The Super Bowl 2024: Social Media Powerplay

Whether you watch it for the crazy halftime show, the amazing adverts, or that game they play inbetween, the Super Bowl is a cultural phenomenon in its own right. The Super Bowl on social media, is a whole other ball game – pun intended. 

Since its first appearance in 1967, the Super Bowl has become a major event across the world. Despite the pandemic reducing viewership slightly, the game is now back in full swing with 2022 seeing the second highest viewers on record; an incredible 1.13 million. 

As such, the Super Bowl is a major deal in the marketing world. In fact, the game is one of the last places where viewers actually tune in to watch advertisements. In the digital era, the Super Bowl on social media has become quintessential to brands successfully engaging with the event. 

With a week to go until the Super Bowl returns to our screens, let’s take a look at what makes this event so crucial for marketers, what campaigns have already been announced, and what the internet has to say about it. 

The Power Of The Super Bowl On Social Media

Year after year, the Super Bowl proves to be one of, if not the, most effective ways for brands to advertise their products. 

In our modern, digital age, the Super Bowl is one of the few moments where millions of people are watching the same ad at the same time. More than this, many viewers of the game tune in purely to catch the latest and greatest advertisements; making the Super Bowl one of the last remaining live streamed events where people are not skipping ads, or watching on a streaming service on their computers. To marketers, you simply cannot put a price on this wide of a reach. 

In fact, it has been found that around 76% of those watching the Super Bowl claim they are excited for the commercials, and up to a quarter of the Super Bowl’s audience believes the ads to be the most important part of the event.  In this manner, Super Bowl advertising is a cultural experience in and of itself. Many consumers are driven to watch the game for the advertising alone. There is the expectation that, much like John Lewis Christmas ads, Super Bowl ads will be higher budget, more entertaining, more narrative based, and have a major emphasis on celebrity appearances. 

Whilst the pandemic did lead to a decrease in TV advertising budgets, many brands are signalling that their intention is to return to pre-Covid levels of spending. 

Pre-releasing ads for the Super Bowl on social media has become an increasingly popular method for advertisers to drum up excitement and interest in their brand via social media. The act of releasing an ad ahead of the Super Bowl boosts its overall reach and can increase the length of time that people are conversing about your brand. 

Yet, in spite of the Super Bowl’s effectiveness, its cost is immense. Thirty second slots this year have reportedly been going for as much $7 million. On top of this, over recent years there has been an  inverse relationship between the cost of airing a Super Bowl ad and viewership. In fact, the cost of a thirty second ad had about doubled, whereas viewership has decreased by nine percent. However, with spending and viewership both increasing, it is likely that this relationship will soon flip. 

So, what makes the Super Bowl so effective? Why are brands ready and willing to front such extreme costs for such minimal screen time? Ultimately, for three core reasons. 

What makes the Super Bowl so effective?

Firstly, the Super Bowl provides brands with immediate relevance. More than brand awareness, you are establishing your brand as part of the current conversation and pop culture. A spot amongst the conversation about the Super Bowl on social media brings about a relevance that is infinitely valuable. 

Secondly, the social media era has brought about channel fragmentation. The Super Bowl allows you to put the big, main idea of your campaign in front of a large audience with a standout advertisement supported by a punchy budget. Your other social media channels can then be used to show off smaller ads and supporting content for your main campaign. 

Finally, it is widely accepted that in 2024 consumers trust influencers, then their friends and family. Brands simply do not have the social capital with audiences anymore to try and speak directly to their consumers. Influencers are far and wide the most effective ways for brands to reach their target audience and convince them of their relevance, trustworthiness and more. The era of the Super Bowl on social media allows brands to work with mega-influencers, due to the scale of the event these influencers are ready and willing to get their name featured in a super bowl campaign. For example, this year alone we have Kris Jenner, Ice Spice and Eric Andre already tied to brands; and it’s not even February yet. 

Ultimately, the Super Bowl has miraculously maintained its relevance in advertising over the years, in spite of TV advertising experiencing a decline.  This is largely due to the importance of the game to communities, with the game continuing to be one of the few modern events where audiences flock to watch it live and with ads. On top of this, the Super Bowl on social media has become an event in its own right, drawing in younger audiences. The Super Bowl’s ability to provide brands with immediate relevance, address channel fragmentation, and play into current consumer wants such as influencer marketing, make it a treasure trove for marketers. 

So, how is the Super Bowl shaping up in 2024? Let’s take a look at what brand’s have planned for this year’s game, and how the public is responding to the Super Bowl on social media. 

Super Bowl 2024 Advertisements

Booking.Com

Returning to the field is your favourite third party booking site, Booking.com. Following up on their highly successful thirty second spot last year – which featured Melissa Mccarthy – Booking.com will be running a new campaign during the big game. The brand has not yet confirmed which celebrity guest star their campaign will feature. 

