The culture of American advertising
How to win in America
Superbowl Sunday is the pinnacle of American TV media.
Any brand that's any brand waits and spends an absurd amount of 'budget' on, hopefully, capturing the moment with 30-seconds of ad WOW.
Do a good job with your coveted 30-seconds, and as a brand, you can literally write your place into the hearts of 350 million cash flush, consumerist-minded Americans for the rest of the year.
No pressure.
So understandably there's a lot of focus on what works to create something memorable.
When American marketers want to grab attention and want to ensure that they get it right - they turn...to celebrities.
Workday - a bland, totally unsexy software company - hired Ozzie Osbourne, Billy Idol and other real rockstars to make fun of their own clients.
Genius.
Dunkin' Donuts makes fun of themselves by hiring Ben Affleck as a drive-through clerk.
A highly-processed crisp-type product called PopCorners, that comes in a giant bag and is surely not great for your health, hired the guy from Breaking Bad to make sure everyone bought into this new habit-forming substance.
Pepsi hired Ben Stiller (and Steve Martin) to make fun of their product.
...and the NFL hired Diana Flores (quarterback of Mexico's world-champion women's national flag football team) to demonstrate how far they have developed as a woke, 'fit for 2023' organisation.
Other than hiring expensive celebrities - the other sure thing (which is ultimately far cheaper too) is to turn to dogs to thrust your brand deep into the hearts of the audience.
Amazon went with dogs...
...so too a brand called The Farmer's Dog, who appear to sell dog food (perhaps they had a credible reason as to why Ozzie Osbourne would not have been a good brand fit).
The point is that advertising is not rocket science in America.
If you want to spend your money wisely by getting the maximum talk-ability for your effort, hire a celebrity, or a dog, to feature in your ad.
Celebrity with a dog will literally bring the country to a frothing standstill.
(Also...if you go with dog, don't forget to spend some money on an appropriately emotionally-charged backing track - preferably created by a celebrity artist).