Why Ally is investing in a streaming-only Super Bowl ad

The underlying marketing message at Ally Financial has always been around spending wisely. That message came into play when the Detroit-based digital bank considered the Super Bowl this year, and helped inform its choice to air a 30-second in-game spot on Paramount+, rather than on linear TV on CBS. The choice to go with the streaming service instead of investing in a pricey national ad buy, where a 30-second spot costs upwards of $7 million, was a “no-brainer,” according to Andrea Brimmer, chief marketing and PR officer at Ally. “We didn’t feel like [a national ad on CBS] aligned with our brand truth which was about saving and about being smart with your money,” she said. “So when the opportunity came for streaming, it really was a very different strategy that was much more in-line with what we felt comfortable investing and felt more leading-edge to us as a digital disruptor.” Check out the latest Ad Age events and award programs Brimmer noted that the price of a Super Bowl ad on Paramount+ is “nowhere near the zip code” of what ads cost for a linear spot on CBS, though she did not immediately provide specifics on price. Ally is not planning to air any ads on Nickelodeon, which will also telecast the game this year. Streaming-only ads for the Super Bowl run during local ad breaks on linear TV. The opportunity for a streaming Super Bowl buy emerged after the brand’s media agency, EssenceMediacom, met with Paramount+ at the upfronts last year. Ally jumped at the opportunity to plan specific creative and a campaign for the Big Game. Advertising on streaming services, where the bulk of Gen Z viewers and many millennials watch TV, could also help Ally attract younger demographics. Submit questions for Ad Age’s panel on Gen Z and the Super Bowl Brimmer pointed to the growing popularity of programming such as Amazon Prime’s “Thursday Night Football” as an example of how streaming is becoming more prominent. “We wanted to start to build the muscle now to understand how to create contextually relevant work and ecosystems in streaming platforms as streaming becomes more pervasive, particularly in the sports landscape,” Brimmer said. Amazon’s Thursday games drew an average of 11.86 million viewers this season—up 24% from the previous year, the streamer recently announced citing Nielsen. But that was still shy of the 12.9 million viewers Thursday games averaged when Fox and NFL Network carried them, according to Sports Media Watch. Amazon says the median age of Prime’s TNF audience is nearly seven years younger than the audience tuning into NFL games on linear networks. Last year’s Super Bowl drew an average of 7 million streams, up 18% from the year prior, according to Fox, which counted audiences streaming on Fox.com, the Fox app, as well as NFL digital properties. The game’s total audience, across digital and linear Fox, was 115 million, making it the most-watched game in history. This marks Ally’s first Super Bowl ad. Six years ago, the financial brand created its own augmented reality Super Bowl game that ended up winning an “Interception” award from Twitter. The online bank worked with Anomaly on creative for the spot, which will be around how consumers can use Ally to help save for the things they see advertised in the Super Bowl. Filming begins this week. Ally will also host a sweepstakes and social media marketing ahead of the Feb. 11 spot to drum up early buzz. Brimmer said the monetary spend around Ally’s Super Bowl marketing is “in line” with a typical campaign and comes from the brand’s “disruptor” marketing budget for the first quarter. Super Bowl commercials Tracking the latest brand and agency plans Enter here

Why Ally is investing in a streaming-only Super Bowl ad

Featured Stories