Out with the Bud. In with the mayo.
Unilever’s Hellmann’s is joining a growing list of first-time Super Bowl advertisers as the first mayonnaise brand in the game with a 30-second spot to air in the third commercial break of the second quarter. Its entry is part of a major rotation that has seen such brands as Budweiser, Coke and Pepsi skip the game as seemingly unlikely brands like Huggies move in.
The ad from Wunderman Thompson will feature Amy Schumer, who also shows up in a 15-second teaser. It’s all really about the Unilever brand’s deeper purpose—reducing food waste.
Like all Unilever brands under a 2019 mandate by CEO Alan Jope, Hellmann’s went looking for a purpose beyond the purely functional. Last year, amid the disruption caused by pandemic-related restaurant closings, the brand helped prevent 1.2 million pounds of food from going to waste by redirecting it from farmers’ fields or distribution centers to food banks.
Though Heinz has been in the game previously with ketchup ads, the Super Bowl is a seemingly unlikely spot for Hellmann’s if only because it's not often seen as a game-day food, and the $5.5 million cost of a 30-second spot there is nearly a third of the $16.9 million the brand spent overall on TV last year, per iSpot.tv.