The document provides summaries of 8 notable Super Bowl ad campaigns from 2018 that demonstrate human behaviors and trends. Each summary discusses what the ad campaign did, the insights behind it, and why it resonated with audiences at that time. The campaigns showcase how brands are leveraging celebrity endorsements, exclusivity, nostalgia, frankenfood pairings, and internet humor to break through advertising clutter and engage audiences.

1. BY
A BEHAVIORAL
BREAKDOWN
OF 8 SUPER BOWL CAMPAIGNS

2. THE INSIGHTS
BEHIND THE ADS
Every year, The Super Bowl showcases
big-name spots to millions of viewers.
But what about the behaviours and
trends that underpin America’s biggest
campaigns?
At Canvas8, we always want to know
why. Why did Alexa lose her voice? Why
did Australia create a fake movie trailer?
And why did every ad become a tide ad?
Discover the human insights that
underpin eight notable campaigns from
the 2018 Super Bowl.

3. AI
ANGUISH
AMAZON ALEXA
SHOWS PEOPLE LOVE
INHUMAN AI
NAME OF THE CAMPAIGN:
ALEXA LOSES HER VOICE
AGENCY BEHIND THE AD:
LUCKY GENERALS

4. WHAT THEY DID
In Lucky Generals’ Super Bowl spot for Amazon
Alexa, celebrities including Anthony Hopkins
and Rebel Wilson fill in for the virtual assistant,
who’s lost her voice. Rather than providing
accurate instructions or the services requested,
they make very human gaffes and quips. When
an older man asks Alexa to play country music,
Cardi B puts on ‘Bodak Yellow’, and when
another man asks how to make a grilled cheese,
Gordon Ramsay berates him from the device.
65% OF AMERICANS WHO
HAVE A VOICE ASSISTANT SAY
THEY WOULDN’T GO BACK TO
LIFE WITHOUT THEIRS
NPM, 2017

5. WHY IT RESONATES NOW
The spot wryly hints at the world’s increasing
dependence on voice assistants; according to a
report from NPM, 65% of Americans who have
one say they wouldn’t go back to life without
theirs. But while the conversation has circled
around people ultimately wanting the tech to
be more human, with 41% saying they speak
to their device like a friend, Lucky Generals’ ad
reminds people that they love Alexa – at least in
part – because she’s not susceptible to human
biases and inaccuracies. Research suggests
voice assistants have been welcomed largely
because they assist without taking control – a
deciding factor between people adopting a
technology or fearing it.

6. COMMITMENT
ISSUES
AMAZON PRIME ORIGINALS
SEDUCE SHOW-SATURATED
SUBSCRIBERS
NAME OF THE CAMPAIGN:
TOM CLANCY’S JACK RYAN
AGENCY BEHIND THE AD:
AMAZON

7. People are aware of Prime
video but they’re not always
aware that they get this
award-winning programming
as part of the membership.
Mike Benson, head of marketing for
Amazon Studios
“ WHAT THEY DID
Amazon is set to launch Tom Clancy’s Jack
Ryan – a reimagining of the iconic character
that’s grossed over $786.5 million across four
Hollywood movies – in August 2018, and it will
be available to stream free for anyone with a
Prime membership. Despite Prime’s sizable
and varied offerings, the service chose to
make its advertising debut at the SuperBowl (a
60-second spot worth around $10 million) with
a cinematic trailer for the show, highlighting
the fact that video is a part of the membership.
“People are aware of Prime video,” says Mike
Benson, head of marketing for Amazon Studios,
“but they’re not always aware that they get this
award-winning programming as part of the
membership.”

