Tag Archives: advertising

by | Monday, February 10, 2025 · 6:17 pm

The Super Bowl’s Best Friends: Celebrities

Companies advertising during the Super Bowl this year paid a record amount to air their spots: an estimated $8 million for 30 seconds during the broadcast. But this is just what they paid to run the commercial and doesn’t include any production expenses or licensing fees. Now throw in a celebrity to share your message, and you’re likely to add several million more to your total.

And celebrities are increasingly common in Super Bowl advertising. Just fifteen years ago, only one in three ads featured a celebrity. But since 2020, about 70% of them include these recognizable faces. That trend didn’t stop this year, with ads including many celebrities designed to appeal to a huge range of consumers. Did you see Shaboozey? Martha Stewart? Ben Affleck?

And what about one of today’s biggest celebrities, Taylor Swift? Just her presence at the Super Bowl, cheering on her Kansas City Chiefs boyfriend Travis Kelce for the second straight year, is believed to have brought new interest in the NFL among a different demographic, younger and more female. It’s part of a larger trend for women viewers of the big game; they were reportedly 49% of the audience last year.

As women continue to comprise a larger part of viewership, even the choice of celebrities have changed. There are fewer ads featuring just male celebrities and instead many ads, nearing 80% in recent years, use mixed gender spots. An example this year: Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal in a Hellmann’s Mayonnaise spot. It was a hit for some and a miss for others.

So why is the use of celebrities so popular in Super Bowl advertising? Popular stars are great for capturing our attention and generating positive emotions. Sometimes they give us nostalgic recollections. And often they are unifying and noncontroversial, which is very appealing to advertisers who are not looking to take many risks right now. Yet using a celebrity does not guarantee a popular ad, much less an increase in sales.

Activities:

  1. Ask students: Which celebrities did they see in ads during the Super Bowl? How many of the celebrities listed are women?
  2. Show students the ad from Nike:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0Ezn5pZE7o. Who is the target market for this ad? Are these women effective for the brand?
  3. Have students visit this website to view all the ads in one place: https://www.superbowl-ads.com/category/video/2025_ads/. They might find favorites and share with the class.
  4. Show students a video critiquing the ads this year: https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Culture/video/ads-won-2025-super-bowl-118644571.
  5. Ask students to form small groups and determine a brand and celebrity pairing they think would be successful for a Super Bowl ad.

Sources: O’Reilly, Lara and Meaney, Mackenzie, (04 Feb 2025) The Super Bowl ad recipe for politically charged times: humor, nostalgia, and a generous helping of A-list celebrities,  Business Insider. Lacques, Gabe, (06 Feb 2025) $8 million Super Bowl commercials reflect NFL’s endless growth and a Taylor Swift effect, USA Today.

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by | Wednesday, January 29, 2025 · 7:53 am

“Wicked” Goes Big on Collaborations

Have you seen the movie “Wicked” yet? Not the Tony award-winning Broadway musical which has been on the stage since 2003. But the film adaptation of the play that was just released in November 2024.

If you have seen it, you are in good company as the film has already grossed more than $500 million in ticket sales, and became a social event in the process. And this is only to see “Wicked Part 1.” [The second part of the movie is due to be released in November, 2025.]

The launch and promotion of Wicked looks a lot like that of the Barbie movie last year. Barbie and pink were everywhere in 2023 (and earned $1.4 billion). This year, it’s the pink and green of Glinda and Elphaba we will be seeing everywhere.

As we know, it’s not just the movie itself that generates revenue; it’s also the collaborations between the movie and other brands. In the case of Wicked, there are Wicked-themed products and collections from more than 70+ brand partnerships ranging from Lexus to Conair to Gap.

Here is a sample of the collaborations:

  • Clothing from a variety of vendors.
  • Wicked Starbucks drinks.
  • Wicked beauty travel case ($128).
  • Wicked mystery color mac and cheese cup ($1-$12).
  • Crocs Wicked clog ($70)
  • Zac Posen pleated tulle dress ($595)
  • Faux leather jacket ($70)
  • Plus toys, makeup, jewelry, food, and more.

Unfortunately for one partner, Mattel, there was a packaging setback. The toy company had to pull its line of character Wicked-branded dolls after a misprint on the doll’s packaging inadvertently featured a link to a pornographic website named Wicked Pictures. [Theses dolls are now listed on eBay for far more than were paid at the store!]

Go ahead and sing along!

 Group Activities and Discussion Questions:

  1. Poll students: Who has seen the movie? The play? Did they purchase any merchandise with the Wicked theme?
  2. Show the movie clip for Wicked: https://youtu.be/6COmYeLsz4c?si=xwpgmnYY0YGL4u5g
  3. Show Wicked’s merchandise webstore (includes the play): https://wickedthemusicalstore.com/
  4. Have students search for Wicked-branded merchandise and collaborators.
  5. Divide students into teams. Have each team select a movie that could be licensed to collaborators.
  6. Develop a marketing campaign for the licensing opportunity.

Source: Lassner, E. (3 December 2024). ‘Wicked brand collabs continue flying off the shelves after movie’s record-breaking release. The Hollywood Reporter; Schwartzel, E. (15 November 2024). Inside Hollywood’s big ‘Wicked’ gamble. Wall Street Journal; Whitten, S. (11 November 2024). Mattel pulls thousands of ‘Wicked’ dolls off shelves after printing adult web address on packaging. CNBC.

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by | Wednesday, January 1, 2025 · 6:25 am

Amtrak Tries a New Strategy: Hotel on Wheels

Do you travel by train in the United States?  And did you know that the U.S. has the largest rail transport network in the world at about 160,000 miles? Yet, the odds are that most of consumers not have gone on a vacation riding the train.

Last year, Amtrak carried 28 million passengers, up from 22 million in 2022. And, while there are other train services in the U.S. (particularly commuter trains), Amtrak is the only operator of regularly scheduled long-distance trains in America. It operates more than 300 trains each day to more than 500 destinations.

So, why don’t we travel on vacation by train more? Many reasons, including limited service to destinations by train, and many of the trains and stations are run-down or outdated. We have also become accustomed to air travel, which carries more passengers than do trains.

Environmentally, Amtrak uses 27% less full per passenger mile. Economically, train travel can be much cheaper. So, what is the answer for Amtrak? It will run a multiyear advertising campaign with the tagline “Retrain Travel.”  The ads will also compare rail travel to driving and air travel.

Ready to roll?

Group Activities and Discussion Questions:

  1. Poll students: Have they traveled by train? Why, or why not?
  2. List barriers to travel by train.
  3. Show Amtrak’s website: https://www.amtrak.com/home.html
  4. Also show Amtrak Vacations site: https://www.amtrakvacations.com/
  5. Show the new commercial – “Retrain Travel”: https://media.amtrak.com/2024/10/retrain-travel-30-second-commercial/
  6. Poll students about their opinions of the ad.
  7. Divide students into teams.
  8. For Amtrak, have each team select three different tactics. For each tactic, explain why it was selected and how it will be used. One tactic must be video ads.
  9. Have each team develop a story board for the Amtrak ad.

Source: Deighton, K. (1 October 2024). Amtrak’s new marketing strategy: It’s not a train, it’s a hotel on wheels. Wall Street Journal.

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