Post-Super Bowl Ad Assessment

Sophia Germano (@00486070), Eric Phan (@00441168 ) , Victoria Haff (@00412123)

Table of Contents

Introduction 2

Analysis of Competition 2

Previous Advertising by this Client 2

Description of the Target Audience 3

Concise Statement of the Objectives 4

Description of the Advertisement Creative Strategy and Execution 4

SWOT Analysis of Advertising during the Super Bowl 6

SWOT Analysis of Advertising Online 7

Discussion/ Conclusion 9

References 12

1

IntroductionSuper Bowl Sunday is one of the most watched events on television in the United

States. Super Bowl 51 was one for the books, not only because of the record breaking

game, but also the advertisements shown. This year, some of the most memorable

advertisements were shown in Super Bowl history. One of the advertisements that

stood out the most was the Tide commercials. Tide is a company manufactured by

Procter and Gamble, that sells laundry detergent in the United States. Tide has been

around for 68 years, and has continued to stay a dominant and trusted brand in the

market (Klara 2014).

Analysis of CompetitionCurrently in the liquid laundry detergent market, Tide has a huge lead over their

competition. In 2016 Tide was the market leader, holding a market share of just over a

billion dollars. Tide was approximately double the market share of Gain, who has the

second largest market share in the industry (Grocery Headquarters, 2016). It is

important to note that Tide also has other products on the market such as Tide Simply

Clean and Fresh, Tide Plus a Touch of Downy, and Tide Plus Febreze. These other

products were not included in the original Tide’s market share that was previously listed.

Other competitors in the market include Purex, Arm & Hammer, All and Xtra.

Previous Advertising by this ClientIn 2012, Tide created a sponsorship with the NFL, along with multiple other

Procter & Gamble brands (Crupi 2012). Because of this sponsorship, many of the

advertisements created for Procter & Gamble brands used different players from the

NFL. When looking at past Tide advertisements specifically, we see that Tide has used

players such as Drew Brees, Darren Sproles, Cole Beasley, and Rob Gronkowski. Also,

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when looking at previous advertising, we see that Tide has added comedic elements in

their advertisements to appeal to the audience’s emotions.

Description of the Target AudienceTide’s target market is directed towards anybody who washes clothes and may

have to deal with getting out on of their own or somebody else’s stain. The great thing

about Tide is that it is not dependent on one’s gender, age, or location. By watching the

famous Terry Bradshaw have a stain on his shirt, those watching the advertisement who

are also sometimes messy could form a connection. This connection would be directed

towards Tide’s target audience. This is why Tide wanted people to watch and feel as if

Terry Bradshaw actually had a stain on his shirt, and that it wasn’t just a part of their

commercial (Lowry 2017).

As mentioned above, Tide has several other products on the market, and many

of those have won awards for the company. Tide’s Pods Plus Febreze was voted the

best new product by Better Homes and Gardens magazine in the single dose laundry

detergent category (Tide, 2017). Tide’s Original HE Turbo Clean Liquid was also voted

2016 product of the year by a survey conducted by TNS (Tide, 2017). And in 2015,

Tide’s ultra stain release liquid was voted product of the year (Tide, 2017). The

company is so unique because they come up with at least three product innovations

every year. On top of all of these impressive awards, Tide is also the trusted detergent

of all thirty- two NFL teams (Tide, 2017). If a viewer of this advertisement feels they

need to remove stains that are as bad as those in the NFL, they can be classified in to

Tide’s market segmentation group. These viewers would be considered unique and may

need to be addressed through secondary products.

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Concise Statement of the Objectives According to Amy Krehbiel, the associate brand director, Tide made the

advertisement with hopes that it would be the most loved commercial of the super bowl

(Ad Age, 2017). With this image in mind, Krehbiel watched all scenes of the

advertisement as they were being shot. She found that during the shooting process she

only spoke up if a moment came off as negative. It was extremely important for Tide to

sell their brand with only positive experiences, and they were perfectly comfortable not

releasing an advertisement if it had any negativity involved (Ad Age, 2017).

Krehbiel also wanted to connect with all Americans by not at first revealing that

the stain on Terry Bradshaw’s shirt was a part of their commercial. By keeping this

hidden, Tide was able to show the viewers that they understand how getting a stain in

an important moment can make you feel as if the whole world is watching (Ad Age,

2017). This is when Tide can remind viewers that they are here for them even in those

situations, which builds trust with the brand.

