Unless you’re living in a sans-sports world, you were watching the Super Bowl last night. The star of the night wasn’t only Philadelphia, it was Tide. Yes, Tide, the laundry detergent. In the myriad of Super Bowl ad spots Tide stood out with a fresh (so meta!) approach and creative delivery. In fact, they not only stood out, they basically trolled the Super Bowl’s ad scene hard.
Tide thumbed their nose at the ambiguous, over-emotional advertising that’s been flooding our screens lately with a humor driven, break-the-fourth-wall attitude. In a series of ads, starting from the beginning of the game and hitting one per quarter, Tide challenges the viewer to challenge the advertising. The series is full of throwback icons from Super Bowl ads past, and riffs on common ads for consumer goods and even pharma.
Here’s the first spot to air:
From that spot, which established the angle, three others were aired that all jolt the viewer with “message bomb” that, it’s a “Tide Ad.” Every one funnier than the last.
The second Super Bowl ad spot for Tide:
The third ad:
And, finally, the last advertisement in the series:
We think this suite of Super Bowl ads, and the approach to disrupting the Super Bowl’s advertising game throughout, demonstrates that there are other emotions besides sad, emotional, or aspirational. Furthermore, it always brings up the question as to whether traditional advertising will ever “die” as most digital gurus constantly remind the world.
We think advertising still has a spot in the restaurant brand marketing mix, but it’s relevance is what matters most.
