What’s Captifying The World: A Touchdown For Travel—Travel Brands Lead Consumer Search Interest Amongst Super Bowl Advertisers, Ahead Of Rookie Crypto Players
Last year’s Super Bowl was marked by advertisers tiptoeing around the pandemic, with legacy sponsors such as Budweiser taking a timeout from the big game.
This year, advertisers shifted their tactics—from ‘big-laugh’ commercials, metaverse themed bars to A-List celebrity appearances.
Captify takes look at some of the biggest search highlights to understand which advertisers joined the big leagues and resonated with viewers and which might have missed the mark.
A touchdown for travel
Through analyzing billions of searches, Captify revealed that travel advertisers dominated search interest among Super Bowl viewers—seeing a 383% search uplift week-over-week (WoW)—beating rookie Crypto players and historic fan favorites, such as CPG and auto.
In particular, Expedia’s first Super Bowl commercial in more than a decade stole viewers’ attention, seeing an impressive 623% WoW search increase. Other travel advertisers that won big include:
- Turkish Airlines: +368%
- Booking.com: +158% *first-time Super Bowl advertiser
Interestingly, all three of these commercials were released ahead of game day and featured celebrities, a strategy that continues to resonate with viewers year after year.
*Data sourced from Captify’s US network from 2/6/22 vs 2/13/22
Winners and losers of the Super Bowl
It’s reported that advertisers cashed out an estimated $6.5 million per 30-second spot, but who actually cut through the clutter?
Captify analyzed week-over-week (WoW) search interest to reveal which advertisers captured viewer intent…
Winners:
- The ‘Crypto’ bowl?—crypto newcomers made a huge splash at this year’s Super Bowl, becoming the second-most searched for advertisers behind travel, with a 223% uplift in WoW searches. When it came to brand intent, Crypto.com actually generated more viewer interest than Coinbase (665% search uplift vs 5%) despite Coinbase being slated as one of the most hotly discussed game-day advertisers
- Cause-driven commercials drive conversations—The Botanist gin saw a whopping 1036% WoW search uplift following the debut of their first-ever TV commercial to drive awareness for local bars and restaurants that continue to be impacted by the pandemic
- Mortgages continue to be hot property—Rocket Mortgages’ commercial featuring Anna Kendrick saw a 404% WoW search uplift, with the star actively teasing the spot in the run-up to the game
For some brands, was the hefty investment in the Super Bowl actually worth it?
- Pepsi didn’t leave viewers thirsty for more—despite releasing their ‘Road to the Super Bowl’ commercial featuring NFL legends in mid-January and hosting a star-studded half-time show, Pepsi saw a 43% decrease in WoW searches
- Covid-19 takes a backseat (finally)—although Cue Health represented the broadcast’s only Covid-19 related spot, search interest decreased 36% WoW—seemingly, viewers are more interested in uplifting and light-hearted commercials.
*Data sourced from Captify’s US network 2/7/22 vs 2/14/22
Keeping a pulse on the true impact of TV advertising
Brand marketers can lean on real-time intent signals such as changes in search volume to understand the true impact of their TV advertising efforts—producing real-time opportunities for brands to connect with in-market audiences on any screen.
Get in touch for more information about Captify’s Search-Powered Addressable TV (ATV) product and to find out how to get started today.
