The Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles face February 9, 2025 (6:30 p.m. ET on Fox if it is not yet in their calendar).
In order to get 30 seconds of advertising time during the big game, brands Coole 7 to 8 million US dollars per spot have broken down. If this is not in the budget, you will find seven Super Bowl ad alternatives here, which you cost much less.
I also have examples of large brands with particularly creative alternatives to Super Bowl ads and tips for using Super Bowl Marketing strategies in their own <$ 7 -Mil campaigns.
Table of contents
What big brands do instead of buying super bowl ads
In 2021 at least 10 large brands – Budweiser, Coca-Cola and Pepsi Among them – Super Bowl LV exposed itself and directed their means elsewhere. Anheuser-Busch, the parent company of Budweiser, donated money for covid vaccines.
So two brands will celebrate this year’s big game without an official commercial, a praising mention and an iconic alternative ad:
Perdue chicken: wings
On February 9, Perdue will work with the actor/singer/comedian Wayne Brady to get a super bowl advertising for non-super bowl. Instead of buying a commercial of 7 million US dollars, Perdue will show Brady live on Instagram throughout the game – expect sketches, Q & as and other comedic parts.
Captain Morgan: Rum Street
Super Bowl Lix is ​​moderated by Caesar’s Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana, famous, famous for the French neighborhood, Mardi Gras celebrations and the Bourbon Street.
Aside from that The Year, Captain Morgan transforms bourbon in rum with his Activation of the Rum Street. The live event will be accompanied by interactive online treasure-fashioned, weekly prices before the game and cocktail recipes at home.
Duolingo
We call this a praise because Duolingo’s Super Bowl campaign 2024 started with an official advertisement – but it only took five seconds.
The actual campaign came in the form of coordinated push notifications that were sent immediately after the display was broadcast and reminded the learners of practice.
Duolingo called it A technical risk: “In this size, our teams never tried a coordinated push campaign, and we did not know whether it was even technically possible to send a push notification to 4 million learners in 5 seconds without overthrowing our app . “
It was and they did it. It is worth mentioning The OWL -app only took the risk Because it had done a lot of social listening and other market research to find out what would be resonance with his audience.
Skittles: The musical
Back in 2018, cone Decided that it did not want to spend $ 5.2 million for a Super Bowl display. So it took this money and instead created a Broadway musical in full length (like her).
Skittles’ clever anti-marketing stunt might have aroused her inner theater child, but it was still quite expensive. And as a small to medium-sized corporate marketer, you probably cannot afford Broadway production.
So what do you do if you don’t have millions in your budget like the above brands?
Below I will list seven advertising strategies that use brands during the Super Bowl. For everyone, I will carry you out, as you can use on a much smaller scale and at the same time get brand awareness effectively.
7 affordable marketing alternatives for Super Bowl advertising
1. Buy video ads on social platforms.
As a marketer for small businesses, you do not have to pay for a high-priced television advertising space to see from the right audience. Social media plays a predictably large role in advertising.
Twitter used to be a first-class place for Super Bowl Adjazent ads with its own Brand Bowl Roundup From the best brands. But since it has turned from Twitter to X, advertisers spend significantly less money there – – – – 50% less after a few projections – As an X user, sprinkle other platforms such as threads and bluesky.
And in 2023 – the last time the Chiefs and Eagles played for the Lombardi – Adweek noted that brands X have broken off And bring this money to other social platforms such as TikKOK and Instagram.
If you buy a more budget -friendly, skipable ad placement, compete with the attraction of the “Skip display” button, so that you only have one or two seconds to attract your audience’s attention. Here is a clever approach to Burger King:
Consider using other techniques to draw attention, e.g. B. the presentation of an assignable pain point, the offer of a promise of value or the insertion of the spectators in a scene filled by the campaign when the video is played.
If you need more inspiration, you will find some fan favorite ads (and some marketing hours) from Super Bowl 2024.
2. Dive deeper with a video narrative.
Super Bowl ads often feel like miniature films. Instead of establishing a basic pain point and offering a simple product -based solution, they often tell rich stories.
Take the Clio Hall of Fame and Cannes Lions winner “1984.” Under the direction of Ridley Scott for Apple, the display was broadcast during the Super Bowl XIII, when Apple was more outsiders than Tech Gargantuan and IBM ruled the PC World .
At the end of the commercial, a narrator announces: “Apple Macintosh will present on January 24, 1984. And you will see why 1984 will not be “1984”. “
The commercial is a deep metaphor for how the brand of Apple, the innovative products and the Mission Computer User would free from the monopolies of earlier tech giants.
