M&M’s uses a reveal gone wrong to reveal very little about its Super Bowl spot
M&M’s wants to show its upcoming Super Bowl spot to 50,000 fans via Zoom next week—the latest effort by an advertiser paying big bucks to draw attention to a commercial before its big game moment.
The Mars Wrigley candy brand unveiled a 15-second teaser on Wednesday. The spot was posted on YouTube with the title “Reveal gone wrong,” which sums up the premise. A countdown at an outdoor gender reveal party is shown, and soon after a countdown begins, there’s a boom, smoke and coughing. Then, words appear on the screen to explain what’s going on: M&M’s will make it better on Feb. 7.
Um, ok?
The teaser and the 30-second in-game spot come from BBDO New York.
Fans who don’t want to wait until the Super Bowl are invited to a virtual preview on at 9 a.m. ET Feb. 3 via Zoom.
“M&M’s believes fun and humor can actually have the power to bring us closer together,” Mars Wrigley North America Chief Marketing Officer Sarah Long said in a statement. “In a year when so many of us have connected virtually, premiering the M&M’S Super Bowl ad on a virtual platform was the perfect way to share our latest campaign evolution, while building on Mars Wrigley’s purpose to create better moments that make the world smile.”
M&M’s explains that there’s some excitement involved, so apparently, it won’t be like a typical pandemic morning Zoom meeting.
Viewers are set to see the Yellow spokescandy host the commercial premiere. “He will also be joined by a few surprise guests throughout the premiere, including M&M’S racing partner, Coach Joe Gibbs,” the brand announced.
The 30-second Super Bowl spot is set to run during the first commercial break following kickoff.
It is M&M’s sixth ad in the game in the past decade. M&M’s last appeared in 2019, with a spot starring Christina Applegate driving the spokescandies, who were bad passengers. It previously ran spots in 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2018.
To keep track of all the advertisers running national spots in the game, bookmark Ad Age’s regularly updated Super Bowl ad chart.
Join Ad Age on Feb. 2 for a look at how brands are navigating the pandemic and addressing diversity in their ads for the 2021 game.
