Fox Nears Super Bowl Ad Sellout; Wendy's Takes Aim At Competitors With Big Game Spot

Fox has "just two or three in-game units left to move" before Sunday's broadcast of Super Bowl LI, according to Anthony Crupi of AD AGE. A lot has been made "over the fact that the network still has units to sell at this late date," but CBS last year just two days before Super Bowl 50 kicked off "still had a few spots held back for last-minute shoppers." Some media buyers speculated that Fox "may have had a few additional units at its disposal because it had reserved a bit of time in the hopes that a Cowboys-Patriots or Packers-Patriots matchup would drive up pricing" (ADAGE.com, 1/30). 

SO FRESH...: In Columbus, J.D. Malone reported Wendy's will make its Super Bowl debut with a 30-second ad during the first half "touting its fresh, never-frozen beef." The ad, from VML, K.C., features a "vast freezer full of stacks of frozen beef patties at 'Othr Guyz,'" a jab by the QSR at rivals McDonald's and Burger King. The ad "then flashes to a man using a hair dryer to thaw the meat as Foreigner's 1977 hit, 'Cold as Ice' plays" (DISPATCH.com, 1/30). In N.Y., Claire Atkinson notes the spot "grew out of a Twitter battle with a customer who didn’t believe Wendy’s patties were fresh." Customers surveys also saw that 70% of Wendy’s consumers "didn’t think the chain served fresh meat" (NYPOST.com, 1/31).

...AND SO CLEAN: AD AGE's Jack Neff noted this year, an apparently "unprecedented four household cleaning, freshening or laundry brands" have purchased spots during the Super Bowl. While home care brands have "been in the game in years past, there have never been two at a time, much less four." There also has "never before been a head-to-head matchup in laundry detergent like this year's impending battle" between P&G's Tide and Henkel's Persil. P&G VP/North American Home Care Martin Hettich, who "greenlighted two of his company's three Super Bowl ads," held a contest for all four of his brands to get a Super Bowl slot, "ultimately decided along with the rest of the P&G jury to back two, Mr. Clean and Febreze, based on strength of the creative." Tide's ads from Saatchi & Saatchi, L.A., feature Patriots TE Rob Gronkowski and actor Jeffrey Tambor. Tide has had "either a TV spot or some kind of digital activation" in three of its past five years of its NFL leaguewide partnership (ADAGE.com, 1/30).