8. WHY IT RESONATES NOW
Amazon Prime may already be a household
name in the US – it’s estimated that 64% of
US households already hold a membership
– but with the ease and convenience of the
membership now considered a norm, it’s
elevating itself in the entertainment space.
The 2017 SuperBowl similarly saw streaming
services highlight single shows over whole
offerings – Hulu and Netflix bought spots for
The Handmaid’s Tale and the second season
of Stranger Things, respectively. And with
subscribers dipping in and out of services
depending on the show they’re watching and
original content proven to seduce prospective
users, Amazon is highlighting original,
blockbuster content as a way to differentiate in
an already overcrowded market, while keeping
its messaging streamlined and simple.

9. SHARED
VALUES
RAM AD CRITICISED
FOR MISUSING
MEANINGFUL VOICES
NAME OF THE CAMPAIGN:
RAM ‘BUILT TO SERVE’
AGENCY BEHIND THE AD:
HIGHDIVE

10. During his sermon of 50 years
ago today, Martin Luther King
also advised people not to spend
too much money on their cars.
Michael Beschloss, American historian
WHAT THEY DID
Ram’s 2018 Super Bowl advert consists of a
montage of images showing people, often
working collaboratively, in roles such as
chopping wood, marching in-line and fire-
fighting, interspersed with clips of the Ram
truck transporting heavy loads and battling
the elements. But the choice of voice-over,
an excerpt from Dr. King’s 1968 ‘Drum Major
Instinct’ sermon, drew online criticism for
co-opting MLK’s integrity for commercial
gain. Historian Michael Beschloss highlighted
the irony, tweeting: “During his sermon of
50 years ago today, Martin Luther King also
advised people not to spend too much money
on their cars.”
“

11. WHY IT RESONATES NOW
The ad, with its tagline ‘Built to Serve’, was
intended to draw attention to Ram Nation – a
volunteering venture by the company and its
drivers – which could certainly chime well with
the 85% of people who believe brands should
play a larger role in society. But the use of MLK to
promote a vehicle “strikes many people as crass
and inappropriate,” says Tim Calkins, a marketing
professor at Northwestern University. While
people are increasingly responsive to celebrity
endorsements – especially those that position
the celeb as an ambassador or collaborator –
the impossibility of MLK giving his blessing leads
the pairing to come across as inauthentic. The
backlash has been particularly strong because
it is seen to be co-opting a powerful, political
voice that people feel a deep attachment to – its
the same instinct that had people balking at the
insincerity of Pepsi’s Kendall Jenner ad in 2017.

12. GREAT
EXPECTATIONS
CLOVERFIELD ‘DROP’
CATERS TO IMPATIENT
MOVIE BUFFS
NAME OF THE CAMPAIGN:
THE CLOVERFIELD PARADOX
AGENCY BEHIND THE AD:
NETFLIX

13. SUSPENSE AND
SURPRISE HAVE
BEEN PROVEN TO
BOOST EMOTIONAL
RESPONSES BY ABOUT
400%
Surprise Industries, 2015
WHAT THEY DID
Super Bowl Sunday was prime ad space
for widely anticipated movies from Jurassic
World: Fallen Kingdom to Mission: Impossible
– Fallout. Making sure its trailer for The
Cloverfield Paradox would be remembered,
Netflix ended its 30-second spot with the
news that the movie would be released
on the platform that very evening. Despite
speculation that Paramount had sold the
thriller to Netflix, the film’s unconventional
arrival took social media by storm and,
although reviews of the movie are mostly
poor, the release is further enhancing Netflix’s
reputations an industry disruptor.

14. WHY IT RESONATES NOW
Beyoncé’s unexpected album Lemonade
similarly released without any forewarning, and
the entertainment industry has been toying
with the element of suspense and surprise,
which has been proven to boost emotional
responses by about 400%. In 2015, Paramount
shortened the gap between theatrical releases
and on-demand availability from 90 days to just
two weeks, and some studios – Fox and Warner
Bros. – are talking about charging viewers a
$30 premium for early, on-demand access to
films. But with Netflix now challenging these
traditional distributors, studios are having to
take note of the growing impatience among
movie fans to keep up with increasing popular
streaming services.