Although Apple had more resources than an average small business, everything to create an attention-grown narrative advertisement is some creative team members and affordable video equipment.
Would you like to create a convincing advertising script? Take a look at this template. If you have a great idea, but are not sure where to start production, read this step-by-step instructions.
3 .. Use big events or public holidays.
Large cultural events such as the Super Bowl or the Oscars are campaign opportunities for large brands that suddenly have the attention of an enormous audience – not only during the event, but often for weeks before and after.
It does not cost gazillions of dollars to create campaigns with references to pop culture or current events. This includes blog posts about how an event refers to your industry, social media posts that use current hashtags, or a marketing video about how your customers may celebrate an event.
During the big game in 2020, Energy Drink brand G-Fuel Twitter users asked to answer, of which they believe they will win the #superbowl. The tweet contains a picture of two G-fuel drinks in front of a soccer field:
This uses the #superbowl -Hashtag, which is seen by millions of football fans. However, you will find that the Super Bowl is not mentioned in the advertisement itself – it is a brand of NFL that does not enable brands to use the event name “with commercial intent”.
One of our former Master in Marketing, Hassan S. Ali, has Some creative ideas With legal questions. So also Newcastle Brown Ale and Anna Kendrick:
4. Lean in co-marketing.
Even large brands are looking for more budget-friendly advertising, how this co-market advertising for 2015. Co-marketing is when two or more brands are together-plus money, time, effort and resource-to create a single content that everyone participating brands emphasized.
For this advertisement, Newcastle collected its money with 37 other brands to buy a Super Bowl display slot, which they adequately bought with the title “Band of Brands” with the title “Band of Brands”:
5. Consider influencer marketing.
In addition to high budget productions and gripping stories, Super Bowl commercials are also known for their casts occupied with stars. Do you remember this advertising spot from Amazon Echo, in which Alexa is expressed by a handful of celebrities?
Although you probably cannot set stars like Cardi B, you may have a budget for A. Micro-influencer Who is credible and persecuted in your industry?
If you Sponsor an influencer Whoever really understands, create and publish your audience and industry that fascinate your audience and at the same time highlight your product.
Influencer marketing strategy can also be particularly effective on social media channels as well as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube or Tiktok.
In this exampleThe smartphone game “Run Around” sponsored a Tikok user who won more than 15,000 followers Simply recording mobile games. The brand found that the audience was on Tikok with a gaming -oriented audience and sponsored an influencer, whose audience anticipates their reviews and demonstrations for mobile games.
6. Use counter -programming.
Sure, more than 100 million people in the USA will watch the big game, but another 200 million habit Be. If your audience is the latter, you have the opportunity to attract your attention while all other Taylor Swift’s friend observe.
Two words: puppy bowl.
Two more words: Kitten Bowl.
A few years ago, Twitter users made their own counter-programming and cheerfully shared pictures of owls instead of joining the Super Bowl Convo.
Listening social life can help you determine what your audience thinks and what you do if you don’t eat seven layers of dip and scream men on TV.
7. Consider digital out-of-home marketing (DOOH).
Steve Nicklin, Senior Vice President Marketing and Analytics for the Out out home advertising association of Americaargued in A Newer blog post That “Dooh offers a convincing alternative to traditional Super Bowl advertising at the same costs.”
Nicklin quotes a one-month Dooh campaign of $ 7 million, which showed 7.5x more reach than a 30-second super bowl spot. He also points out that this is not a zero -Sum game:
“Of course, Super Bowl ads are still a large brand moment, but in order to maximize their effects and investments, brands should consider an integrated, omnichannel approach that DOOH uses in construction before the game, supplements TV spots with real-time DOOH updates and supplement continues the conversation after the game to strengthen important messages and use large games. “
His advice to reach younger audience? “Grain brands can also include social media elements in DOOH ads to increase the commitment of the online brands, especially younger fans.”
Creating a super bowl quality display
When creating a quality display with a small budget, note these scalable large brands:
- Tell a great story: Pull your viewers into it, let them refer and connect to your brand by presenting how your product can help you.
- Accept current events: Craft campaigns, the highly discussed trend events such as Super Bowl, awards shows or holidays, especially if you refer to your brand.
- Use brands and influencers: The partnership with brands and influencers can attract attention from similar spectators that they have not yet reached. To get started, build relationships with brands and influencers who pay attention to their audience or industries for credible tips.
Super Bowl advertising for the rest of us
Even with a small budget, a little planning and a lot of creativity go a long way. Use and adapt these lessons from the large brands to make great ads all year round.
Note from the publisher: This post was originally published in January 2020 and updated for completeness.