Is anyone even watching the Super Bowl anymore, or just stopping by the parties for the buffalo chicken dip? There’s no question: This year’s telecast was the most-watched in history, CBS announced Monday night, averaging more than 123.4 million viewers across all platforms, up about 7% from last year’s record (although we’re not discounting Super Bowl snacks as part of the allure).

That much reach, even during a live sporting event, is rare, and it’s reason enough for some brands to pay the $6.5 million–$7 million required for 30 seconds of ad time in last weekend’s game. Still, the Big Game isn’t getting any cheaper, and for other advertisers, it’s just not worth it.

“The Super Bowl decision by a marketer is a fraught decision,” Kevin Krim, CEO of the measurement company EDO, told Marketing Brew in January. “You’re not just spending seven-ish million dollars for 30 seconds…You’re often spending well over $10 million or more to produce the 30-second spot all in.”

So how do marketing execs decide and demonstrate that investing all those millions in a Super Bowl ad is a sound choice? The reasoning can differ depending on the company, and prior Super Bowl experiences—or lack thereof—may also play a role. We spoke to several about why they opted to jump in this year.

Read more here.—AM

In between smiling at pedestrians and hosting U2 concerts, Sphere in Las Vegas also happens to be the hottest billboard in town. And it only got hotter when the Super Bowl came to Sin City.

James Dolan, executive chairman and CEO of Sphere Entertainment Co., said in a November earnings call that the week leading up to the Super Bowl would be a “record-setting revenue week” for the venue. Now that the game has come and gone, which brands decided to fork over what reportedly cost up to $2 million per day last week to get on the Exosphere?

Food and beverage brands: Pepsi, which recently announced a partnership with Sphere, promoted its Wild Cherry flavor ahead of the Super Bowl, showcasing the can and “filling” the orb with the drink. The brand also worked with magician and influencer Zach King to create a video that plays up the fantastical and makes it look like King is drinking Pepsi directly from Sphere, which CMO Todd Kaplan said has been “going viral and getting a ton of views”—25 million on TikTok as of this writing—since it was posted.

“While the Sphere presents itself as an out-of-home opportunity in the local Las Vegas market…We can engage with consumers on a national scale, knowing how much it has been popping up in people’s social feeds,” he told us.

Continue reading here.—KH

Each week, we spotlight Marketing Brew readers in our Coworking series. If you’d like to be featured, introduce yourself here.

Glen Hilzinger is chief creative officer and partner at Luquire, a Charlotte-based marketing agency. He previously worked at agencies including Leo Burnett, Doner, and J. Walter Thompson, and has worked on campaigns for companies like Amazon, Expedia, GMC, and Minute Maid.

Favorite project you’ve worked on? During Covid, we did a campaign at Luquire to persuade the residents of North Carolina to follow the national safety protocols. Thanks to our campaign, a statewide survey found that 75% of respondents reported they were more likely to wear a mask. Afterward, while we were celebrating the awards we had won, our client reminded me that what we should really be celebrating is the fact that we undoubtedly saved people’s lives. I always feel proud of the work we do, but I don’t often feel humbled by it.

What’s your favorite ad campaign? Continuing the theme of the previous question, my favorite campaign of the past few years was “The Lost Class” by Leo Burnett for Change the Ref. For me, it’s one of the purest examples of the power of creativity.

One thing we can’t guess from your LinkedIn profile: That I got lucky. LinkedIn makes us all sound like something special. Awards, titles, accomplishments, and milestones. I had the great fortune of working for some amazing mentors who deserve credit for helping me get where I am today. I have had some amazing people work for me whose smart thinking and creativity simply made me look good. Sure, I worked really hard. I put in the hours and made some good decisions. But as someone once told me, success is one part hard work and one part luck. LinkedIn only focuses on the former.

What marketing trend are you most optimistic about? Least? That I could use AI to answer this question for me.

Read more here.

There are a lot of bad marketing tips out there. These aren’t those.

Trailer takeover: Disney’s Deadpool 3 trailer and Universal’s Wicked trailer were the best-performing Super Bowl ads, at least when it came to engagement, according to EDO; Volkswagen’s ad followed.

Other winners: By Kantar’s measure (which didn’t include trailers), there were 12 top-performing Super Bowl ads this year, per its creative effectiveness report.

Bey and Ben: Three Super Bowl ads that “represented well,” according to the co-founder of a multicultural marketing agency.

Mergers and acquisitions, company partnerships, and more.

• Havas acquired London-based B2B marketing agency Ledger Bennett.
• Amazon won the rights to stream one exclusive NFL playoff game on Prime Video next season, CNN reported.
• Kai Cenat, a content creator known for his livestreams, announced a new partnership with Nike.