I’m Ad Age Editor Jeanine Poggi, counting down to Super Bowl LVI. With less than one week left until the Cincinnati Bengals face off against the Los Angeles Rams, airing on NBC on Feb. 13, Ad Age is bringing you breaking news, analysis and first looks at the high-stakes Big Game commercials—all in our Super Bowl newsletter. Sign up right here to get them in your email.
Special Report: Super Bowl
Super Bowl Alert: Alexa reads your mind and NFTs make a cameo in Big Game commercials
Scarlett Johansson and Colin Jost.
Credit:
Amazon
Alexa reads your mind
Amazon’s Super Bowl commercial plays on one of Alexa users biggest fears: that the smart home device hears everything you say (and perhaps even some of what you don’t). Scarlett Johansson and her husband, “SNL Weekend Update” host Colin Jost, imagine that Alexa can read their minds, interjecting some paranoia into their relationship, Ad Age’s Garett Sloane writes.
You can watch Amazon’s ad and all the Super Bowl ads released so far here.
Barbie girl and bitcoin
Rocket Mortgage and FTX are two of the latest brands to release Super Bowl teasers. Anna Kendrick and Barbie team up for Rocket Mortgage’s commercial, which will promote Rocket Homes, its in-house realty brand. FTX is promoting a bitcoin giveaway in a series of teasers released today.
Plus, Jim Carrey is bringing back his iconic character "The Cable Guy," in Verizon's Super Bowl teaser released today. You can watch Verizon's teaser and all the teasers released so far here.
NFTs get a cameo
An NFT makes a cameo in Bud Light’s spot for its new zero-carb brew released today. In the spot for Bud Light Next we see people escaping uncomfortable or boring situations, like a bad date. In one scene, a classic painting portrait at an art gallery is shown wearing pixelated glasses that is a reference to an NFT. It ends with an avatar playing a guitar in a virtual-reality landscape, in a nod to the metaverse, Ad Age’s E.J. Schultz writes.
To keep track of all the advertisers running national spots in the game, bookmark Ad Age’s regularly updated Super Bowl ad chart.
Earth before metaverse
Matthew McConaughey is urging Super Bowl viewers to prioritize planet Earth before considering things like the metaverse in Salesforce's first Big Game commercial. The spot, which debuted during the Winter Olympics and will air in the Super Bowl, shows McConaughey as an astronaut who initially seems awed by the “new frontier” of space—but quickly realizes he is more fond of what earth has to offer.
Health kick
You don’t typically think of hitting the gym or plan your next physical as you stuff yourself with wings, pizza and soda (and watch commercials for these items) during the Super Bowl. But health and wellness brands want to be considered alongside beer and chips in this year’s game, Ad Age’s Adrianne Pasquarelli reports. Brands like Planet Fitness and Hologic, a women’s health brand, will air commercials in Super Bowl LVI. And even some of the beer messaging is healthy—Anheuser-Busch InBev is running a spot for its zero carb brand Bud Light Next.
