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Here’s Why My Startup Ran an Ad During the Super Bowl
Typically a play for billion-dollar companies with nine-figure marketing budgets, we decided to go for it
Yesterday, 99.9 million people tuned into the Super Bowl. Even if you don’t follow football, you probably caught the halftime show and some of the expensive, celebrity-filled (and often hilarious) commercials, which is why so many advertisers use the game to promote their products. At $5-6 million per 30-second unit, the game is typically reserved for billion-dollar companies with a hundred-million-dollar marketing budget.
Last night, Hint was one of the few upstart brands competing with the big brands for the title of best Super Bowl ad of 2020.
Watch the full Hint commercial here:
Once you’ve committed, there’s no way to back out, even if the spot you’ve created is not appropriate or compelling enough to hang with the big dogs.
I’ll admit, I’m still in “pinch me!” mode. Running a Super Bowl spot has always been a dream for us. But we didn’t think it would happen in 2020. After all, this is the first brand campaign we’ve ever produced. And unlike most brands, we did not create the ad specifically to run in the Super Bowl.
How Hint made the roster
The first lesson in hacking America’s most-viewed televised sporting event: Start with a great commercial idea before you commit to a Super Bowl spot. If your ad doesn’t hold up against the other spots in the game — meaning it’s not uproariously funny or a poignant tearjerker — it could be a huge waste of time and money or, worse, hurt your brand. Unfortunately, once you’ve committed, there’s no way to back out, even if the spot you’ve created is not appropriate or compelling enough to hang with the big dogs.