15. BLURRED
LINES
AUSTR ALIA LURES TOURISTS
WITH FAKE CROCODILE
DUNDEE REBOOT
NAME OF THE CAMPAIGN:
DUNDEE: THE SON OF A LEGEND RETURNS HOME
AGENCY BEHIND THE AD:
DROGA5

16. OVER 8 MILLION
BRITONS EACH YEAR
PICK THEIR HOLIDAY
DESTINATIONS BASED ON
FILM OR TV LOCATIONS
LV, 2016
WHAT THEY DID
After a fortnight of build-up online, including
trailers, behind-the-scenes production photos,
and tweets from actors including Chris
Hemsworth, Danny McBride and Margot Robbie,
Tourism Australia used a spot at the 2018 Super
Bowl to reveal that the upcoming Crocodile
Dundee reboot – Dundee: The Son of a Legend
Returns Home – was a hoax. Halfway through the
ad, which was created by Droga5, Hemsworth
– the supposed star of the film and Australia’s
global tourism ambassador – revealed that the
campaign was actually a showcase for Australia’s
beaches, wines, and restaurants, aimed at
increasing tourism from the US.

17. WHY IT RESONATES NOW
Cinematic showcases have a precedent for
attracting global visitors; 18% of holiday-makers
claim that the Hobbit trilogy drove their initial
interest in visiting New Zealand, while over
eight million Britons each year pick their holiday
destinations based on film or TV locations.
Additionally, various countries are using famous
faces as global tourism ambassadors. “Besides
the celebrity side of who he is, what he brings
to us is a really authentic Australian story of
someone who grew up in Victoria learning to
surf but also spent a lot of time in the Northern
Territory with indigenous populations,” says John
O’Sullivan, Tourism Australia’s managing director,
on Hemsworth’s involvement. The fact that
Hemsworth and the tourist board teamed up on
such a high-profile stunt serves to compound
that authentic, collaborative relationship.

18. MEME
MOGULS
TIDE PLAYFULLY HIJACKS
OTHER BR ANDS’ AD
CAMPAIGNS
NAME OF THE CAMPAIGN:
EVERY AD IS A TIDE AD
AGENCY BEHIND THE AD:
BBDO

19. WHAT THEY DID
In BBDO’s ‘Every Ad is a Tide Ad’ Super Bowl
campaign – which aired a different spot
each quarter break – the brand hijacks other
brands’ advertising tropes for its own gains.
In each one, actor David Harbour appears as
an interloper in another brand’s ad – from the
macho absurdity of an Old Spice spot to the
sombre tone of a health insurance company
– just to point out the actors’ clothes are all
perfectly spotless thanks to Tide detergent.
Because of its wry self-awareness, the ad won
the Super Clio award and went viral across
social media, with the first spot being viewed
more than 3,800,000 times in just two days of
being posted on YouTube.
61%
OF AMERICAN
ADULTS ARE MORE
LIKELY TO DISLIKE
ADVERTISING THAN
LIKE IT
Marketing charts, 2016

20. WHY IT RESONATES NOW
People are experiencing ad fatigue, partly
because advertising has become so predictable.
Research from YouGov says 61% of American
adults are more likely to dislike advertising than
like it, while 76% of people block ads online
and skip them on the TV. As a result, brands
from Gucci to Denny’s have been leveraging
internet memes to reconnect with viewers. But
as Hudson Hongo writes in New York Magazine,
rather than force itself into the content cycle,
brands that channel how internet humour “is
often incomprehensibly self-referential” and
takes joy in reappropriating existing content
in new forms, are often a hit with viewers. By
tapping into the viewers’ sense of humour –
instead of just pandering to it as other meme-
making brands have – Tide has successfully
found a way to create resonance with an
audience in a very noisy media landscape.

