SUPER BOWL LI'S DARKEST SECRET
Admit it, Super Bowl LI made you cry. I’m not talking about the tears of brokenhearted Atlanta fans as Tom Brady deflated their dreams faster than—never mind. And I’m not talking about tears of joy from elated Pat’s fans across the nation. No, the tears I’m referring to are the tears that are cried between the downs: the ad tears.
Now let’s be clear, not all ad tears are created equal. Some are tears of laughter. Some are tears of empathy and emotion. And others are simply tears of lament at the virulent degeneracy of our modern society into an increasingly materialistic and self-absorbed culture further propagated by the incessant and tone-deaf commercialism that pervades our most celebrated socio-cultural phenomena.
Several brands took the opportunity to induce such a response from Super Bowl viewers this year, with admittedly mixed results (seriously KFC?). Ads from Super Bowl LI have been ranked, debated and deflated (last Deflategate joke I promise—I'd hate for them to run out of air!) throughout all corners of the web.
Today, I'd like to take an in depth look at one of the more surprising ads of this year's Super Bowl: Avocados from Mexico.
In case you haven’t memorized the ad word for word here it stands in all its glory:
So, what did the playful brand do right this time around? Let’s take a look.
1) They made boring interesting. Say what you will, but at the end of the day, these guys are selling fruits (Ha! You thought avocados were vegetables didn’t you? You uncultured heathen). What’s way more captivating than selling fruit? Getting an inside look at the secret meeting of a secret society. Almost nothing contained in this ad is directly related to avocados, and yet it accomplished exactly what it was meant to: communicate the tone of their brand and create a unique memory for their audience.
2) They stayed relevant. From 50 Shades of Grey to information leaks and social media faux pas, the ad is truly an exercise in diverting the viewer’s attention from random punchline to random punchline. This strategy is probably best embodied at the 38 second mark, where one of the society members concernedly asks, “did they figure out we deflated the footballs?” to which their leader responds, “no we found a fall guy for that.” Did they know Brady would be in the Super Bowl when they wrote this ad? Of course they did.
3) They surprised us. Did anyone suspect that this was a commercial about avocados when they saw the masked cabal descend into the throne chamber? Did anyone realize that the dramatic music was coming from the boombox subtly hidden behind the crowd? How about the abrupt cut to the Zoolander-esque subliminal message? This ad isn't memorable because it's moving or clever, it's memorable because it's not what anyone expected from a company that sells avocados.
4) They represented their brand. Herein lies the greatest strength of this ad. In effect, they’re saying “hey, we like to have fun and don’t take ourselves too seriously. If you would also like to have fun without taking yourself too seriously, consider purchasing our product.” They keep the vibe light and tell their story in unique, implicit fashion rather than simply stating the tastiness of their product over a tired jingle. The playful tagline at the end matched with the festive logo are the final piece to a strong move to establish their brand as something relatable and fun.
5) They chose the right placement. One last marketing ploy Avocados from Mexico utilizes to it's advantage: early placement among Super Bowl ads. I'm not sure if this was done on purpose or for this reason, but I'd like to think it was. Is there any food more consumed than chips and dip during Super Bowl Sunday in the US? I doubt it. Going out for a food run at halftime? Your choice has just been made for you. Thanks to some pseudo-subliminal messaging, you now possess a nearly insatiable desire for gauc with those chips, and now you know exactly who to turn to to satiate that desire. Nice move Avocados from Mexico, nice move.
So the next time you feel constrained by the limitations of your product, your brand or the weight of a small bear clinging to your leg, just remember that with a little imagination, a few pop culture references and an enormous advertising budget, you too can defy expectation and boldly go where no one has gone before. Even if you're just selling very large, green berries.
