Beauty brands in the Super Bowl—how Taylor Swift, women’s sports and social are driving these ads

This year’s Super Bowl has become a surprising hotbed of beauty advertising, with 30-second spots from four brands on a broadcast where none were represented for most of the past 57 years. Driving the influx is a double-digit spike in NFL game viewership by females over the past year, driven in part by the Taylor Swift effect. And beyond that, brands even with relatively small paid media budgets are betting big that the game will pay social media dividends and build retailer support. Super Bowl commercials Tracking the latest brand and agency plans Enter here Unilever’s Dove, which hasn’t been in the game since 2006 with its female-focused brand, will be advertising. So will e.l.f. Beauty, expanding this year to a national buy after airing in nine major regional markets during the game last year. L’Oréal USA’s NYX Professional Makeup bought a spot in the 10 largest U.S. regional markets, plus nationally on Univision. And L’Oréal’s CeraVe dropped a teaser on Feb. 7 for its first entry into the Super Bowl, expected to air in the first quarter, The New York Times reported. That followed an extensive social media build-up featuring a faux founder, Michael Cera. More: Watch e.l.f.’s ‘Judge Beauty’ Super Bowl commercial It all adds up to an unprecedented level of interest by beauty advertisers in the Big Game. Prior to this year, the last time a beauty brand had an ad in the game nationally was Procter & Gamble Co.’s Olay, which ended a two-year stint advertising on the Big Game in 2020. Consider that L’Oréal, the No. 2 global advertiser per the Ad Age Datacenter, never had a brand in the game before this year—and now has two. While the $7 million price tag for a 30-second spot fits fairly easily into the budgets of Dove and CeraVe, it will make up a huge double-digit percentage portion of the measured media budgets for e.l.f. and NYX. Dove had U.S. media spending of $143 million in the first half of 2023 and $309 million in 2022, per Vivvix including paid social data from Pathmatics. CeraVe had measured spending of $117 million in 2022 and spent $51 million on national linear TV alone last year, per iSpot.tv. E.l.f. spent only $19 million in the first half of 2023 plus $15 million in 2022. And NYX, which never has had an ad on national linear TV per iSpot.tv, spent only $9 million in the first half and $15 million in 2022 per Vivvix and Pathmatics. Big gains in female NFL audience and engagement NFL viewership and ad engagement data suggest the investment is more likely to be worth it than ever, even for the smaller spending beauty brands. A report Feb. 7 from the Video Advertising Bureau, based on analysis of Nielsen data, found the average minute audience for Kansas City Chiefs games was 33% higher among females age 2 and older and 25% higher for females 18-49 than for the average NFL game, and the Chiefs will be back in the Big Game. Of course, the Chiefs were a good team getting prime TV slots even before tight end Travis Kelce began dating Taylor Swift and people tuned in to see if she was attending games. But Swift has helped fuel a surge in female viewership of NFL games even beyond Chiefs games. The weekly average minute audience among females age 2 and older for all NFL games was up 29% in 2023 vs. 2022, per the VAB’s Nielsen analysis. Weekly average reach for the NFL among females was up 26% to 12.5 million. And total time spent by females with the NFL rose 35% to 4.5 million hours. “We saw upticks in female viewership before the Swift effect,” said VAB CEO Sean Cunningham. “But it definitely accelerated the movement.” And the increased female audience appears to be the primary driving force for improved NFL ratings overall this year, he said. Last year’s experience for e.l.f. also suggests that, even before the Swift effect, a cosmetics brand could do well in the Big Game, said Kevin Krim, CEO of EDO, which tracks engagement with ads based on search and online activity. Last year’s e.l.f. ad was 2.8 times more engaging than the median Super Bowl spot, according to EDO. And it was a similar story for beauty ads that ran during the NFL regular season this year, Krim said. Health and beauty category ads outperformed the average for all primetime spots by 23%, with a 33% increase in airings of category ads within NFL broadcasts. Category ad engagement for health and beauty ads, such as P&G’s Head and Shoulders, jumped 29% this year over last year’s NFL regular season. EDO’s engagement numbers control for the increase in the NFL’s female audience, Krim said, so the strong engagement for beauty ads isn’t because there are more female viewers but because viewers responded more to the ads. That likely bodes well for Super Bowl ad engagement generally, but especially for beauty. Good indicators for Dove An additional tailwind for Dove’s ad this year is an overall surge in interest in women’s sports, according to EDO, which saw a double-digit lift in ad engagement during broadcasts of WNBA and women’s soccer in 2023 compared to 2022. Dove’s ad, like its 2006 Campaign for Real Beauty spot, isn’t product-focused, but about building self-esteem for girls, and hence has a potentially broader audience interest than those of e.l.f. or NYX, including all parents. Dove’s 30-second spot from Ogilvy supports its Body Confident Sport Program, prompted by the finding that 45% of girls globally drop out of sports due to low body confidence. Interest in sports by women and girls has “grown exponentially” as the number of girls participating in sports has risen, said Kathryn Fernandez, global brand director for Dove, during Ad Age’s Super Bowl Playbook virtual event Feb. 6. But getting the body confidence message out to a broad audience that includes parents, the girls themselves, former athletes and coaches is important too, she said, and makes the diverse audience of the Super Bowl more important. Taylor Swift and lip gloss Big gains in female viewership of NFL games this season certainly were a factor in bringing NYX to the Super Bowl, said Yasmin Dastmalchi, general manager U.S. of NYX Professional Makeup. “Frankly, this year, it’s also