WPP at Super Bowl LV

The atmospheric sights and sounds that usually come from the stands at the Super Bowl might have been missing this year due to COVID-19 but that didn’t stop it from being the biggest sporting and advertising event of the year.

Association with the Big Game has extraordinary power. Broadcast in over 130 countries and more than 30 languages, Super Bowl LV attracted more than 96 million viewers in the US alone, including a record one billion minutes streamed.

A number of brands ran their first-ever Super Bowl ads this year – many of them supported by WPP. And the creativity and ingenuity on display went well beyond making great TV commercials.

Our media agencies used their skills in strategy, planning, buying and activation to help no less than five different brands (DoorDash, Hellmann’s, Huggies, Indeed, Uber Eats) make the most of their inaugural Super Bowl appearances.

Other agencies showed off their social media expertise with activations for TUMS, Frank’s RedHot, Volvo and the NFL.

Here are just a few examples of our work:

Wunderman Thompson, BCW, VMLY&R Commerce and Mindshare: Hellmann’s

The Unilever WPP team, including Wunderman Thompson on creative alongside BCW, VMLY&R Commerce and Mindshare, worked some magic for Hellmann’s (with the help of Amy Schumer). The campaign is one element in Hellmann's efforts to support the UN's sustainable development goal of cutting food waste by 50% by 2030.

Grey: Pringles, TUMS and Frank’s RedHot

Grey returned to the Super Bowl with its fourth consecutive spot for Pringles after award-winning and sales-generating performances in the past three years. This time, astronauts get a rude awakening on their return to Earth when rescuers are too enthralled by Pringles flavour stacking to welcome them home.

The Grey team also showed off its social media expertise with activations for TUMS and Frank’s RedHot. With the agency’s help, both brands have won the Twitter Interception Award in prior years for driving the largest online conversation without an in-game commercial.

TUMS was back with #TUMSBingoSweepstakes, an interactive branded bingo game with the chance to win big prize money. Frank’s RedHot and football great, Eli Manning, invited fans to generate 100,000 tweets with #FranksBigPour, which resulted in a hot sauce bath for YouTuber David Dobrik and a hefty donation to charity.

Deeplocal: Twitter Sports and NFL

For the second year in a row, Deeplocal partnered with Twitter Sports and the NFL on two projects. Confetti Tweets saw tweets from fans printed on confetti raining down on to the field at the end of the game, including messages of gratitude to front-line workers during the pandemic; while #ShowtimeCam allowed fans to celebrate virtually with the players in real-time via an on-field, two-way camera feed.

Mindshare: Volvo

Building on last year’s success, Volvo brought back #VolvoSafety Sunday. When a safety was scored during the Super Bowl, they gave away $2 million-worth of cars to celebrate the million lives saved by Volvo safety innovations, and the million more they want to save in the future. Mindshare led media across digital, video, social and audio.

Scholz & Friends: IWC Schaffhausen

Legendary quarterback Tom Brady won his seventh Super Bowl final with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at the age of 43. Scholz & Friends helped IWC Schaffhausen to pay homage to its brand ambassador with an emotional 45-second clip that focuses on the superstar's absolute will to succeed. It was aired directly after the end of the game.

Ogilvy New York: EY

Question Everything is a simple but touching ad that brought EY’s purpose to life through the idea that asking better questions leads to better answers with the power to move the world forward.