Weight Watchers for the first time is "planning to air an ad" during the Super Bowl, but it "declined to discuss specifics, other than to say that the spot will run nationally and is by agency-of-record, Wieden & Kennedy," according to E.J. Schultz of AD AGE. The commercial is "further evidence of Weight Watchers relying heavily on expensive marketing in an attempt to fuel a comeback." The company in recent years "has struggled to grow revenues as more free online calorie-counting apps flood the market" (ADAGE.com, 1/21). The WALL STREET JOURNAL's Steven Perlberg cites data from Kantar Media in noting the group of "about 15 brands advertising for the first time during television's biggest event" is the "largest number of newbies at the Super Bowl since the dot-com boom in 2000." Glue brand Loctite created "three national TV ads last year" across all of TV, but the company "believes it can do better with a single spot" in the Super Bowl. Loctite Consumer Adhesives Marketing Dir Pierre Tannoux: "We didn’t have the critical mass to deliver a message that would be seen by a majority of the American population. We thought it would be a better bet to try to put all of our dollars in one bucket." Meanwhile, Israel-based Web development platform Wix.com "started advertising on TV" in '13, and its Super Bowl spot "is the next big marketing step." Wix CMO Omer Shai: "We felt that for us, it’s a great time to go to the big league" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 1/22).
SECRET'S SAFE WITH ME: Victoria's Secret yesterday announced that it will air an ad after the two-minute warning in the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl. The spot is part of the brand's Valentine's Day marketing effort, which includes the release of the "Don't Drop The Ball" web video that debuted online yesterday. Models Candice Swanepoel, Lily Aldridge, Karlie Kloss, Behati Prinsloo, Alessandra Ambrosia and Adriana Lima star in the 30-second spot, which was created in-house (
Victoria's Secret). ADWEEK's Lauren Johnson noted the lingerie brand's video shows "two teams in red and white uniforms face off." The red team -- "played by the Angels -- win the game after Lima throws touchdown after touchdown to the rest of her team." The company "first aired a spot" in '99 and "also bought airtime" in '08 with a Valentine's Day-themed ad (
ADWEEK.com, 1/21).
SHOWING EVEN MORE SKIN: USA TODAY's Bruce Horovitz reported California-based QSR Carl's Jr. will air "perhaps one of the raciest Super Bowl spots, ever," with a regional buy in the Western U.S. The ad features model Charlotte McKinney "promoting its new All-Natural Burger by walking through a farmers market apparently 'au naturel.'" After "coy views of her that imply she's naked, viewers see in the end that she's wearing a bikini." The ad uses "strategically placed fruits and vegetables sold by gawking vendors at the farmers market" to give the impression that McKinney is naked. During a time when Go Daddy "is turning away from a racy Super Bowl ad theme this year," the Carl's Jr. ad is a "reminder that Super Sunday's telecast is rarely without its share of racy ads" (
USATODAY.com, 1/21). Adweek Managing Editor Lisa Granatstein said, “The more controversy, the better. I don't think they really care one way or another what women think about these ads.” ABC's Linsey Davis notes a rep from the "parent company of Carl's Jr. said they don't show anything you wouldn't see at the beach and that they don't cross the line but like to get right up to it” (
“GMA,” ABC, 1/22).
BLITZ PICK-UP: NBC Sports has created a new Super Bowl-oriented Tumblr page that will also serve as the online home of commercials from the game's telecast. Located at NBCSports.com/Ads, the page features a variety of Super Bowl-related digital content, including original material created by the net’s marketing media team. Ads running during the game will then be available on the page after they air. A link to the Tumblr page will be included in the NBC Sports Live Extra stream of the game. The Tumblr effort follows Super Bowl Ad Blitz, a similar digital landing spot NBC Sports created three years ago, when the net last aired the Super Bowl. That online destination in '12 generated 1.83 million on-demand views of the game's ads (
Eric Fisher, Staff Writer).
PEPSI COLA HITS THE SPOT: AD AGE's Schultz noted Pepsi from Thanksgiving to Super Bowl XLIX will have churned out "nearly 40 pieces of 'halftime' digital content, three times what the brand produced ahead of last year's Super Bowl." The latest videos debuted yesterday and "feature three digital shorts starring comedian Craig Robinson and his real-life band, 'The Nasty Delicious.'" Robinson "tries to finagle his way into the halftime show" in the series which "will culminate when the band plays not the Super Bowl, but during a 'Key & Peele' Super Bowl comedy special airing on Comedy Central on Jan. 30." The digital series "was conceived and written by The Brooklyn Brothers agency and came as a result of PepsiCo's ongoing deal with Viacom." The overall campaign "comes as Pepsi tries to squeeze as much return as possible out of its four-year halftime sponsorship deal, which expires" after the '16 game. A Pepsi spokesperson "confirmed that the sponsorship not yet been renewed" (
ADAGE.com, 1/21).
