Two of the most popular AI startups are battling for attention at the Super Bowl this weekend with splashy marketing efforts, but with very different approaches. OpenAI bought a Big Game ad, a source close to the situation confirmed to Ad Age; meanwhile, Perplexity will be on the ground in New Orleans with an activation centered around a custom-wrapped Tesla Cybertruck, hoping to generate a stir on social media leading up to the game.
Perplexity was in talks with Fox, the broadcaster of Sunday’s game, for an official commercial, according to Dmitry Shevelenko, Perplexity chief business officer. Instead, it’s spending about $3 million on the marketing adjacent to the game by filming a social series with sports influencers inside of the decked-out Tesla vehicle. Super Bowl ads this year cost between $7 million and $8 million, Ad Age previously reported.
“We had the sense that every AI company would have [a Super Bowl spot], so it would be hard to stand out,” Shevelenko told Ad Age. An outside source, who was familiar with the talks, confirmed that Perplexity did indeed hold discussions with Fox, expressing early interest in a commercial.
OpenAI sealed the deal for a Big Game ad, its first Super Bowl spot and its first major paid advertising campaign.