Super Bowl commercials are a cultural phenomenon with brands spending roughly $7 million USD for 30 seconds of ad time during the Super Bowl, and consumers getting excited to watch commercials, whether they’re a football fan or not.
To make an impact during this event, brands spend an incredible amount of time, resources and energy to craft commercials that wow and delight, instill an emotional response, or entertain the viewers, hoping to be the brand that’s talked about after the final touchdown.
If you ask us, this year, there’s certainly one clear winner, and it’s not just for their ad for the one-off event: CeraVe’s collaboration with Michael Cera.
In case you’re unfamiliar with the brand, CeraVe makes drugstore dermatologist-recommended skincare products known as the #1 Gen Z skincare brand in America. The brand became popular on TikTok in 2020, has since been partnering with creators on the app, and has benefited from thousands of user-generated content.
This year, CeraVe launched a bizarre and note-worthy media campaign partnering with well-known Canadian actor Michael Cera. This campaign captivated millions and has since become a case study on how to effectively activate a major advertising investment.
The Campaign
Starting weeks before the Super Bowl, on January 22, Cera was “spotted” by CeraVe partner and influencer Haley Kalil, signing CeraVe products and later placing stickers of his face on their lotion bottles. Michael Cera was then featured as a guest on influencer Bobbi Althoff’s podcast, where Bobbi accused Michael of making claims about starting the skincare company CeraVe, and his response was to “look at the name” and that he “has some skin in the game”, hinting at a relationship between himself and the brand. The interview was off-beat and a bit chaotic, which again caused more conversation on platforms like TikTok and generated more publicity for the brand.
These events led to the epic conclusion of the Michael CeraVe marketing campaign – a 30-second commercial during the Super Bowl (and an extended version as well). The ad featuring Cera was satirical, over-the-top and dramatic, ending with the reveal that Micheal Cera is pitching his ad idea to a team of dermatologists.
A landing page to compliment the campaign was also released, explaining the truth behind the origin of the CeraVe skincare brand. The real reason behind the brand’s name was that it’s named after the ingredient ceramides and created by dermatologists, not the actor, further explaining the benefits of their brand.
Their lead-up to the event is what made CeraVe stand out against the other Super Bowl advertisers. In addition to the ad spend needed to run the commercial during the Super Bowl, they realized that they needed to make an additional investment to ‘activate’ the campaign and get people talking.
Why It Worked
CeraVe understood its audience perfectly and recognized that if they were going to spend $7 million on a commercial during the Super Bowl, they should invest a fraction of that to activate it and make the investment worth it.
Activating an investment means a brand will spend additional money to run micro-campaigns that excite, educate and engage their audience. This creates hype around the brand and ensures that the sponsorship isn’t a “one-and-done” campaign, building momentum and ensuring the larger investment sees a longer ROI.
Using an unexpected but well-loved celebrity with other influencers for their social media campaign was the perfect approach for their Gen Z demographic. They spent the three weeks leading up to the Super Bowl spreading the rumours surrounding this campaign. These rumours spread like wildfire as social media users organically shared the content between friends and audiences – increasing the overall reach and saving thousands of dollars in marketing. Starting as early as they did gave people time to discuss their conspiracy theories through user-generated content, which, again, extended the reach of the campaign without CeraVe having to do much work.
By creating hype, mystery and understanding what would resonate with their audience, CeraVe set themselves up perfectly for an exciting campaign conclusion during their Super Bowl ad slot. The ad targeted those who were already emotionally invested and those who didn’t have the background information but would still find the Super Bowl ad humorous and exciting.
How To Market Like CeraVe
You don’t need to partner with a well-known actor or invest millions in advertising; it really starts with understanding your audience. What’s the leading age group of buyers? What’s important to them? What’s their personality like? Listen to what your customers say about your brand and lean into that. Be sure to use a brand voice that resonates with them.
Once you have an intimate understanding of your audience, create an end goal for the campaign. This could be a small sponsorship opportunity, local event, commercial spot, or anything you can imagine.
From there, create micro-moment interactions. These can be short videos on social channels, working or collaborating with local leaders, company partnerships, etc. Making sure to pick channels and partners that resonate with your audience is key. You can even get your audience involved with these micro-campaigns to gain excitement and further the marketing dollars invested. Customers want to feel like they’re a part of a brand or company, so getting them involved can make an impact.
Use all the available platforms. Make sure your website is mobile responsive, up-to-date and has a well-laid-out landing page for the campaign that’s easy for users to find. When the campaign is running, customers will Google and flock to your website to learn more about you and the campaign, so make sure the landing page has a consistent voice and feel.
Throughout the event and campaign, train your team on how to engage with those who like, comment, share, create user-generated content, or otherwise engage with the brand about the campaign. Keeping the conversation going from day one and making sure to engage with everyone is also going to make sure the campaign is successful.
After the main campaign or sponsorship is over, don’t sit back. There will be additional conversations around your brand. This is where you ride the momentum created leading up to the event. Have a few videos or engaging content that keeps people talking, put our press releases about the campaign and the partnership, and engage your audience in a conversation on social platforms.
Contact the digital marketing experts at Sims Advertising today to help create your own marketing strategies. Follow us on social media (Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn) for the latest digital marketing tips, project spotlights and more. We’re here to help with your strategy and creative direction.