E.L.F

@elfyeah

2.11.24 ?✨ glow big or glow home #eyeslipsfacts #eyeslipsface #elfcosmetics

♬ Football In My Life – Glow City

Proving that Super Bowl ads can appeal to a wide variety of target audiences, not merely typical football watchers, E.L.F is back for their second appearance. In 2023, the popular beauty and makeup brand partnered up with award winning actress Jennifer Coolidge. This year, E.L.F has worked with Zach Woods to produce their campaign. Woods is most known for his work on TV favourites such as The Office and Silicon Valley. E.L.F teased their appearance at the Super Bowl on social media, much to their audience’s delight. 

Paramount+

@paramountplus

Josh Allen is surrounded by absolute LEGENDS ? #AMountainOfEntertainment #ParamountPlus #NFL #SBLVIII

♬ original sound – Paramount Plus – Paramount Plus

After a stellar marketing year in 2023 filled with all kinds of unique campaigns, Paramount+ is kicking off 2024 with an appearance at the Super Bowl. In support of their “Mountain of Entertainment” campaign, the popular streaming service will also be streaming the game for their subscribers. This move is a continuation of Paramount+’s recent adventuring into unique fields of entertainment; the most notable of which was their release of the entire Mean Girls movie onto TikTok. Paramount+ has been heavily advertising their streaming of the Super Bowl on social media, with a campaign featuring the likes of Peppa Pig, Buffalo Bills NFL quarterback Josh Allen and Scourge. 

Starry

@starrylemonlime

see you at the Super Bowl @icespicee ?

♬ dont look its my ex – Starry

Still attempting to gain footing with their target audience, Starry has paired up with famous rapper Ice Spice to create an ad for the Super Bowl. Starry, a relatively new PepsiCo soda brand, is seeking to make good on its aim to be a “purpose-driven brand built for Gen Z.” Given that Ice Spice is one of the more popular musicians for the younger generations, all signs point to this campaign being a success. Starry has released a teaser trailer for their ad at the Super Bowl on social media, with millions of users loving the content. 

Drumstick

@drumstick

watch me. #drumstick #drumstickfilter #fieldgoal #drumstickgame #football

♬ Hahahaha again – Kelsey??

Drumstick has collaborated with internet sensation – and highly divisive character – Erice Andre to make their Super Bowl debut. On top of this, the ice cream brand released a petition on the 16th of January that seeks to make the Monday after the Super Bowl a public holiday, so that “consumers can have the day off work without cutting into sick days.” The company has promised to arrange for one consumer to live out their #DrumstickMonday dreams; interested parties simply have to head over to their Instagram and comment how they would spend their day off. To create awareness and advertise their spot at the Super Bowl on social media, Drumstick created a filter featuring their mascot. 

Oreo 

Oreo has paired up with celebrity Kris Jenner for their Super Bowl campaign this year. One of the many brands who have pre-released snippets of their ad, Oreo’s campaign will see Jenner exploring the many major moments in her life where the delicious cookie played a role. Oreo has put out limited content advertising their campaign for the Super Bowl on social media, aside from a short clip on YouTube teasing their collaboration with Jenner. 

Super Bowl Advertising Is Here To Stay

All in all, the Super Bowl marketing remains an absolute gold mine for marketers. 

One of the only televised events in 2024 that consumers watch live and tune into its advertisements, the Super Bowl’s wide reach and ability to transcend social media induced channel fragmentation make it a virtually priceless marketing opportunity. 

With viewership of the big game increasing over the past year, it will be interesting to see how the Super Bowl plays out in 2024. Talk about the Super Bowl on Social media has been significantly less this year than previously, especially in comparison to the meltdown society witnessed in 2023 when Rihanna played at the halftime show; the internet was so excited about her performance that they took to renaming the game the Fenty Super Bowl. It is likely her appearance at the event that brought such a large crowd to the event, as many viewers who typically do not tune into the game were avidly watching. 

@kardashvideoo

So iconic can’t wait #kimkardashian #usher #superbowl #haltimeshow #kardashians #fypシ #foryou #superbowl2023

♬ son original – KardashVideo

In November, it was announced that Usher would be headlining the Super Bowl in 2024. Comments on the Super Bowl on Social media have largely been expressing surprise at the artist being chosen, as many deem him to now be irrelevant. However, the announcement was supported by top tier marketing, with Apple Music – the sponsor of the halftime show – releasing a campaign featuring Kim Kardashian and her rumoured squeeze OBJ to drum up talk amongst younger users on the event. 

Ultimately, the Super Bowl’s time in the sun is far from over, and any marketer worth their salt should have their eyes peeled for opportunities to get involved with this major event.

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@ Socially Powerful