Several Orange County-based companies were part of the enormous marketing push around Super Bowl LII on Feb. 4. The expected ones included automakers Kia Motors America Inc. in Irvine and Hyundai Motor America Inc. in Fountain Valley, which paid for in-game ads, while Newport Beach-based BrandAmp was there to support marketing efforts by about half a dozen clients.
• Kia, with its 60-second ad for the new Stinger, hammered at the heartstrings of those in midlife crises. The “Feel Something Again” ad featured 69-year-old Steven Tyler, lead singer of Boston-based rock band Aerosmith, who hops into a red version of the sports sedan at an abandoned race track and speeds away—backward. The car doubles as a time machine, transforming Tyler into a young man, and he steps out of the car to be greeted by a crowd of fans. The ad, developed by David & Goliath in El Segundo, aired during the game’s third quarter and earned the automaker No. 14 on USA Today’s Ad Meter.
• Hyundai, meanwhile, explored pain points of nearly every parent who couldn’t wait for their kids’ soccer games to end. It featured a referee who arrives at the game in a Kona compact SUV and starts giving the tiny players red cards for any negative distinction he can think of. One player was too cute, one’s shoe laces were untied, and twin sisters got booted out because he couldn’t tell them apart. The parents didn’t mind, because the game was on a Super Bowl Sunday. The ad, developed by Innocean USA in Huntington Beach, aired moments before tipoff, and therefore wasn’t rated by Ad Meter.
The automaker saved its best game for the fourth quarter—an ad featuring its Hyundai Hope on Wheels—a nonprofit that uses a portion of vehicle sales to fund pediatric cancer research. The ad, which placed No. 9 on the Ad Meter, portrayed several Hyundai owners’ surprise meeting with pediatric cancer survivors who thanked them for the support. The two commercials emerged from hundreds of ideas generated by the agency’s staff, according to Chief Creative Officer Eric Springer.
“This year we had two challenges—a spot that we wanted to launch Kona with, that needed to promote Hyundai’s [Blue Link connected car technology] and the other one was, how do we promote an act of Hyundai, like we did last year with the military,” said Springer referring to “Operation Better,” a 90-second documentary Hyundai filmed during last year’s game that used virtual reality to “transport” three U.S. troops to the stadium.
• Fountain Valley-based Genesis Motors America, provider of the official luxury vehicle of the National Football League, didn’t have a TV spot in the game, instead interacting with about 125,000 football fans visiting Minneapolis at its Super Bowl Experience Driven by Genesis. The 5,400-square-foot display featured the Genesis G80, G80 Sport and G90 models, and an additional five vehicles were “positioned strategically throughout the convention center.” The brand also hosted a tailgate party for about 6,000 VIP Super Bowl ticket holders at the historical Armory, just a couple of blocks from the stadium. The automaker set up the Genesis Lounge there, and invited singer Kelly Clarkson to perform.
• BrandAmp, OC’s biggest public relations shop, sent nearly half of its 50-member staff to Minneapolis, providing an array of services for multiple clients, including PR, social media, content creation and influencer and event support. The brands the PR shop supported included AT&T and DirecTV’s Audience Network, which launched a social media contest; concert venue Nomadic Live at the Armory, where four nights of performances included acts by Imagine Dragons, P!NK, Jennifer Lopez and Busta Ryhmes; Irvine-based Vizio Inc., whose Top Value Performer winner, New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara, participated in a national radio media tour on the Super Bowl’s famed “Radio Row;” Wilson Sporting Goods, which brought along its Wilson Mobile Football Factory showing media and fans how the craftsmen and craftswomen from its Ada, Ohio, facility handmade the official game football of Super Bowl LII.
BrandAmp’s social media and content creation teams also followed On Location Experiences, documenting the company’s experiential hospitality events held throughout Super Bowl week. It provided similar services to Slingshot, maker of a three-wheel motorcycle, which set up a life-size Maxim Magazine cover photo booth activation, allowing guests to be “featured on the cover of Maxim” in a Slingshot; and for its parent, Polaris Industries Inc., which hired professional snowmobile rider Levi LaVallee to perform a 100-foot backflip at Super Bowl LIVE during the Polaris UpsideDowntown stunt show.
Bits & Pieces
Endologix Inc., an Irvine-based developer and marketer of innovative treatments for aortic disorders, hired Greg Morrow as chief marketing officer. He most recently led the coronary division and marketing function for Abbott Vascular.
