The web development platform Wix.com will air its first Super Bowl commercial in the upcoming game, according to the company.
Wix.com, which allows users to create websites, said it had purchased a national 30-second spot from NBC to run during the fourth quarter of Super Bowl on Feb. 1. The ad will highlight Wix's mission to simplify website creation, specifically for small business owners.
Smaller marketers sometimes approximate a Super Bowl buy by assembling air time purchased from local network affiliates or pay-TV cable or satellite systems, but Wix said that was not the case here. "We bought the ad through Two Nil directly from NBC," a Wix spokeswoman said, referring to the company's agency. NBC declined to comment.
"The Super Bowl is where the most exciting and innovative brands come to tell their story on the biggest stage, and we felt that we have something unique and interesting to say," Wix CMO Omer Shai said in an email. "For the past few years we've constantly debated whether we should jump on this opportunity, and this year felt like the perfect mix of readiness as a brand and strength of the story we want to tell."
The goal of the campaign is to raise brand awareness and show the personality of the company, Mr. Shai said.
"With technology it's very easy to focus all of your attention on explaining why a product is amazing," he said. "We wanted to show more of who we are as a brand and this was a perfect place to show this side of Wix."
Wix's buy comes a year after another web development platform, Squarespace, dramatically increased its awareness among consumers with a first-time Super Bowl buy of its own. A Squarespace spokeswoman did not respond to an inquiry about whether the company is coming back to the game.
For the past two years, Wix.com has been running direct response TV ad campaigns in the U.S., Europe and Latin America.
Wix is developing additional creative and content to accompany the Super Bowl ad after the game and in other media, according to Mr. Shai.
Wix.com joins glue giant Loctite among first-time advertisers in Super Bowl XLIX. There will be at least a dozen new faces airing commercials in the big game, according to Seth Winter, exec VP-sales and sales marketing, NBC Sports Group and NBC Universal News Group.
A 30-second spot in the Super Bowl is running advertisers $4.5 million, according to Mr. Winter.