And, lo, the entire country proclaimed, in unison, "WTF?" And then rewound the spot, during the game, and watched it again.
This ad cost Loctite roughly what it spends on all of marketing in a typical year, so it was a hell of a gamble. The spot is visually and audibly weird enough to not look like any of the other spots in the game. The soundtrack is not only oddly arresting, but the lyrics are about glue. Go on. Go back and listen to them.
The visuals show product benefits (the glue sticks!) and repeatedly flash the brand's name. In a way, it's almost like subliminal advertising: You're focused on the dancers and the song, trying to figure out what's going on, meanwhile the spot is flashing the brand logo and packaging at you over and over again. And next time you're in the hardware store or Walmart, which glue brand is going to catch your eye?
To go behind the scenes with Loctite and Fallon Minneapolis as they made the spot and anxiety built, watch the first season of Ad Age's groundbreaking video series "Anatomy of an Ad."
Teasing out the results even a year later was difficult. Loctite got a nice bounce after the Super Bowl, with sales up 8.6% for the four weeks ended Feb. 22 versus the prior-year period. But the ad seemed to give the whole category a nice bounce too, with sales up 6.5% overall. Even stranger, Gorilla Glue, with no Super Bowl ad, grew even faster.
BRAND: Loctite
YEAR: 2015
AGENCY: Fallon
SUPERBOWL: XLIX
QUARTER AIRED: Q4