With Super Bowl LII taking place in Minneapolis, locally-headquartered dairy brand Land O’Lakes found an ideal opportunity to highlight a cause close to its heart–farming and agriculture.
Via The Martin Agency, the brand organized the “Farm Bowl,” inviting professional football players past and present to compete against Land O’Lakes farmers in events such as the Tractor Tire Change, Milk Pipe Puzzle, Drone Drop and Hay Bale Backup.
Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Stefon Diggs and Tulare, California-based farmer JJ Nunes eventually won the Land O’Lakes Farm Bowl trophy, (designed by The Martin Agency art director Rushil Nadkarni), on Thursday.
The event, which took place at the University of Minnesota, was aimed at educating and empowering students to champion nutrition and agriculture.
“Super Bowl LII offers an exciting stage to convey the importance of farming to feeding the world, and to show how Land O’Lakes’ member owners are impacting the entire food chain, farm to fork, from our iconic butter brand and far beyond,” says Chris Policinski, president and CEO of Land O’Lakes, Inc, in a statement. “Less than two percent of the population touches farming and, as the voice of the farmer, we feel an obligation to tell their important story.”
Bud Light isn’t backing down from its vow to throw a party for the city of Philadelphia after the underdog Eagles defeated the New England Patriots on Sunday.
The AB InBev (ABEV) beer brand’s bet traces back to last August, when Eagles offensive lineman Lane Johnson told reporters that he would be “giving out beer to everybody” if Philadelphia won a Super Bowl. Bud Light responded to his comment with a friendly bet, offering to cover party costs if the Eagles won the big game.
The Eagles beat the New England Patriots 41-33 in the Super Bowl.
The company tweeted that 25 bars along the Philadelphia victory parade route will be offering free Bud Light to patrons.
Bud Light continued its “Dilly Dilly” commercial series during the Super Bowl. The 60-second spot featured the latest hijinks of the brand’s medieval characters, who happen to be obsessed with light beer. The brand released a special “Philly, Philly” version of the popular ad earlier this month to commemorate the Eagles’ title run.
In the chaos of watching last night’s real Super Bowl commercials on NBC, it was tough to break away for Skittles’ Super Bowl ambush—the Facebook Live stunt it orchestrated during the game in which a single person got to watch its “Super Bowl” ad, with the Facebook audience simply watching the kid watch it.
So here’s a recap of how that went down.
It turned out to be an 18-minute broadcast. And while, as promised, we didn’t get to see the actual ad—we only saw Marcos Menendez watching it—we did get some clues about the plot, as Menendez was allowed to describe it afterward.
See the full Facebook Live video here:
Menendez said the ad, created by DDB, featured David Schwimmer with glowing eyes, as seen in one of the teasers. The plot involved Schwimmer wandering around and shooting people with some kind of laser from his mouth. Anyone who was hit by the laser turned into Skittles.
They personalized it in a fun way for Menendez, though. They shot a portion of the ad at Menendez’s own house, and his mother even appeared in it. She showed up in a scene on a bus, where she was, in Menendez’s words, “mad dogging” Schwimmer, who was seated in the back of the bus. He quickly shot her with a laser, and she turned into Skittles.
The process of making a Super Bowl ad often entails the deployment whiz-bang special effects honed with weeks of editing and fine-tuning. Not so for Diet Coke, which this year converted what was originally supposed to be a quick social media video into its 30-second in-game TV ad.
The spot, by Anomaly Los Angeles, shows actress Hayley Magnus extolling the virtues of Diet Coke’s new Twisted Mango flavor with a little dance. The video was originally meant to be part of a portfolio of tweetable videos for the brand’s new “Because I can” campaign that touts Diet Coke’s new flavor lineup that comes in slim cans.
Magnus improvised the scene while filming in intense heat in east Los Angeles, says Danielle Henry, group director of integrated marketing content for Coca-Cola North America. It was filmed in one take and directed by Paul Feig, whose credits include the “Ghostbusters” reboot and creating the TV series “Freaks and Geeks.”