As it was important for Tide to sell their positive image, they also wanted to

connect with viewers through ad recall. This is not the first time that Tide has created a

super bowl advertisement which involved a noticeable stain. Tide’s original “Talking

Stain” super bowl advertisement was aired in 2008 (The Wall Street Journal, 2008). The

next “Miracle Stain” super bowl advertisement was aired in 2013 (The Wall Street

Journal, 2013). Due to this ad recall, many who viewed Terry Bradshaw’s stain at first

had suspicion that it may be an advertisement for Tide (Curtis, 2017).

Description of the Advertisement Creative Strategy and ExecutionThe advertisement is mostly revolved around a visual element but the verbal and

spoken elements are still crucial. The most important part of the script was the lack of

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acknowledging the stain on Terry Bradshaw’s shirt. The beginning of the script starts

during the actual broadcast when announcer Terry Bradshaw came on air with a stained

dress shirt seeming as if it had occurred during a quick snack break right before he got

on air. Bradshaw is now on air, with a stained shirt. He is unaware of the stain, while the

entire country is. Bradshaw continues to talk about the game as if nothing is wrong. At

this point, the audience wasn’t aware that this was going to be a tide commercial,

instead, many people tweeted about it. Buzz Aldrin is well known for being an astronaut

on Apollo 11 and tweeted “HouSTAIN, we have a problem. I could’ve seen that from

space, @TerryBradshaw. #BradshawStain #SB51 #Ad” (Aldrin, 2017). This may not be

directly from the ad, but it was tweeted when the stain was first aired, creating a

presence on social media. This use of a pun is appropriate because it suits Buzz Aldrin

since he was an astronaut, it also adds emphasis to the stain. Social media can be

crucial because it can have a huge reach and the potential of going viral. NBA player

Joel Embiid also tweeted on the subject and received over 10,000 likes and 2,400

retweets. These two tweets were most likely scripted, although not in the ad itself. The

three part ad started on-air with Bradshaw’s stain, then Bradshaw leaving the stadium

abruptly passing by Gronkowski, and then finally, ending up at Jeffrey Tambor’s house.

One of the most important themes of the ad was that it was created so that within the ad

the stain went viral. Words such as “trending” were used. Using keywords such as

“trending” is important because it can subconsciously make it seem like the ad is

actually trending even though it is just something within the commercial. Word choice in

the ad was very well thought out, for example, the pun used by Aldrin and the word

“trending” are two things people can relate to, but also it reaches the new generation of

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kids/teens but also the older generation because many older people remember Buzz

Aldrin landing on the moon. Also, many visuals of people using social media and texting

about the topic were shown, trying to show that the stain was a prevalent part of social

media and therefore went viral.

SWOT Analysis of Advertising during the Super BowlTide making the decision to advertise during the Super Bowl could be seen as

advantageous because roughly 111 million people watched Super Bowl LI (Pallotta

2017). Many strengths and internal advantages resulted from advertising during the

Super Bowl. Also, unlike normal TV where people will go do something during

commercials or not pay attention, people know the Super Bowl is renowned for having

good ads, so they will pay attention to the ad. The target audience is much larger. The

potential of reach is extremely high because the advertisement is running during such a

popular event. Although a Super Bowl ad can really help a company, it can still have

weaknesses and internal disadvantages. A weakness of choosing this advertising slot is

that is notorious for being expensive. For a 30 second commercial, it costs between $5-

5.5 million (Wire, 2017). Also, Tide’s case is unique because their expenses go much

beyond the cost of the time slot. The three-part campaign did set them back a hefty

price tag, but there is still more to it. Joel Embiid, Buzz Aldrin, Rob Gronkowski, Jeffrey

Tambor and Terry Bradshaw all took part in this campaign. Many opportunities and

external advantages came from this airing. Hiring athletes and other famous people is

not cheap. Spending big money to get big names and familiar faces can be seen as a

market trend. Another market trend is the use of live commercials such as the snickers

commercial where they say the score during the commercial to prove it is live. Although

it is not yet a popular technique, Tide and Snickers took a new take on commercials

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(Garcia, 2017). Tide in particular had a very outside the box approach. Putting the stain

on Bradshaw on air was an attempt to create hype before the ad even took place. Also,

it is a new trend for business to take sides in politics or appeal to groups with a motive.

For example, Airbnb’s commercial took the stance of diversity and showed that they

don’t support Trump’s travel ban policy (Benner, 2017). In Tide’s case, they use almost

all men in their commercial. Feminist were very pleased with this choice because

women are over characterized as stay at home moms and stereotyped for doing house

work (Peck, 2017). The casting choice pleased a new demographic but also followed a

new market trend. Many of the above stated things can be seen as threats and external

disadvantages. Many people who are against feminism or against any of the hired

famous people could be automatically turned off by the advertisement. It is always a risk

taking a side as a brand and it is also risky to associate famous people with your brand,

in this case, many famous people were used.

