Did you know that the U.S. paused avocado imports from Mexico just before Avocados from Mexico made its Super Bowl return?

Talk about tough timing for Big Avocado! 

And for the wintertime guac fans (a.k.a. us).

In this issue:

• Why Gen Z trusts YouTubers
• The results of Miami’s rebrand
• Pros and cons of that Adidas tweet

EXPERT Q&A

The new mainstream, according to Super Bowl ads

Super Bowl ads are usually pretty “basic.”

That’s according to Ellen Kim, MarketerHire’s VP of creative operations who led production on global creative agencies’ Super Bowl projects for years. 

Super Bowl ads are expensive media buys — $6.5M for a 30-second spot this year, up 6X+ from last year — and they reach an audience of 36M households. 

The brands that can afford that usually sell alcohol, pizza and phone plans. Mainstream stuff. 

This year, the mainstream expanded. Here are three new product categories Kim noticed in the 2022 Super Bowl ads, and her take on an in ad each one.

Crypto (and QR codes)

Most noteworthy ad: crypto wallet Coinbase’s ad, starring a screensaver-esque QR code bouncing around the screen

Why it stood out: Unlike most Super Bowl ads, this one had no story and no text CTA — but thanks to pandemic-era menus, everyone knew what to do. 

In one minute, 20M people clicked through to the landing page — so many that they briefly crashed Coinbase’s app. 

“QR codes were such a dead thing prior to the pandemic,” Kim said. No longer! 

Other Super Bowl advertisers in this space: Crypto.com, FTX

Electric vehicles

Most noteworthy ad: BMW's ad for the BMW iX, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Salma Hayek as retired Zeus and Hera 

Why it stood out: This one struck Kim as a bit off-brand and “overly silly.” The story is a (tortured?) pun, linking Zeus’s mythical lightning bolt and “power” to electric vehicles.

Even the closing music cue, “Electric Avenue,” is punny.

“I don't expect that [tone] from the ultimate driving machine,” Kim said — or in an ad for something that costs $83K.

Other Super Bowl advertisers in this space: Wallbox, Nissan, Polestar, Kia, Chevy

Freelance services

Noteworthy ad: TurboTax’s ad for TurboTax Live, featuring “a freelancer who just bought a home that’s also her office”

Why it stood out: It touches on challenges freelancers have had forever — figuring out their home-office tax deductions, working for international clients, etc. 

Kim works for MarketerHire, a freelance talent platform, so this one caught her eye. Freelance message board fodder had “made it out into the open.”

Other Super Bowl advertisers in this space: None (yet)!

Our takeaway? 

The pandemic has changed everything — including what’s worth a ~$7M ad buy. 

Priuses and Teslas now have a category’s worth of competition; crypto is pop culture; and freelancers are a big enough audience to address directly on Super Bowl Sunday.

TWEET TREAT

Did the Adidas tweet work?

On Wednesday, Adidas tweeted a composite image of 25 people’s bare breasts. The tweet announced a sports bra range of 43 styles for different body types. 

While some said the spread was attention-grabbing and inclusive, others questioned whether the tweet was smart marketing:

Should Adidas have featured less nudity, more product? It depends on Adidas’ goals. 

If the goal was organic social engagement… 

Good news: The tweet earned 30X the likes of Adidas’ next sports-bra-related post, which showed clothed women, not nude ones. 

Bad news: Adidas can’t repurpose its most viral tweet on other platforms. Instagram has a nudity policy and Google Ads explicitly bans female breasts. 

If the goal was to sell sports bras… 

Good news: Praise and UGC from high-profile sex positivity leaders like Cindy Gallop could expose Adidas to a new audience. Think Gen Z, 97% of whom reference social media before making a purchase.

Bad news: The tweet doesn’t actually show the bras — and product photos on Adidas’ site don’t celebrate as many diverse body shapes. Mixed messages!

Our takeaway?

Adidas turned heads with its tweet, and gained ~6K followers. It seems like this was a net win for organic social engagement — and potentially Adidas’ whole funnel.

SMALL BITES

Sustainability pledges, substance equality, and the Super Bowl…

Demand for freelance marketers rose 14% in 2021. 

Happy V Day! Rum brand Sailor Jerry offered to dump people’s SOs for them.

You could get 843M TikTok impressions for the cost of one Super Bowl ad.

The influencer marketing industry could be worth $16.4B by 2023. 

Sustainability pledges — that go beyond green-washing — are trending. 

Do partner posts compromise journalistic integrity?

A “substance equality” Super Bowl OOH campaign targeted the “canna-curious.” 

Hot take: B2B SaaS startups should skip SEO, at least at first. 

Google, Meta and Amazon will account for >50% of all ad spend in 2022. 

Apple may name its AR/VR headset “Apple Vision.”

FROM OUR BLOG

3 signs that Miami’s rebrand made an impact

Almost exactly a year ago, we covered the strategy Miami Mayor Francis Suarez was using to rebrand Miami and turn it into a tech hub.

Now, the Financial Times is calling Miami “the most important city in America.” Three stats from 2021 suggest that Suarez’s campaign worked. 

1. It broke real estate records

Overall home sales in Miami-Dade County rose 8% in 2021. The county broke its annual home sale record in October, before the year was out. 

Median single-family home prices rose 12.9%, too, while condo prices rose 21.9% YoY. 

2. It started a crypto trend

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery — or at least a sign of successful marketing. 

Miami has its fair share of imitators. For example: It minted its own cryptocurrency, MiamiCoin, last August, and New York launched NYCCoin in November. 

3. It had an “extremely high” conversion rate

The average B2B e-commerce conversion rate is 3.2%. Meanwhile, one Miami transplant said he’d converted 70% of his houseguests to Miami residents. 

“The conversion rate [on Miami] is extremely high,” VC and entrepreneur Jack Abraham told the Financial Times. 

What’s the secret to Miami’s success?  We dug into the key rebrand tactics on our blog.

DATA SNACK

The influencers adults <40 trust most

YouTubers are the most widely trusted figures for Millennials and Gen Z-ers, according to YPulse data — trusted 2-3X more than news anchors.

Why?

YouTubers’ 3 secret weapons

There are a few key factors that make YouTubers so trustworthy: 

• They’re indie: That makes them “authentic sources of information that aren't following some larger corporate agenda,” said Coltrane Kubo, a Gen Z-er digital advertising specialist at MarketerHire.
• They share long-form videos: “TikTok at times feels too short to form an opinion,” said Maziyeh Jehan, talent operations associate at MarketerHire and Gen Z-er. “YouTubers give us an insight into their lives over time and so we learn if we… trust them.”
• They teach us practical skills: Tutorials are less likely to be paid promo, two Millennials at MarketerHire pointed out — and when YouTube instructions work IRL, it builds trust. 

Our takeaway? 

Investing in traditional PR will only get brands so far with the younger generations. 

Don’t overlook influencer marketing with YouTubers, musicians and athletes — all more trusted than news anchors by both generations.

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