The social media power of Super Bowl commercial celebrities

Welcome to Ad Age Datacenter Weekly, our data-obsessed newsletter for marketing and media professionals. Amazon advertising by the numbers “Amazon in 2021 poured $16.9 billion into worldwide advertising and promotion,” Ad Age Datacenter’s Bradley Johnson reports, “a 55% spending increase that will solidify the retailer’s rank as the No. 1 U.S. advertiser and virtually ensure it will take the top spot in Ad Age’s global advertisers ranking.” Essential context: “The company’s spending spree last year worked out to an astounding $32,000 a minute—or $536 a second,” Johnson notes. Keep reading here. See also: “Amazon Has Received $4.7 Billion in Subsidies Globally, Watchdog Says,” per Vice. Big Game star power In “Why Super Bowl 2022 commercials star so many A-list celebrities,” Ad Age’s Parker Herren reports on a bunch of very good reasons—including the social media reach of many of those celebs. Ad Age Datacenter Weekly checked in with influencer platform CreatorIQ, which has been tallying the total social media reach of some of the highest-profile Big Game ad stars. Here’s a short list of selected Super Bowl advertisers, followed by the stars of their commercials and follower tallies: • Sam’s Club — Kevin Hart: 237.8 million followers (136 million followers on Instagram alone) • Squarespace — Zendaya: 172.9 million followers • Nissan — Eugene Levy (505k), Danai Gurira (4.8 million), Dave Bautista (16.9 million) and Brie Larson (9.8 million): 32 million followers • Planet Fitness — Lindsay Lohan: 26 million followers • Booking.com — Idris Elba: 19.9 million followers The bottom line: Celebrities inevitably make noise about their Big Game commercials across some or all of their social channels, and often share teasers and full spots in the run-up to Super Bowl Sunday. It’s becoming increasingly clear that brands are thinking of famous endorsers as the key to unlocking a massive, parallel distribution network for their Big Game (and other) brand messaging—beyond TV and the brands’ owned-and-operated channels. Subscribe to Ad Age Datacenter for essential data and insights on all of the most-advertised brands. The pregame Super Bowl ad stars Social video measurement and analytics firm Tubular has been tallying all the views that Super Bowl teasers and full ads (the ones released in full before the Big Game) have been getting. Here are the top three brand winners so far, through EOD Thursday: Top 3 most-viewed Super Bowl LVI ads and teasers across social video (YouTube, Facebook, Twitter) 1. Nissan “Thrill Driver” — teaser + commercial: 53,879,231 2. Amazon: “Mind Reader” — teaser + commercial: 38,702,786 3. Bud Light Seltzer Hard Soda: “Loudest of Flavors” — commercial: 18,270,966 Miss anything? “See all the Super Bowl commercials released so far,” and “All the Super Bowl commercial teasers released so far,” from Ad Age. Ad Age Agency Report 2022: Call for entries The upcoming Ad Age Agency Report 2022 will include the industry’s definitive ranking of agencies, agency networks and agency companies. Make sure your agency is included by completing Ad Age Datacenter’s questionnaire, available at AdAge.com/arq. Watch for it: Ad Age’s 78th annual Agency Report comes out online and in print on April 25. See last year’s report: AdAge.com/agencyreport2021. Super Bowl DEI data “As Madison Avenue approaches year two in its commitment to create a more diverse and inclusive ad industry,” Ad Age’s Jeanine Poggi reports, “most Super Bowl advertisers are either still struggling to create commercials that depict true representation or don’t appear to be trying at all.” Essential context: “Ahead of this year’s Big Game, Ad Age asked every advertiser with plans to air in-game commercials about how they prioritized diversity and inclusion in the creation and production of their ads. This included how they approached casting, diversity within the agencies they worked with, and the makeup of those working on the production. While some brands had very clear action steps and outlined ways they implemented these practices in the conceptual and production phases of their ads, many could not provide specific details on the makeup of who worked on their ads.” Keep reading here. Macroeconomic news and data in a nutshell • “US inflation highest in 40 years, with no letup in sight,” the Associated Press reports. • “Higher Inflation Is Probably Costing You $276 a Month,” per The Wall Street Journal. • “Jobless Claims Fall More Than Forecast as Labor Market Continues to Tighten,” per Barron’s. Previously: “U.S. advertising employment fell in January,” from Ad Age Datacenter. Omnicom on the rise “Omnicom Group posted fourth-quarter organic revenue growth of 9.5% as it worked through another year of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic,” Ad Age’s Keira Wingate reports. “This marked the holding company’s third consecutive quarter of organic growth.” Essential context: “Omnicom reported full-year 2021 worldwide organic growth of 10.2%, a turnaround from the deep 11.1% organic decline the company reported for 2020. ... Chairman-CEO John Wren said Omnicom forecasts full-year 2022 organic growth of 5% to 6% while maintaining the same 15.4% operating margin that Omnicom delivered in 2021.” Keep reading here. See also: “IPG organic net revenue grew nearly 12% in 2021, shares fall after recent jump,” from Ad Age’s Brian Bonilla. Join us on March 10 for our free Ad Age In-Depth: Unlocking the Metaverse virtual event. Just briefly • “Nielsen may ditch overnight ratings with new measurement service,” Ad Age reports. • “As data sharing ramps up, health insurers wade into patient privacy debate,” per Stat. • “French watchdog says Google Analytics poses data privacy risks,” from Reuters. • “TikTok shares your data more than any other social media app—and it’s unclear where it goes, study says,” CNBC reports. The newsletter is brought to you by Ad Age Datacenter, the industry’s most authoritative source of competitive intel and home to the Ad Age Leading National Advertisers, the Ad Age Agency Report: World’s Biggest Agency Companies and other exclusive data-driven reports. Access or subscribe to Ad Age Datacenter at AdAge.com/Datacenter. Ad Age Datacenter is Kevin Brown, Bradley Johnson and Catherine Wolf. This week’s newsletter was compiled and written by Simon Dumenco. Subscribe to Ad Age Datacenter for essential data and insights on all of the most-advertised brands.

The social media power of Super Bowl commercial celebrities: Datacenter Weekly

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