SWOT Analysis of Advertising OnlineThe United States has the highest online ad spending, and the country is

projected to spend around 83 billion dollars by the end of 2017 (“Digital Advertising in

the U.S. 2016). When comparing online advertising to advertising during the Super Bowl

, there are some benefits and downfalls. When looking at the strengths of advertising

online, the most important strength is that online advertising is extremely cost effective.

Both creating and running the ad cost much less than it would for other traditional

media. Another strength is that with online advertising, you are able to highly refine your

target audience. Advertisers can strategically place the ads on specific online platforms

in order to advertise to their target audience. With the development of web analytics,

online advertising also makes it easier for companies to measure the amount of

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engagement. Online advertising can also be beneficial for companies to use because of

the constant exposure of the ad. When using the internet, the consumer is constantly

exposed to the content, as opposed to seeing an ad for just 30 seconds on television.

However, there are also some weaknesses associated with online advertising.

Customers on the internet are often focused on what they are doing rather than

focusing on advertisements, so they often tune them out. Also, there are some

demographics that still turn to using traditional media rather than using the internet. This

could be that they are not familiar with the technology, or that they simply do not have

access to the internet. Online advertisements are also much more intrusive. For

example, pop up ads intrude on what you’re looking at, and they may create a negative

attitude towards the advertisement.

Online advertising offers companies opportunities, the first one being that it

builds brand awareness and public relations opportunities. By the consumers being

exposed to online advertisements all the time, it allows them to become familiar with the

brand and their products. Another opportunity for advertisers is that running an

advertisement online gives you the possibility of running it on multiple channels. By

running the ads on multiple channels, it will result in more overall exposure. As

mentioned previously, web analytics are further developing. With the use of analytic

tools, companies are able to better analyze user behavior online. This will give the

advertisers the opportunity to refine the messages and the advertisements to better fit

their target audience. Finally, because online advertising comes at such a low cost, it

gives the opportunity for companies to expand their reach globally. The internet is used

worldwide, and companies can use it to their advantage to reach a larger audience.

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Although online advertising can be useful, there is also the possibility that there

could be external disadvantages. The increased ability to filter and limit access to ads is

a threat of online advertising. For example, pop up blockers and “skip ad” buttons allow

for the consumer to dismiss the advertisement. Another threat is that data analytics

could possibly lead to the advertisers making the wrong decision. For example, if the

company does not use a reliable analytics tool, or do not know how to properly analyze

them it can lead to wrong decisions. These wrong decisions could be that they are not

creating relevant content to their target audience’s psychographics and behavior, or that

they are misinterpreting who their target audience actually is. Finally, another threat

might be that creating a strong online presence through advertising could lead to the

creation of a negative brand image. If a company chooses to overexpose the consumer

with online ads, it might lead to the consumer to think negatively about the brand or

product.

Discussion/ ConclusionIn conclusion the Super Bowl is one of the most watched events on television in

the United States. For the past 68 years, Tide has been the most dominant and trusted

brand in the detergent market. Tide took an approach which they have previously used

in this years advertisement, which turned out to be very successful for the company

overall. Tide wanted consumers to take away the positivity that their brand focuses on

portraying. Making sure consumers got this image was extremely important to Tide as

having several commercials during the Super Bowl is extremely expensive. Not only did

Tide benefit from their television advertisements, they also benefitted from their online

twitter campaign.

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Once the Super Bowl advertisement aired, Tide did not only receive publicity

based off of the advertisement, they also gained it on their Twitter platform. As

mentioned above, several trending hashtags started up right away while viewers were

debating if the ad was staged or not. Since Tide typically targets adults in their

advertisements their optimal advertising platform moving forward is most likely

television ads.

One reason behind using television advertisements as an optimal platform is due

to the fact that they have been extremely successful with them in the past. As

mentioned earlier in the paper, ad recall has been a very successful approach for the

company. Many viewers are able to view an ad like the one in the Super Bowl, and

automatically think of Tide (Curtis, 2017).

Another reason as to why Tide’s optimal platform should be television is simply

because it has been working for them for the past 68 years. Tide is the market leader

and has double the market share of Gain (Grocery Headquarters, 2016). Being that

ahead of the rest of the market through the approach they are currently taking, which is

mainly television ads, seems to be working extremely well for the company.

