One Sunday every year, America and the world park themselves in front of a screen to watch a fiercely competitive game known as Super Bowl advertising against a backdrop of a smaller matchup of two football teams.
The Playing Field
Yesterday, the veterans came out to play — GM, Meta, Anheuser-Busch, etc. — along with some rookies —Crypto.com, Vroom, and Wallbox, to name a few – to convince viewers to buy what they sell or at least embed their names in consumers’ brains for a later buying decision. At upwards of $7 million a spot, it’s not cheap, and go big or go home is the rule, not the exception.
Though the ads differ from one year to the next, the hooks Super Bowl advertisers use are pretty limited. A humorous approach usually tops the list, followed by dramatic, musical, nostalgic, tear-jerking (think puppies and Clydesdales), offbeat, and just plain tilt-your-head weird. Celebrities play a big part, too, some of whom own interests in the companies they pitch, which is a newer, interesting development, to be sure.
But when it comes to lessons lawyers and law firms can learn from the 2022 Super Bowl ads, there was one breakout winner and a worthy runner-up.
First, The Runner-Up
Electric vehicle manufacturer Polestar came out swinging with hard-driving music, stylized vehicle clips teasing various car body angles, and a stream of jabs against its more established rivals. The ad starts out dark and moody, suggesting a black car. The lighting shifts, slowly revealing a white vehicle with sexy lines. You become curious to see more, particularly the inside of the car, and want to know if the product holds up against the company’s competitive claims and its competitors’ hype. There is no call-to-action; instead, the ad spins a 30-second story that will end when you visit the Polestar website to learn more.
Could a law firm substitute itself into that commercial in place of the car? Maybe. Smaller, newer, or more aggressive practices might take bold shots at larger, more aggressive firms, and it may land punches for that appeal to their target audiences. The trick is to produce an ad that compels the viewer to take a closer look at your people, achievements, bona fides, and differentiators. If the person watching says, “That’s cool,” or “Hmm, clever,” without taking action, your ad essentially fails. Even if the viewer has no immediate need for a lawyer, the ad is only successful if it causes them to do something – like Google the name or visit a website – right then and there.
For one entire, insanely expensive minute of television, a QR code floated around the screen like an Atari Pong object, often changing colors against a black screen. An electronic cover of “Money” by Com Truise (but earlier made famous by The Beatles and The Flying Lizards) plays throughout. For 57 of those 60 seconds, nowhere does the company’s name – or any other text appear. Only in the final three seconds is there a blue screen with Coinbase displayed.
Here’s the play-by-play of what happened in your brain while you watched the ad:
What is this?
Is that the song “Money”?
Is this a video game?
Who’s the advertiser?
What are they selling?
Am I supposed to do something?
Is that a QR code?
Should I scan the QR code?
Where’s my phone?
It’s been more than 30 seconds. This ad will end soon. I’m scanning the code.
My camera won’t focus on the moving code. I’ll zoom in.
Where will this code take me? What will I see?
What the viewer ultimately saw – a promotional landing page to sign up for a Coinbase account – is arguably irrelevant to the success and impact of the ad. Rather, it created an interactive experience that compelled you to act, and that action etched Coinbase on your brain more impactfully than whatever immemorable product Seth Rogen and Paul Rudd were talking about before Seth married a zombie-ghost-demon.
What Made the Coinbase Ad Effective?
Every lawyer, regardless of practice area, location, or size of firm, needs to cultivate relationships with clients, referral sources, and other strategic contacts. Advertising can certainly communicate the lawyer’s talents and strengths, but only unilaterally. It’s not until the attorney interacts with the person that the relationship starts.
Coinbase started a relationship with those viewers who 1) didn’t turn away and go to the bathroom, 2) knew what a QR code is, and 3) accepted the invitation to play the game it set up. They provided an experience that took eyes and attention away from one screen and focused it on another. Coinbase clearly understood its target audience and reached out to them in a highly personal way.
And think about the economics. Instead of a 60-second ad, the view likely devoted two, three, or more minutes to Coinbase, robbing the subsequent advertiser, maybe the one after that, and perhaps even the Bengals and Rams of their valuable time.
The Coinbase experience was innovative, distinct, and brilliant in its objective. Rather than suggesting, “remember Coinbase when you’re thinking about investing in Bitcoin,” it said, “screw you, Crypto.com – we spent far less money, we didn’t need LeBron James, and we got couch potatoes to actually do something during the Super Bowl.”
The Playing Field
The Playing Field
