Super Bowl ads usually take months for concept and production, with planning starting as much as a year in advance. But even though Duracell had never been in the Big Game before, President of North and Latin America Ramon Velutini jumped at the opportunity in December when he got a chance to meet Tom Brady and sell him on the idea.

What followed was an unlikely buy crammed into a supposedly sold-out broadcast for an unusual creative execution, all coming together in about 40 days. The floater buy set for the game’s first unscheduled commercial break was meant to flow so it would look like an in-game conversation between Fox Sports analyst Brady and play-by-play man Kevin Burkhardt. But Brady, in the commercial, turns out to be a robot running low on power because of cheap batteries, then revived with Duracell products and cracking wise about his takedown by comedian Nikki Glaser in a May roast.

“We had the itch of doing something big for the Super Bowl, because the brand needed it, and we had this new campaign and Duracell Scientist [character] that we wanted to showcase,” said Velutini. “I felt, personally, that Brady could be a great way in, because he’s so in-focus because of his commentating job. So the moment I got introduced to him, literally a few minutes after, I sent a text to [VaynerMedia Chief Client Officer Nick Miaritis] and said, ‘Nick, I’m meeting with Tom in five days, and we need some ideas, because I want to pitch him on whether he is open to doing this.”

Miaritis came back with two ideas, and Brady picked his favorite on the spot. “He said, ‘Let’s make it happen,’” Velutini said. “He put me in contact with his team the next day. And after that, we had to get Fox to give us inventory, because it was completely sold out. So in 48 hours, after us showing and sharing the idea with them, sharing that Tom was very much enthusiastic about it, they confirmed that and we negotiated [our agreement with Tom].” (In November, Fox said it sold out inventory for the Super Bowl before creating a waitlist for brands looking to get into the Big Game.)

Duracell got the final OK from Brady’s team on Dec. 26, Velutini said, “and we worked pretty much every single day after that on making this a reality.” By mid-January, Duracell and VaynerMedia were shooting the ad, after getting Burkhardt on board. Brady’s production company Shadow Lion played an integral role in making the ad happen, Velutini said.

Because of Brady’s influence in convincing Fox and the time constraint, Duracell, a unit of Berkshire Hathaway, negotiated the buy directly with the network. But WPP’s EssenceMediacom is handling the rest of the media effort around it, with Citizen Relations handling PR.

Duracell needs a power boost, too

Like Brady in the commercial, Duracell needs a power boost. Per Circana data from Evercore ISI, Duracell has been flat on a dollar basis and down 2% annually on a volume basis since 2019, while rival Energizer has grown an average of 5% annually in dollar sales and private-label has grown 9% annually over those five years.

“We have a brand challenge, and we think we need a big swing,” Velutini said. “The team just brought together an idea that was unexpected. I think the brand at its core is authentically tied to culture. Those are, to me, the three ingredients that make work really work.”

Brady was the perfect personality for Duracell to build on its “Built Different” campaign, Velutini said.

“People increasingly think all batteries are the same, and we’re out there to convince them that’s not true,” he said. “We have this innovation we launched a few years ago called Power Boost Ingredients, which is something that no other battery has.”

Besides the substantial outlay for talent and a 30-second spot, with media alone estimated at $8 million, it was a risky enterprise. Since the unscheduled timeout where the ad was set to run could come because of an injury on field, a funny ad that starts out seemingly as live-action banter among the Fox personalities could come across as being in bad taste. Miaritis acknowledged the risk but said the team decided it was worth it.

Breaking tradition was key

“For us, breaking the traditional format of a Super Bowl ad was key to making sure we broke through,” Velutini said, “given that the bar is so high.”

Duracell and VaynerMedia eschewed the standard practice around Super Bowl ads of pregame publicity and teasers, because the element of surprise was so important to making the spot work, Miaritis said. But they have an extensive, weeks-long postgame digital and social plan that includes distribution of outtakes.

“One of the bloopers that you’ll see was Tom complaining about so many takes,” Velutini said. “He’s like, ‘You have 700 takes already.’ But we worked with a great director [Vincent Peone] and there was a healthy tension there. He even made jokes like ‘Are you Belichick?’”

The line at the end of the spot referring to former Patriots wide receiver and Fox Sports studio commentator Rob Gronkowski was actually an improv from the actor who plays the Duracell Scientist, Laith Wallschleger, Velutini said.

“We really loved it,” Velutini said. “I called Tom’s team, and I’m like, can you call Gronk really quick to see if he’s on board? And we got Gronk on board in 10 minutes.”

“I don’t think we’ve ever worked with a celebrity talent as good as Brady, Velutini said. “It’s not because he was easy. He was demanding. His team was demanding, and when they didn’t feel our script was great, they told us. But they also worked with us to get to that, so there was this level of healthy tension.”

Among other things, Brady nailed the robot look by the second or third take, Miaritis said. “And it was in that moment we were like, ‘Oh, he totally gets this and is going to sell it. And so we were fired up.”

Miaritis in his career has been involved with a few unconventional Super Bowl approaches, to be sure, including Miller High Life’s 1-second ads in 2009 and the 2018 “It’s a Tide Ad” series of faux ads for other brands.

“This one is the purest, most fun that I’ve ever had creating a Super Bowl ad,” Miaritis said.