a huge pop culture moment, as we’ve seen the Taylor Swift effect,” Dastmalchi said. “We are the number one gloss brand in America,” she said, “And for us, this is a moment when people think about lip [products] and Taylor, so definitely interesting.” That’s true even if Swift, known for her signature red lip lipstick and gloss, hasn’t officially disclosed what products she uses, at least not since 2015, when it was MAC Ruby Roo. But her lip makeup routine continues to be a subject of considerable conjecture and even media analysis. Cardi B, who is an avowed fan of NYX, is the star who will appear in NYX’s ad from McCann, and is already in a teaser. The effort specifically backs the launch of a new shade, Cherry Spice, of NYX Duck Plump High Pigment Plumping Lip Gloss, sold exclusively via nyxcosmetics.com and Ulta Beauty. The Super Bowl plan played a role in generating Ulta’s interest, Dastmalchi said. And the game is also a social media opportunity that extends weeks, including the teaser featuring Cardi B, which had racked up 2.2 million views on YouTube alone in less than a week through Feb. 7. “Social has always been at the center of how we activate, but we’re creating a full 360 moment to connect with our community,” said Denée Pearson, global brand president of NYX. “Social will be truly a pillar for us.” Even with all the female audience growth and the Swift effect, it takes more to justify a Super Bowl media outlay, said Michael Kuremsky, branding consultant and former marketer on P&G’s Olay brand, who’s also visiting professor of branding at Xavier University. “Being the unexpected brand in the game has a little talk value,” Kuremsky said. “The main reason for a brand to be there is as an anchor for a full-on holistic campaign, especially if you can engage retailers with driving volume and sales through their stores with special promotions and get influencers to amplify messaging. That’s where you can get ROI.” And social strategies appear to be working so far, at least for NYX and e.l.f. As of last week, NYX ranked second in the top 10 category of pre-released Super Bowl ads and teasers on social media, including TikTok, as measured by Sprinklr. On X, NYX was the fifth most mentioned brand in the game, with e.l.f. right behind, according to Sprinklr. E.l.f.’s social long game It would be hard to question e.l.f.'s marketing or Super Bowl plans, given consistent strong double-digit growth since it advertised in the game last year. Just this week, e.l.f. posted an 85% sales increase for the fiscal third quarter, which ended Dec. 31. While e.l.f. clearly saw strong results following last year’s program, it’s also put more planning into its social media strategy this year. That includes leveraging a big-budget lineup of talent that appears in the spot, including Judge Judy Sheindlin, Meghan Trainor, cast members of “Suits” and Heidi N Closet from “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” in a social campaign that will last for months after the game. E.l.f.’s creative agency Shadow leaned heavily into the social media-driven renaissance of “Suits” by casting three of its stars in the TV spot—Gina Torres, Rick Hoffman and Sarah Rafferty—said Lisette Sand-Freedman, the agency’s co-founder and chief visionary officer. Shadow also filled the jury box and viewing gallery with several of e.l.f.’s past celebrity partners, including Benito Skinner (aka Benny Drama); sports analyst and former NFL linebacker Emmanuel Acho and co-hosts of the beauty podcast “Gloss Angeles,” Kirbie Johnson and Sara Tan. The star-studded cast and courtroom themes will extend across TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat content. That includes a two-episode miniseries from Skinner, e.l.f.’s “Gen Z intern Kooper;” a three-episode series from Trainor as courtroom correspondent; and “get ready with me” videos from several of the actors. @elfyeah hey girly pops 👋 it’s ME – Kooper – e.l.f.’s new intern AKA CMO of Digital 💁♂️ today I'm summoning all my favs for beauty duty ⚖️ be sure to watch e.l.f.’s ✨🏈 BIG GAME 🏈✨ campaign ad on 2.11 📺 more to come! #eyeslipsfacts #elfcosmetics ♬ original sound - e.l.f. Cosmetics Shadow also got popular meme accounts FuckJerry and BeigeCardigan to create memes tied to the TV spot and worked with the account Dudette with Sign to co-create a sign and further amplify e.l.f.’s Super Bowl campaign, Sand-Freedman said. To produce the roughly 18 pieces of social media content, Sand-Freedman dedicated an entire day to capturing social content on the courtroom set used for the TV spot. That’s a big difference from last year, when the agency wasn’t able to create a catalog of social media content around the campaign starring Jennifer Coolidge because that TV spot came together in just three weeks. This year, e.l.f. Beauty took seven weeks to put the plan together, said Kory Marchisotto, its chief marketing officer. “With more of a runway, we were really able to be intentional with our strategy, and social was truly our top consideration,” Sand-Freedman said. Last year’s hurry up effort still proved the Super Bowl was worth it, Marchisotto said, in part because the complexion booster featured in the spot sold one bottle every four seconds in the months that followed. Ad Age Leading Women Luncheon Join us Aug. 7 in New York as we recognize this year’s honorees Buy your ticket today This year, e.l.f. is competing for attention in the game with a close competitor in value-priced mass cosmetics, at least in much of the country. But Marchisotto said she’s happy NYX is joining the mix. “We’re so happy we blazed a new trail,” she said, “because beauty belongs in the Big Game.” But the question is how many beauty brands will return next year, once the novelty wears off. “I still think it’s a novelty,” Kuremsky said. “Once you’ve done it, brands evaluate the impact on their business and their equity given the extensive cost.” The conversation, he said, may be: “We’ve had our time in the sun, and now we’re moving on to other things that are more relevant.”

Beauty brands in the Super Bowl—how Taylor Swift, women’s sports and social are driving these ads

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