and “low sugar” have three times the impact on a consumer’s preference for a product than “no artificial ingredients”.
FIGURE 2: Performance of BODYARMOR across key consumer needs within exercise support
Current BODYARMOR consumers already view the brand as an above-average performer in the key needs of taste, hydration, improving athletic performance and boosting energy. Nevertheless, this is only out of those who are already drinking BODYARMOR products — much of the larger potential consumer set is likely unaware of these benefits. Given the massive audience available for a commercial during The Big Game, it’s key to consider what matters most to potential new consumers, not just where BODYARMOR can make up ground with its existing consumers.
Michelob ULTRA
Overall assessment: Failed attempt to align with relevant consumer needs.
Michelob ULTRA brands itself as the “superior light beer”, providing a light, crisp and refreshing beer for its consumers. On a beach vacation, we quickly see soccer star Lionel Messi ordering a round of Michelob ULTRA for himself and his friends, only to be disappointed when the keg runs out. While waiting for his next beer, Messi plays soccer on the beach, dribbling through other vacationers — with a couple of celebrity cameos. Once his refreshing beer is ready, Messi sets up an assist and then goes to the bar to enjoy his reward.
The light beer category is filled with many major brands that regularly feature in commercials during The Big Game. While many may consider brands and products within this category to be undifferentiated, our Atlas Intelligence analysis shows there are distinct needs that consumers are looking for. Relating to Michelob ULTRA’s ad, when consumers are looking for a summer beer, they want a beer that’s refreshing and has a smooth and crisp taste, in addition to being affordable, according to Atlas Intelligence analysis.
Michelob ULTRA misses the mark in two ways: The ad likely didn’t resonate with consumers as a beach vacation context is not often associated with Michelob ULTRA, and it doesn’t include any clear differentiators for consumers in terms of the needs its product addresses.
According to Atlas Intelligence analysis, Michelob ULTRA isn’t a key player in summer recreation — as it’s behind several key beer brands including both macro beers (Corona and Bud Light) and craft beers (Blue Moon and Leinenkugel). For Michelob ULTRA to make a name for itself in summer recreation and catch up with the juggernauts, there needs to be a strong and effective argument made, which is sorely missing from this ad.
FIGURE 3: Share of key beer brands within summer recreation
While a viewer may be able to identify themselves in the scene, enjoying a beer on a hot and sunny day, they’re likely to walk away from the commercial mistaking it for the likes of Corona or Modelo as they are more commonly associated with beach vacations. To make this a successful commercial, there would need to be clearer statements around what makes Michelob ULTRA unique and better than its competitors, as opposed to relying on a fun environment and celebrity endorsements.
Understanding what matters most to current and target consumers is a key component to make sure an ad of this scale has a real business impact, lasting longer than the media and “water cooler” cycle in the weeks after The Big Game. By integrating relevant consumer needs and contexts into their commercial, a brand can successfully capture additional business, by bringing in new consumers and growing the business from those already aware of and purchasing the product.
With the power of our ZS Atlas Intelligence tool and analytical capabilities, we at ZS can not only identify how commercials are relevant to the target consumers after the fact but can be key thought partners in designing marketing, whether with traditional marketing campaigns or on the greatest stage of them all: The Big Game.
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