Key consumer trends and insights behind 8 of the 2019 Super Bowl campaigns.

1. SUPER BOWL 2019
/ The insights behind the ads

2. The insights
behind the ads
The Super Bowl’s big-budget ad showcase
often gets more coverage than the game
itself. And with millions of dollars spent on
the top spots, it’s easy to see why they spur
such interest. But what can we learn from
America’s biggest campaigns?
At Canvas8, we always want to know why.
Why does self-reflexive humor boost
brand perception? Why is spotlighting
underrepresented voices the key to
authenticity? And why are robots sub-par
drinking partners? Canvas8 unpicks the
behavioral themes present in nine notable
campaigns from 2019 Super Bowl.

3. SELF-CONSCIOUS COMEDY
/ People like brands that can laugh at their own quirks

4. Pepsi has long been sparring with Coke in its
campaigns and its spot for the 2019 Super Bowl
confronted the rivalry head-on, highlighting
the fact that most people will often order Coke
at a restaurant. When a diner asks for a Coke
and the waiter responds with ‘Is Pepsi OK?’, an
indignant Steve Carell interjects with “Is Pepsi
ok?! Are puppies OK? Is a shooting star OK?,”
listing all life’s greatest warm and fuzzies to
show why diners should own their decision to
order the drink. Featuring cameos from Cardi B
and Lil Jon, it’s far from positioning itself as the
underdog, instead solidifying its brand identity
and demonstrating bold self-awareness. Steve
Carell’s hilarious delivery is likely to stick in
viewers’ minds too – 53% of Americans are most
likely to remember an advert if it’s funny.
Brand / Pepsi
Agency / Goodby, Silverstein & Partners

5. While #PepsiMoreThanOK pokes fun at the
moments it loses out to its competitor, PepsiCo’s
ad for new fizzy water Bubly lampoons singer
Michael Bublé as he argues over how the brand is
pronounced compared to his own surname. The
Bubly/Bublé jape is a clever lesson in repetition
and finishes with the despondent crooner taking
a Magic Marker to every last can in the shop.
Brand / PepsiCo
Agency / Goodby, Silverstein & Partners

6. Mispronunciation is also a source of humor in
Stella Artois’ ‘Change Up the Usual’ sketch, in
which Sarah Jessica Parker reprises her role
as Sex and the City’s Carrie and Jeff Bridges
gets back on the horse as The Dude in The Big
Lebowski. While SJP orders her Stella Artois like
a pro, Bridges fudges it, saying ‘Stella Artoes’
instead. The significance of this is that there’s no
real fallout. It’s a tiny acknowledgment that the
French pronunciation doesn’t always come off in
a grander push for trying something new (all hell
breaks loose in the restaurant when SJP orders
the beer instead of her usual Cosmo).
By using self-deprecating humor, brands are
making light of not only their adversaries, but
consumer interpretations of their product names.
This sort of self-reflexive ribbing goes a long way
in boosting brand perceptions and people’s ‘top-
of-mind’ awareness.
Brand / Stella Artois
Agency / Mother NY

7. INCLUSIVE STORYTELLING
/ People want to see underrepresented minorities on screen

8. From releasing a watch that quells Parkinson’s
tremors to adding an Accessibility Checker to its
Office products, Microsoft is both recognizing and
catering to people with disabilities. Its 2019 Super
Bowl ad pushes tech inclusivity even further.
Under the slogan ‘When everybody plays, we all
win’, the spot shows children with limited mobility
discussing their love of gaming and then testing
the new Xbox One Adaptive Controller. Moving
and memorable, the simply executed docu-
style segment engages audiences with both the
power of the product and the people who benefit
– in this case, the children and their delighted
parents. With 15% of the world’s population living
with a disability and over half feeling excluded
from society, Microsoft’s decision to broadcast
physical impairment – in the words of those
who live with it – will no doubt dispel the visual
stigma and effect practical, positive change within
society.
Brand / Microsoft
Agency / United/McCann New York

9. Celebrating difference also runs through
Toyota’s Toni RAV4 Hybrid commercial, in which
Antoinette ‘Toni’ Harris, who aims to be the first
female player in the NFL, is seen using mascara
as eye black after a group of boys said she
was too small to play, lifting weights when she
was told that she wasn’t strong enough, and
screaming with joy after being offered a football
scholarship. Leaning into the groundbreaking
achievements of women in sport, Toyota’s
inspiring narrative fits with the NFL’s growing
female viewership (now 45%, up from 23% in
2009). Against a wider cultural movement, with
more women getting stuck into demanding,
adventurous pursuits, big brands are pushing for
greater inclusion in sport.
Brand / Toyota
Agency / Burrell Communications

10. Google’s down-to-earth Super Bowl spot
promotes a new civilian job search engine just
for army veterans and gives them the secret
salute at the same time. By using code numbers
only vets will recognize, it speaks to a subset
of the population in their unique language –
while engaging the overwhelming majority of
Americans who support military veterans. With
63% of global consumers preferring to buy from
companies that stand for a shared purpose that
reflects their personal values and beliefs, Google’s
decision to play on the American psychology is a
clever one. With Microsoft, Google, and Toyota
giving a voice to underrepresented groups – with
some featuring products that will ultimately
improve their quality of life – it is in a brand’s best
interest to seek authentic, inclusive stories to tap
the financial power of diverse consumers.
Brand / Google
Agency / Creative Lab, PHD, Essence

11. ROBOT RIDICULE
/ People want reassurances they won’t be replaced by AI

12. A 2017 Pegasystems study found that 70% of
people fear AI, so it’s easy to see why brands
came out in force to throw shade on everything
AI can’t do in this year’s Super Bowl campaigns.
Pringles took a swipe at Amazon’s Alexa, showing
that while the device might be able to calculate
318,000 possible flavor combinations, it doesn’t
have the taste buds to actually savor them. The
melancholy smart device muses on her robotic
existence: “Sadly, I’ll never know the joy of tasting
any, for I have no hands to stack with, no mouth
to taste with, no soul to feel with.” This confronts
the ethics of ‘humanizing’ AI voices, but also
underscores what it means to be a human – and
devouring a stack of Pringles is certainly part of
that privilege.
Brand / Pringles
Agency / Grey

13. More carnal, strictly human pleasures are
showcased in the Michelob ULTRA commercial,
which depicts an ultra-fit robot outperforming
its homo sapien counterparts on a run, at a golf
course, and in a spin class. But while peering
through the window of a bar, the robot seems
sad that it can’t sip an ice-cold pint with the
gang. The ‘Only worth it if you can enjoy it’
strap reassures consumers that although their
lives may be altered by advancing automation,
they will be the only ones to enjoy such earthly
delights.
Brand / Michelob ULTRA
Agency / FCB

14. Presenting the prestige of a real-life human voice
is TurboTax’s commercial, which features an eerie
‘RoboChild’ who tells its owner it wants to be a
TurboTax CPA when it grows up. The response
is telling. “All TurboTax Live CPAs are human
beings with real emotions. I’m sorry you’re never
going to be emotionally complex enough for
that job.” A snide put-down like that underscores
the brand’s awareness of consumer attitudes
– 42% of Americans don’t trust AI – while also
turning people toward the brand at the expense
of the rest of the category. It seems 2019 is the
year brands took a stab at tech and celebrated
human-ness – from tasting, to feeling, to having
an ice-cold beer after a run.
Brand / TurboTax
Agency / Wieden + Kennedy

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