84 Lumber Jumps Headfirst Into Immigration Debate With Super Bowl LI Spot

84 Lumber last night "appeared to use the Super Bowl as a platform to dive head first into the immigration debate raging across the U.S.," according to Mike Shields of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. Upon first viewing, it is "perhaps not entirely clear what the ad is trying to say." It directs viewers to “'see the conclusion at journey84.com,' a site where users are told the complete video 'contains content deemed too controversial for TV.'” The campaign "quickly sparked diverging reactions across social media and frustration from some viewers who couldn’t watch the conclusion video on 84 Lumber’s site." According to 84 Lumber, its website "received 300,000 web requests during the first minute after the TV ad ran, roughly twice as much as it could handle." It took about 10 minutes to "fix the problem, during which time 84 Lumber urged people to view the full ad on YouTube." Overall, 84 Lumber said that its site "received 6 million visits in the first hour after its Super Bowl spot aired" (WSJ.com, 2/5). 84 Lumber said that the campaign "will kick off a national recruiting campaign to help its current workforce of 5,100 employees grow" (PHILLY.com, 2/5).

NOT HOLDING BACK: In West Palm Beach, Samantha Ragland wrote there "likely won’t be any memes catching fire and going viral from the 84 Lumber ad," but that "doesn’t mean the world didn’t take notice." 84 Lumber "brought immigration to the forefront, much like Budweiser chose to." Instead of "shying away from the conversation its story started, 84 Lumber took responsibility for it" (PALMBEACHPOST.com, 2/6). ADWEEK's Tim Nudd ranked 84 Lumber as his No.1 ad of the night and wrote the finished product online was also the "most compelling" (ADWEEK.com, 2/5). On Long Island, Verne Gay wrote ads like 84 Lumber's spot that "tell evocative stories are good." Gray: "Ads that leave us wanting more (like answers) even better" (NEWSDAY, 2/6). In Raleigh, Josh Shaffer wrote the 84 Lumber spot is "sure to be the ad most discussed at the Monday water cooler" (NEWSOBSERVER.com, 2/5). Former U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez tweeted, “A powerful message from #84Lumber. America will always be a nation that opens its doors. That's who we are” (TWITTER.com, 2/5).