#116 BONUS: Super Bowl Marketing - What Rihanna, Coinbase & Doritos Teach Us About Marketing Genius
The Super Bowl isn’t just a game—it’s the biggest marketing event of the year. Brands pay a staggering $8 million for a 30-second ad, and artists perform for free on the biggest stage in the world. But why?
In this episode, I break down:
- Why brands willingly spend millions on Super Bowl ads
- The marketing psychology behind high-budget commercials
- How artists like Rihanna and The Weeknd turn their halftime show into massive profits
- The viral effect of Super Bowl marketing and how you can apply it to your business
- How brands like Coinbase leveraged a simple QR code to drive record-breaking engagement
Key Takeaways:
- The Super Bowl is not just about entertainment—it’s a marketing goldmine.
- Businesses bet on data-backed ROI, not just exposure.
- You don’t need $8 million—you can create your own “Super Bowl moment” by testing content and tapping into emotions.
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Transcript
Welcome back to Permission to CEO.
Speaker A:What I want to talk about today and what I want to do is I want to break down the strategies behind the biggest marketing moments in business.
Speaker A:And today we're diving into the super bowl of marketing.
Speaker A:No, but literally we're going to talk about why do brands spend millions on super bowl ads, why do artists perform for free, and how this event creates a cultural and business impact.
Speaker A:The super bowl is the big day.
Speaker A:It's actually the most watched event in US when it comes to television.
Speaker A:The only other thing that's bigger than it is the World Cup.
Speaker A:However, the World cup happens every four years, whereas the super bowl happens yearly and it keeps getting bigger and bigger.
Speaker A:So let's talk about the marketing behind the super bowl, the money behind the Super Bowl.
Speaker A:Let's go ahead, let's dive in.
Speaker B:It's been a long time and I miss this feeling.
Speaker B:It feels like freedom, it feels like healing.
Speaker B:Floating up the floor, past the ceiling, the wind in my hair.
Speaker A:Let's dive into one of the world's biggest events and the biggest event in the US The Super Bowl.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:The super bowl happens once a year and it's where the NFL showcases the two teams.
Speaker A:They compete for the ring, the championship game.
Speaker A:But it's deeper than that.
Speaker A:It's deeper than just a regular football game.
Speaker A:It's deeper than just a regular event.
Speaker A:It's one of the biggest cultural impact and for a lot of different reasons.
Speaker A:I remember reading something recently that says if you want to advertise on a commercial spot during the super bowl, you're going to have to pay a minimum of $8 million for a 32nd spot in a commercial.
Speaker A:Now, I'm not watching your pockets, but $8 million for 30 seconds, that's how big this event has become.
Speaker A:The NFL and the super bowl is saying that if you invest $8 million, that we have the numbers, we have the analytics that back that your ROI is going to be greater.
Speaker A:The only way that the super bowl is able to charge $8 million for 30 seconds is based on past historical data that says everyone who has advertised during super bowl has made way more money than what they spent in advertising their business, their product or their service based business.
Speaker A:That's how it works.
Speaker A:No one is willingly just paying $8 million if they didn't understand just the cultural impact and amount of eyeballs of people that are watching this specific event.
Speaker A:You have to think about it, it's the biggest event for the US So you have a lot of eyeballs.
Speaker A: Last year alone in: Speaker A:There was 123 million viewers, 123 million viewers watching the Super Bowl.
Speaker A:So if you were to run an ad, a 32nd Super bowl ad, 123 million people would have seen this ad.
Speaker A:Now, as a business owner, if you have 123 million eyeballs, and let's say only 10% of them came to your website, that's still a lot of people coming to your website.
Speaker A:So now you have to convert these new eyeballs into leads, collecting their email address or into sales and getting the acquisition or into brand visibility.
Speaker A:So now you're top of mind.
Speaker A:Last year, 30 seconds of the Super bowl cost $7 million.
Speaker A:This year it's $8 million.
Speaker A:It's only going to go up, it's not coming back down.
Speaker A:So I want to really explore, like why are brands willing to pay that?
Speaker A:And I touched upon, they're charging based off of results the brands are getting, and brands are paying that based off the results that other companies are saying that they're getting.
Speaker A:During a Super bowl spot.
Speaker A:This is a big event because it has so many eyeballs.
Speaker A:You don't have to get this audience because the NFL has done a great job with their advertising partners, with the networks in order to get as many people watching this event on a single day at a single slot.
Speaker A:Cause it's not all day, but they're marketing it all week.
Speaker A:And then for that single day, for that four hour slot, all eyes are on the Super Bowl.
Speaker A:And the funny thing is, during a regular game, people will watch a regular football game, but they may be changing the channels in between commercials.
Speaker A:But for the super bowl, because it's such a cultural event and because a lot of companies put a lot of thought and creativity into their advertisement, this is probably one of the only times where people actually watch the ads for the super bowl and they discuss them on Twitter, which then make it go trending.
Speaker A:And they discuss them on tv, then they discuss them on podcasts and they discuss them.