Lastly, Tide feels that it is extremely important when advertising that they make a

connection to all Americans. Tide ultimately wants to remind viewers who watch any of

their advertisements that they are here for them even in their busiest moments (Ad Age,

2017). Connecting with viewers in this way is easier done through television compared

to a platform such as Twitter where the character amount is limited.

Overall there is not much to find on Tide’s Super Bowl advertisements which are

not positive. Due to this it would be recommended that Tide continues with their Super

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Bowl advertisements as they have several which are extremely well known and loved.

Tide’s 2016 advertisement was positive and popular, which is exactly what the company

was trying to accomplish. Because their television advertisement was so successful it

caused their Twitter platform to also gain success.

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References

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Anderson, Mae. (2017, February 06). Super Bowl ad winners: Tide, T-mobile. Retrieved March 01, 2017, from http://bigstory.ap.org/article/5c1656f021e34b76a1ae03177415603b

Benner, Katie. (2017, February 05). In Airbnb’s Super Bowl Ad, implied Criticism of Trump’s Travel Ban. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/05/technology/airbnb-super-bowl-ad-trump-travel-ban.html?_r=1

Conway, Tyler. (2017, February 06). Terry Bradshaw, Jeffrey Tambor Star in Tide’s Super Bowl 51 Commercial. Retrieved March 01, 2017, from http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2691489-terry-bradshaw-jeffrey-tambor-star-in-tides-super-bowl-51-commercial

Crupi, A. (2012). Tide Suits Up With the NFL. Adweek.com. Retrieved 23 February 2017. Retrieved from http://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/tide-suits-nfl-139849/

Curtis, C. (2017, February 05). The stain on Terry Bradshaw's shirt was actually just a Tide commercial. Retrieved March 01, 2017, from http://ftw.usatoday.com/2017/02/super-bowl-51-commercial-ads-tide-terry-bradshaw-stain-bradshawstain-video

Digital advertising in the U.S. (2016). Statista.com. Retrieved from https://www.statista.com/topics/1176/online-advertising/

Garcia, Ahiza. (2017, January 25). It’s a first: Snickers to air live commercial. Retrieved from http://money.cnn.com/2017/01/25/news/companies/snickers-live-super-bowl-commercial/

Grocery Headquarters (2016). Sales of the leading liquid laundry detergent brands of the United States in 2016 (in million U.S. dollars). Retrieved from https://www.statista.com/statistics/188716/top-liquid-laundry-detergent-brands-in-the-united-states/

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Klara, R. (2014). Chances Are, the Clothes You're Wearing Right Now Have Been Washed in Tide. Adweek.com. Retrieved from http://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/why-clothes-youre-wearing-right-now-have-probably-been-washed-tide-161643/

Minutaglio, Rose. (2017, February 1) Super Bowl Commercial Reveal: Rob Gronkowski and Jeffrey Tambor Are the Odd Couple. Retreived from http://people.com/sports/super-bowl-commercial-debut-rob-gronkowski-and-jeffrey-tambor-are-the-odd-couple/

Pallota, Frank. (2017, February 07). More than 111 million people watched Super Bowl LI. Retrieved on March 01, 2017, from http://money.cnn.com/2017/02/06/media/super-bowl-ratings-patriots-falcons/

Peck, Emily (2017, February 06). Watch The Feminist Superbowl Ad No One Is Talking About Retrieved March 01, 2017, fromhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/super-bowl-ads-feminism_us_589894b2e4b09bd304bc51f2

SI Wire. (2017, January 16) Super Bowl commercials: how much does a spot costin 2017? Retrieved from http://www.si.com/nfl/2017/01/26/super-bowl-commercial-cost-2017

Skid, Nathan (2017, February 05). Anatomy of an Ad; Tide’s Super Bowl Stain. Retrieved March 01, 2017, from http://adage.com/article/video/anatomy-ad-stain/307860/

Tide Laundry Detergent. (n.d.). Retrieved March 01, 2017, from http://tide.com/en-us/about-tide/americas-number-one-laundry-detergent http://money.cnn.com/2017/02/06/media/super-bowl-review/

WSJ. (2008, November 17). Tide Original Talking Stain Ad. Retrieved March 01, 2017, from http://www.wsj.com/video/tide-original-talking-stain-ad/EE9DE8F6-4796-4EBF-81A8-E2DD3BD76941.html WSJ. (2013, February 03). Tide: 'Joe Montana' Retrieved March 01, 2017, from http://www.wsj.com/video/tide-joe-montana/A9659516-55D6-440A-9110-0613B839918F.html

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