As Super Bowl sales are in full swing, I’d like to tell you a story about two ad campaigns featured in past games that will live forever because they are not just cute stories but reflections of our humanity (:30 in the first SB averaged $40k and is now $7M). I am talking about VW’s “The Force” and Doritos “Time Machine”. I get chills just writing it down! Marketing Magic. Advertising Aces. Promotional Perfection. Both held a mirror up to that hallmark of humanity; culture, while at the same time putting on full display an intangible human characteristic which broke the chains of corporate red tape too heavy to lift today; creativity.
VW leveraged the popularity of Star Wars (itself a cultural artifact), childhood nostalgia and a touching family moment, while at the same time placing a Passat smack in the middle of it all. The car was by no means the main attraction, but it nonetheless hitched a ride into our hearts. “Very early on we knew it was extraordinary,” said Tom Else, Deutsch’s VW account director. Deutsch executives said it was a rare spot where there were essentially no changes or edits coming from inside creative or from the client. In other words, out of the gate – it was so good, nobody dared put their fingerprints on it because they knew they’d only break it.
But upon the spots’ success, a sort of pseudo-scientific hypothesis began to place credit where credit wasn’t exactly due.
One possible way to stand out was to release “The Force” early, even though it defied what was widely accepted as smart advertising strategy around the biggest ad day of the year. So, four days before the game, the ad showed up on YouTube. “It was a controversial decision to run it early, even among the ad agency and VW’s marketing team. But I thought if everything goes right, this thing will catch fire and go viral”, said Tim Ellis, former head of Marketing for VW N. America. It caught fire all right, gaining 17 million views on YouTube before kickoff – But try releasing a dud “early” and see what happens.
Later – Unruly group-tested “The Force” and found that it hit five of 10 “social motivators” that trigger people to share something. They found that viewers sent the ad to others in part because it reflected a shared passion with someone else (Star Wars) and that sharers believed it could be useful (their friend might be looking for a new car). But Unruly also found that it resonated on a more gut level, eliciting feelings of joy and surprise when the kid “turns on” the car, which researchers say is a key component in motivating us to share. All that specialized insight to tell us that it made anyone with a heartbeat FEEL GOOD.
The Crash the Super Bowl contest was an annual online commercial competition run by Frito-Lay. Consumers were invited to create their own Doritos ads with the grand prize to air in the Big Game. Ryan Thomas Andersen of Scottsdale, on a $300 budget, created one of the most classic commercials of all time. Featuring his 6-year-old son Gavin, Time Machine (like The Force) tells a hilarious, enduring, and endearing story which features the brand but encompasses all that it means to be a bipedal mammal that can love and reason. Also like The Force, there were no planners breathing down the neck of creative – no focus group – no concern about how many of the 10 “social motivators” it would hit. Just a man and the universe of intention. Ryan Andersen was later diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer and said this in an interview with Arizona’s ABC affiliate, KNXV-TV: “I’ve got lots of life left and I’ve got lots of stories and lots of lives to change. I am the hero of my own movie, and everyone should be of their own. And I’m going to win mine. The end.” He died a month later at the age of 32.
I’d like to think that Mr. Anderson still does have a lot of life left, in the form of a darling gem of an ad that will outlast 99.9% of all others ever made, in the way of inspiring those who are seeking out what it takes to make a great commercial and in showcasing what art looks like in a medium that’s been commandeered by science. As the hero of his own movie, he played someone who’s heart and soul transcended metrics and goals. I’d like to think that one day, an inquisitive and thoughtful society will look back at “The Force” and view it as a creative spark so bright that it wasn’t merely carried by distribution channels (including a shared video platform on a nascent internet) but that it carried them.
To try and establish relevance, modern day adsmith’s look at data to ‘inform’ creativity. But universal relevance can be tapped by telling stories that accentuate our humanity. Script an ad around that (if you can!) and everything else will fall into place.