Speaker A:And so there's a breadcrumb effect that happens because this 30 second ad becomes an echo where you start and consumers and business brands and viewers on tv, they start talking about the creative ads that are playing during the Super Bowl.
Speaker A:And so again, people actually watch the ads rather than skip them.
Speaker A:A lot of the super bowl ads are high budget, they're very creative.
Speaker A:A lot of times you're hiring a creative agency, you're testing out a lot of different pieces of content.
Speaker A:I remember reading that Doritos, they test out a lot of different Types of ads via YouTube, where people spend a lot of their time in order to see which one is the winning ad, and then they play that ad during a Super Bowl.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:So they're already all year testing out different pieces of content to see which variation they need to create or recreate in order to run during the Super Bowl.
Speaker A:This is really smart.
Speaker A:All throughout the year, you're testing for that one big moment.
Speaker A:And as a business owner, you should adopt these philosophies if you're operating and running your business.
Speaker A:If you're thinking about selling something, you should be testing out different marketing ideas.
Speaker A:So you hone in once you find something that's working, and then you start recreating variations of things that are working.
Speaker A:But you have to spend time testing, you have to spend time crafting, you have to spend time creating content that you may not even like, but it may perform well in front of an audience.
Speaker A:So you have to put your content that you create that you're in love with or not in love with in front of your audience and let them dictate.
Speaker A:Let them tell you that, okay, this is what's working.
Speaker A:This is what's not working.
Speaker A:So many times we think our ideas are the ideas that are going to resonate with our customers, and often that's not true.
Speaker A:Our customers think and react differently than we do.
Speaker A:We're looking at our business from a CEO point of view.
Speaker A:Our customers are looking at a business from a different lens.
Speaker A:So, again, the biggest marketing event of the year, people are spending millions of dollars in order to advertise.
Speaker A:And we're just talking about the advertisers.
Speaker A:We're not even talking about all the other things that happened during the Super Bowl.
Speaker A:There's a few weeks leading up to the super bowl, there's a lot of different sponsorship dollars coming in, a lot of different partnerships that are happening.
Speaker A:There's a lot of other advertisements and marketing that's happening before the super bowl even starts and even during the event.
Speaker A:It's just not the advertisers of the commercials, but there's also advertisers on the field.
Speaker A:There's also sponsors.
Speaker A:There's also different logos.
Speaker A:There's a lot happening.
Speaker A:And the NFL is profiting off of everything happening because you can't use the NFL content without a partnership with the NFL.
Speaker A:And this is a podcast for another day on how the NFL is so rigid, right?
Speaker A:They have a regimen, and they're so strict when it comes to their brand and how you use their brand and how you Talk about their brand and how you partner with the NFL and so forth.
Speaker A:It's actually a masterclass in and law because they will sue you.
Speaker A:They will sue you for misrepresentation.
Speaker A:You have to be.
Speaker A:You have to pay them in order to do anything or even mention their name, which is really smart.
Speaker A:So why do artists perform for free?
Speaker A:Now you notice in the super bowl, the NFL comes out and say, we do not pay artists to perform, right?
Speaker A:We don't pay them.
Speaker A:Typically, if you want an artist or throughout the year, if an artist is coming to a venue to perform, a lot of times that venue is paying the artist to come and perform.
Speaker A:Whoever is the provider is paying the artists in order to come perform.
Speaker A:But the super bowl is saying, no, we are not paying you to come perform.
Speaker A:In fact, you have to use your own money in order to put on the performance.
Speaker A:So not only are they not paying you, they're not paying for the performance either.
Speaker A:They're saying you have to pay out of your own pockets for the performance, the show that you're going to put on during the halftime show.
Speaker A:But it comes at a benefit because although you're not getting paid, there are other areas as an artist that they're benefiting.
Speaker A:And so let's talk about that, right?
Speaker A:We have Beyonce that performed at the Super Bowl.
Speaker A:We had Rihanna.
Speaker A:We had the Weeknd.
Speaker A:We had so many entertainers that perform.
Speaker A: when Rihanna performed at the: Speaker A:So think about that for a second.
Speaker A:You're able to display because Rihanna has other things happening.
Speaker A:She's able to make more money in her music and her Fenty Beauty business and the other avenues that she's built an empire around.
Speaker A:It's just not in one angle because people are searching you, people are supporting you, people are.
Speaker A:People are checking out the other things that you're doing.
Speaker A:Although it's not an upfront payment, it's a bigger payment in the back end.
Speaker A:You have to remember that we think about Shakira and JLo's performance, the Weeknd's performance, he launched his tour on the back of the Super Bowl.
Speaker A:So after the super bowl performance, he launched his tour, which ended up grossing over $350 million.
Speaker A:It's worth it.
Speaker A:You have to evaluate what opportunities are worth it.
Speaker A:And this is an opportunity for these artists that are used to getting paid up front to Say, you know what, I'm willing to bet on myself.
Speaker A:I'm willing to invest money in putting on a performance because I know I'm going to make more.
Speaker A:I'm going to make more on the back end.
Speaker A:For the artists, the super bowl is the ultimate commercial.
Speaker A:It's the ultimate free commercial for them.
