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Every year it seems another brand thinks of a new way to get Super Bowl-sized attention without the Super Bowl-sized prices. Remember a couple years ago Newcastle Beer was asking for handouts in their "Band of Brands" concept? I wrote about that one here. Well, Skittles has found a genius way to do its own end-around on the Super Bowl hype. And it just might work.
Watch this and you'll get the idea:
It's a jujitsu move on audience size.
Last reported at $5,000,000 per :30 spot, why are Super Bowl spots so expensive? It's the audience-size, of course. Everyone in America watches it (as do many more around the world). The more people watching, the more a medium can charge for the advertising. Simple.
Which is what makes this Skittles idea so great.
The idea here - the innovation - is that Skittles is turning audience size on its head. I don't know what the brand is paying for the ability to show their ad to exactly one person (Marcos Menendez, lucky!) and for the right to use "NFL" and "Super Bowl" in their alternative communications, but it ain't $5,000,000, we can be sure of that.
Yet what makes this idea a jujitsu move - using one's opponent's strengths against him - is that running a Super Bowl ad to one person is inherently newsworthy. It's funny, it's quirky, it's curious, it's provocative and is a piece of information that is nearly impossible not to share, as evidenced by this post.
In short, this idea - not the execution of it, just the bare-naked idea to run a Super Bowl spot to only one person - has massive legs. Legs that may equal the number of eyeballs watching the Super Bowl in total.
Before, during, after: legs legs legs.
Before. We're in the "before the Super Bowl" stage right now. People are already talking about this idea and, therefore, the Skittles brand. The hype film posted above is fantastic and highly sharable. More are sure to come.
During. The call to action in the film above is to, "Watch Marcos watch the ad live on Super Bowl Sunday. Facebook.com/skittles" Smart. Here's where the funny/quirky/curious/provocative nature of this idea pays off. Skittles has now created a thirty second reality show that will be easy to watch while also watching the Super Bowl since the Skittles event is on Facebook. Kids will watch it right on their phones. I would hate to be the ad running on the Super Bowl targeting the other 99.999999999% of the audience at that exact moment. Let's hope it's targeting the elderly or something.
After. Not everyone will have seen Marcos watch the ad live, so there will be a long aftermarket of people watching a recorded version of the main event. Depending on how the public takes it I could see Ellen interviewing Marcos about his experience. Maybe those kinds of PR hits are already lined up. I wouldn't be surprised. And who knows, maybe Marcos becomes a spokesperson for Skittles longer term? Anything is possible when playing in the land of the funny/quirky/curious/provocative.
I personally love ideas that are more than just great creative. The big idea here is way further up stream from any creative execution. That idea being, show a Super Bowl ad to exactly one person.
Boom!
