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Perhaps in an effort to join Super Bowl viewers together or simply to avoid painful backlash, Big Game advertisers have been leaning into “Safe” humor (the least offensive type) at increasing rates since 2017. A trend toward celebrity nearly mirrors this effort at broad connection.
However, advertisers have sacrificed storytelling with this turn toward humor and celebrities – particularly since 2020.
The Shift Away From Narrative
Understanding the impact of different elements on brand recall is crucial in evaluating Super Bowl ad effectiveness, with narrative storytelling emerging as a powerful tool in cementing Brand Recognition* among viewers.
iSpot’s all-industry Creative Assessment database includes up to 500 verbatim comments per ad that, by virtue of being completely unprompted, reveal the strongest visceral reactions to the creative for each viewer – a lens into the most impactful aspect(s) of the work. As the chart above reveals, the proportion of Super Bowl ads in which viewer comments mentioned an ad’s Narrative* has dropped precipitously to just 15% in 2023. But at what cost?
Impact of Narrative vs. Celebrity in Super Bowl Ads
Super Bowl ads engaging through storytelling have consistently delivered better breakthrough* vs. relying on celebrity (by an average of 9%). This statistic holds true regardless of the number of ads relying on narratives each year. In other words, viewers do not appear to tire of ads that tell great stories, even when up to 42% of ads within Big Game programming engage with this approach.
Super Bowl ads delivering a narrative to viewers are more likeable than those without a clear storyline, and markedly more likeable than those with celebrity year after year.
Successfully Weaving Celebrities into Narratives
Some brands create narratives featuring celebrities that come at us with an unexpected story related to the brand’s ethos and win big – lest you forget Snickers’ 2015 “The Brady Bunch” Big Game ad.
Perhaps surprisingly, though, only one of the top five narrative creatives also used celebrity (and just one in four of the top twenty) suggesting it is not only possible, but generally advantageous both to brand budgets and viewer impact, to focus on the narrative.
Notably, the top-performing creatives featuring celebrity narratives often leaned towards football-related personas. This aligns with the learning that the impact of celebrities in Super Bowl ads is consistently elevated when they appear as themselves, portray a character, or engage in a job/hobby they are recognized for.
Top Story-Led Super Bowl Ads Featuring Celebrities
2019 Super Bowl: Verizon “First Responders: Coach”
Featuring: NFL Head Coach Anthony Lynn
2020 Super Bowl: Kia “Tough Never Quits”
Featuring: Oakland Raiders Running Back Josh Jacobs
2015 Super Bowl: Kia “The Perfect Getaway”
Featuring: Pierce Brosnan
2019 Super Bowl: Toyota “Toni”
Featuring: female football athlete Antoinette “Toni” Harris
2020 Super Bowl: Jeep “Groundhog Day”
Featuring: Bill Murray, Stephen Tobolowsky, and Brian Doyle Murray
The decline in narrative-driven Super Bowl ads highlights the need to reconsider reliance on celebrity endorsements. Data shows narrative-led ads outperform celebrity-focused ones, offering cost-effective and impactful engagement. Prioritizing storytelling in future campaigns is essential for deeper connections and better results amidst the Super Bowl’s advertising frenzy.
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*Brand Recognition – Measures the strength of a brand’s and/or product’s presence in the creative. Equals the percent of survey respondents that accurately identified a brand (unaided) after watching an ad.
Narrative – one of the 57 emotions iSpot Creative Assessment measures for every video ad. Narrative specifically measures the impact of storytelling on viewers.
Breakthrough – derived from a combination of Attention and Likeability components as measured by iSpot Creative Assessment.