Speaker A:They may not be getting a check from the NFL, but they see a massive increase in album sales and streaming and social engagement concert tickets.
Speaker A:For some of them, it's a career defining moment because it puts you on a larger scale.
Speaker A:I also want to talk about is the effects that the super bowl has on brands after the fact.
Speaker A:So when the super bowl ends and brands have to continue operating their company day to day, here's some of the biggest wins.
Speaker A: rand win was coinbase back in: Speaker A:They had actually one of the most clever advertising.
Speaker A:They ran a simple bouncing QR code.
Speaker A:So I don't know if you remember this.
Speaker A:Remember there was a blank screen and it was like QR code bouncing from corner to corner.
Speaker A:And this was a Coinbase ad.
Speaker A:And that QR code led people to download their app and their app ended up crashing and at that moment got the most amount of signups in one hour, in just an hour than they ever did that entire year.
Speaker A:And so it's really important you understand why brands are spending all this money during the Super Bowl.
Speaker A:Now the biggest benefit is the NFL, of course, because they're collecting all these dollars, but also the brands are benefiting as well.
Speaker A:So remember that even if a company doesn't see immediate sales, the exposure keeps them top of mind for months.
Speaker A:For Coinbase, for example, they weren't selling anything directly, but they were getting new customer acquisitions, they were getting new app users, and then they were retargeting those individuals with Facebook ads and YouTube ads and Google Ads and TikTok and et cetera.
Speaker A:So there's a deeper play and strategy here why companies go all out.
Speaker A:The other thing I want to mention is even during the super bowl itself, whichever team wins, one of the things you'll notice is they interview the quarterback.
Speaker A:And at the end of the interview, they ask the quarterback, what are you going to do now that the super bowl has ended?
Speaker A:And literally Google this.
Speaker A:You'll notice a lot of times they say, I'm going to Disney.
Speaker A:They're doing that intentionally.
Speaker A:That is very scripted.
Speaker A:Disney is a partner in the NFL.
Speaker A:Disney actually pays that quarterback to say those words because that boosts sales for Disney.
Speaker A:People that go to the theme park and so they get paid for saying that.
Speaker A:I remember reading that for the first time and I was so confused.
Speaker A:I'm like, wait, I thought people were just saying this because it was actually genuine, but it's actually not genuine at all.
Speaker A:It's very scripted.
Speaker A:So when I say the super bowl and every aspect is a money making machine, that's exactly what I mean.
Speaker A:Everyone is getting a piece of the pie.
Speaker A:The brands are getting a piece of the pie.
Speaker A:So you have to understand that as a business owner, you have to position yourself and understand why these brands invest a lot of money in the marketing and advertising.
Speaker A:You may think you don't need it, but I'm telling you, all the best brands spend money towards marketing, spend money towards advertising, spend money towards getting new eyeballs, spend money towards acquisition, spend money towards being top of mind to the consumers.
Speaker A:These are the reasons they continue to be the strongest, the biggest and the most profitable brands.
Speaker A:Because they understand that in order to grow, I need more customers.
Speaker A:In order to grow, I need to make sure I'm having impact.
Speaker A:I need to make sure I'm staying top of mind.
Speaker A:I know you can't spend $8 million during the super bowl, but there are other ways that you could market your business throughout the year that are beneficial for you.
Speaker A:This is a concept I understood early on, is if you have no money, you have to spend more effort.
Speaker A:When it comes to marketing, that means you got to roll up your sleeves, you got to post every day on social, you have to find where your community is, you have to answer their questions, you have to add value before you could actually sell.
Speaker A:And as you get some money, whether you work a job and you're budgeting money for a marketing budget for your business, understand that you could leverage social media in order to drive more customers, in order to drive visibility, to use those tools that make your own super bowl moment, whether it's TikTok, whether it's Instagram, whether it's YouTube, create content that provides value and it gets people to talk about it.
Speaker A:It gets people to share that piece of content.
Speaker A:The best campaign and the best content just don't promote a product.
Speaker A:They tap into the emotions, the humor, the nostalgia, the education, entertainment.
Speaker A:They resonate with your customers.
Speaker A:That's what you have to understand.
Speaker A:You have to do that as well.
Speaker A:So again, the super bowl is more than a game.
Speaker A:It's the biggest marketing stage in the world.
Speaker A:Whether it's brands spending millions on ads, artists using a platform to drive more visibility, this event is a marketing masterclass.
Speaker A:The next time you see a commercial as you watch the super bowl, or whether you don't watch the super bowl, understand that everything you're consuming, there's a reason why that advertisement is the way it is, why it's there, why it's on that channel, why it's in that placement.
Speaker A:And think about how you can apply them to your business.
Speaker A:What can you learn from these moments?
Speaker A:Well, that's it for today's episode.
Speaker A:If you found this helpful, make sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with another entrepreneur.
Speaker A:Again, thanks for tuning in to the permission to CEO, and I'll catch you on the next week's episode.
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker B:Man, I'm feeling like myself again.
Speaker B:Hey, man, I'm feeling like myself again.
Speaker B:Angels fascinated.
