Advertisers pay up to $8 million for a 30-second Super Bowl area

American brand names go back to tradition, celebrity and cheer

OpenAI and Perplexity profit from the Super Bowl to promote AI

By Dawn Chmielewski

Feb 9 (Reuters) - Anheuser-Busch InBev is restoring its iconic workhorse Clydesdales for a Super Bowl advertisement that the brewing company says commemorates the "grit and determination" of the American spirit.

The Budweiser business marks a go back to tradition, after a dreadful social networks promotion for its Bud Light brand systemcheck-wiki.de name in 2023 featuring transgender influencer, Dylan Mulvaney, triggered require a boycott.

"We ´ re certainly seeing Budweiser play it safe this year," said Charles R. Taylor, a marketing professor at Villanova ´ s School of Business and author of a book about Super Bowl ads. "Everybody likes the Clydesdales."

The return to safe, familiar and nostalgic ground represents a trend amongst some advertisers for this year ´ s Super Bowl LIX, a rematch in between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs in New Orleans. Brands are expected to lean on humor, star and warm references to America ´ s heartland, reflective of the cultural zeitgeist.

For the first time, OpenAI and Perplexity will look for to profit from the most significant televised event of the year, bringing synthetic intelligence into the homes of millions of Americans.

"We ´ re all in this great, pleased place, and want to be entertained," said Gartner analyst Nicole Denman Greene. "So, to insert your brand because moment of fandom ... you have to deliver innovative that is resonant with that audience."

Super Bowl marketers are flashing serious star power, with an approximated two-thirds of the commercials featuring stars.

Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal reenact their famous deli scene from the 1989 romantic comedy "When Harry Met Sally," in a business for Hellmann ´ s mayonnaise that likewise includes a short look from "Euphoria ´ s "Sydney Sweeney. Willem Dafoe and Catherine O ´ Hara double-up on the pickleball court to hustle opponents out of their Michelob Ultra beers. Eugene Levy, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Post Malone, Vin Diesel and Kermit the Frog also appear in the 30-second areas.

OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, is expected to air its first commercial during the Super Bowl, bringing the race for expert system supremacy to America ´ s bars and living rooms. Meanwhile Perplexity AI is hosting a Super Bowl sweepstakes that offers a $1 million prize for asking questions throughout the game.

Greene said AI companies are seizing on the Super Bowl ´ s reach to resolve customer anxiety about the fast-evolving technology.

"All of the advertisements I've seen-- and I can't wait to see all of the creative-- it's more about making people see how they can be more efficient, and how their lives could be better," said Greene. "I don't understand if that's going to remove the fear, because, as people find out more about the capabilities, we're seeing in the data, that they get less certain."

This year ´ s game will have less car commercials than in previous years. Stellantis is the only automaker to announce a Super Bowl ad, in which actor Glen Powell delivers a humorously macho twist on the "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" fairy tale.

Ads hawking beers and treats return. They will share screen time with newcomer venture capital-backed Liquid Death, the canned water brand that purchased its very first Big Game advertisement to promote its Killer Cola and Cherry Obituary.

So far, the most popular Super Bowl advertisement is the winner of Doritos ´ "Crash the Super Bowl" contest, portraying an alien abduction.

"It ´ s off the scale on funny, on interest," said Sean Muller, founder and chief executive of TV advertising measurement firm iSpot.TV. "People enjoy the advertisement." (Reporting by Dawn Chmielewski in Los Angeles; modifying by Ken Li and Diane Craft)