21. NICHE
FOLLOWING
SKITTLES TAKES
EXCLUSIVITY TO
THE EXTREME
NAME OF THE CAMPAIGN:
SKITTLES
AGENCY BEHIND THE AD:
DDB

22. WHAT THEY DID
At first glance, DDB’s Super Bowl ad for Skittles
seems like any other big game campaign –
a healthy dose of weirdness endorsed by a
celebrity, at the cost of millions of dollars. But
it wasn’t broadcast to millions of viewers on
Super Bowl Sunday. Instead, while teasers
were aired in the build-up, it was shown to only
one person – a teenaged boy named Marcos
Mendez, who revealed via Facebook Live that
the ad was ‘weird’, ‘full of lasers’, and somehow
featured his own mother. “We want to be the
brand who has the most exclusive ad in Super
Bowl history,” says Matt Montei, VP of Fruit
Confections at Mars. “That’s the focus of the
campaign. That’s why there’s a lot of content
beyond just the ad itself, which is meant to
start a dialogue, to speculate and to be highly
entertaining.”
USER-GENERATED
PHOTOS ARE SEVEN
TIMES MORE LIKELY
TO BE TRUSTED THAN
COMPANY-MADE ADS
Olapic

23. WHY IT RESONATES NOW
In an effort to cut through the noise, many
brands have toyed with exclusivity. In recent
years, engagement with ’micro-influencers’
has picked up as brands look to connect with
audiences more organically. In fact, Instagram
users with fewer than 1,000 followers have a
like rate of around 8%, compared to 1.7% for
those with over a million, and user-generated
photos are seven times more likely to be
trusted than company-made ads. With its
extra-exclusive broadcast, Skittles takes this
idea to an extreme, drumming up interest off
the back of viewer speculation, demonstrating
how people are happier engaging with content
when it feels like they have control over the
discussion.

24. DIRTY
DINING
PEPSICO’S AD TAPS
AMERICA’S LOVE OF
SNACK PAIRINGS
NAME OF THE CAMPAIGN:
DORITOS BLAZE VS. MTN DEW ICE
AGENCY BEHIND THE AD:
GOODBY SILVERSTEIN & PARTNERS

25. WHAT THEY DID
Created by Goodby Silverstein & Partners,
PepsiCo’s Super Bowl ad sees actors Peter
Dinklage and Morgan Freeman engage in a lip-
sync battle with support from hip hop artists
Busta Rhymes and Missy Elliott. During the
60-second spot, Dinklage brings the fire by
rapping to Rhymes’ ‘Look At Me Now’, while
Freeman’s performance of ‘Get Your Freak On’
freezes over the scene. As the duo battle it
out in a war over two new PepsiCo products,
Doritos Blaze and Mountain Dew Ice, viewers
could keep up with the face-off via a sponsored
Snapchat lens, allowing them to side with either
#doritosblaze (Dinklage and Busta Rhymes)
or #mtndewice (Freeman and Elliott). The
campaign proved a success even before the big
game aired, racking up 28.9 million YouTube
views by the Thursday prior to the Super Bowl.
[When it comes to
snacking,] studies show
that brand preference
trumps taste every time.
Marion Nestle, Professor of
Nutrition and Food Studies
at New York University
“

26. WHY IT RESONATES NOW
When it comes to snacking, Super Bowl Sunday
is a major occasion; it’s the second largest food
consumption day in the US, with 82% of people
stocking up on food and drinks for the game.
While Mountain Dew and Doritos may already
be a classic food combination (particularly within
the gaming community), recent years have seen
‘frankenfoods’ become a source of perverse
pleasure; Mac ‘n’ Cheetos were placed back on
the Burger King menu due to high demand,
while Taco Bell’s Nacho Fries look set to roll
out nationwide thanks to their widespread
popularity. By pitting both sides its established
snack combination against each other, PepsiCo
highlights why the pairing has been enduringly
perfect. The contrast between salt and sweet
satisfies every aspect of the impulse to snack,
while the brand-forward marketing plays to how,
when it comes to junk food, “brand preference
trumps taste every time.”

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