The brand liked the video so much that it became its Super Bowl ad. The spot marks the first time Diet Coke has run an ad in the game since 1997.
“This little teeny tiny snackable peice of social content ended up being one of the best pieces of content that we have in the campaign because it’s one of the things that best showcases the attitude of Diet Coke’s ‘because I can’—-that being do whatever makes you happy no matter what anyone else thinks,” Henry says.
Magnus is among a larger cast of up-and-coming actors that Diet Coke put in the broader campaign, which debuted in late January. The approach contrasts with the brand’s prior strategy of plucking big-name celebrities and pop stars, like Taylor Swift. Magnus herself plays the character Simone on the Australian TV series “Wrong Girl.”
Millions of people will be tuning in to see the New England Patriots go head-to-head with the Philadelphia Eagles this Sunday for Super Bowl LII.
But let’s face it. A lot of those millions may just be tuning in for the larger-than-life, weird, wacky, and often memorable commercials.
Super Bowl spots always make headlines the day after because advertisers know they’ve got plenty of fans tuning in. And while it’s tough to beat past favorites like the E-Trade talking baby and Budweiser’s “Whassup,” big food and drink brands are trying once again to be the most memorable spot during the big game.
Skittles is famous for its oddball commercials and the latest ones certainly pass the test. The candy maker claims it’s making an ad to show just one person, and viewers will get to see the chosen one watch the ad (by himself or herself) on Super Bowl Sunday.
Leading up to the private debut, they also released a host of bizarre teaser ads featuring David Schwimmer. Each one claims it could be part of the Super Bowl ad, but we’ll probably never know since only one person will ever see it!
Bill Hader stacks Pringles.
Did you know you can stack different kinds of Pringles to make totally new flavors? Pringles has hired “Saturday Night Live” alum Bill Hader to show you how in this official Super Bowl commercial. Apparently, there’s even a right way to eat Pringles! Jalapeno-barbecue-pizza Pringle stack, anyone?
Sing along to “I Like Beer” with Michelob Ultra.
Michelob hopes you’ll be humming their “I Like Beer” diddy on Monday morning after a series of commercials featuring the song with actor Chris Pratt air on Super Bowl Sunday. The beer is using the theme “fit and fun” and follows Pratt as he “trains” for his big Super Bowl ad for the company.
Doritos and Mountain Dew have a lip sync battle.
Doritos usually has one of the most popular commercials of the night, and they’ve given us a taste of what to expect in a spot with a lip sync battle between Peter Dinklage of “Game of Thrones” repping the new Doritos Blaze flavor and actor Morgan Freeman representing for Mountain Dew Ice. See a sneak peak of the battle below and decide who think should win.
Diet Coke will be touting its newly-released flavors tied to the theme “Because I can” in its Super Bowl commercials. Actress Gillian Jacobs of “Community” gives viewers a pep talk, advising “just do you,” especially if that includes Diet Coke!
Avocados from Mexico goes off the wall
Avocados will be on the big stage come Sunday, as well. The campaign for Avocados from Mexico is airing this offbeat spot, featuring comedian Chris Elliott, which may just give Skittles a run for the most bizarre ad.
Taco Bell’s French fry conspiracy
It looks like Taco Bell will be showcasing their new nacho fries on Super Bowl Sunday. This teaser ad, styled like an action-thriller movie trailer, features actor Josh Duhamel investigating why the restaurant chain doesn’t serve fries.
Budweiser tugs at heart strings
Budweiser is taking a more touching tone, focusing on the company’s disaster relief efforts to send water to areas in Texas, Puerto Rico, California and Florida, which were all hit hard by natural disasters. The ad showcases workers creating and shipping cans of water while “Stand by Me” plays.
Martha Stewart vs. Jack in the Box
Martha Stewart stars in Jack in the Box’s Super Bowl spot, pitting its new Asian Fried Chicken sandwich against Stewart’s own version. She ends up challenging the “Jack,” the company mascot, and, of course, chaos ensues.
