Do not attempt to adjust your television set. That’s just a Tubi promo messing with you.
While scores of advertisers mostly used celebrities to grab attention on Sunday’s Super Bowl, the Fox-owned streaming service Tubi did so with a clever end-around that had viewers initially wondering what had happened to their TVs during the fourth quarter of the game, which aired on Fox.
This year’s winning ad went to the dogs. The Farmer’s Dog spot ranked first in USA Today’s Super Bowl Ad Meter, which asks the public to rate ads online with a score from 1 to 10.
Read: Ad Age ranks the Top 5 Super Bowl 2023 ads
The pet food company’s 60-second spot features the long life of Bear, a chocolate Labrador who grows up alongside his owner from childhood to her having her own family as an adult. The ad, which was directed in-house, is set to Lee Fields’ classic song, “Forever.” The commercial won with an average score of 6.56 out of 10.
The promo, devised by the agency Mischief, opened on Fox Sports announcers Kevin Burkhardt and Greg Olsen, who were calling the game. As they were talking, the screen suddenly shifted to what looked like a smart TV interface, with somebody clicking around and launching the Tubi app—then selecting the movie “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” to watch.
A few seconds after that, the Tubi logo flashed, making clear it had been a promo all along.