Some Marketers Rethink Super Bowl Ad Previews

Kraft Foods and Procter & Gamble, are deciding they will share part — but not all — of their Super Bowl commercials before the spots are broadcast by CBS on Feb. 3. Their decisions stand in contrast to what brands like Acura and Volkswagen did in the last two Super Bowls: offer consumers opportunities, days or weeks before the games, to watch online the entire spots or longer versions.

The increasing willingness of consumers to share information about Super Bowl ads on social media like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube has been encouraging sponsors to provide sneak peeks of the commercials. That departed from what Super Bowl sponsors had done for decades: stay mum, hoping to capitalize on the element of surprise to stimulate conversation and coverage.

But some executives say they see disadvantages to previewing Super Bowl spots in full because doing so could diminish, to use a term from another White House, the shock and awe.

“Right now, our plan is to hold back the spot till the day of the game,” said Chris Lillich, associate marketing director for North America laundry at Procter & Gamble, which will run a 30-second spot for Tide in the third quarter.

The Tide commercial, by Saatchi & Saatchi in New York, part of the Publicis Groupe, will feature the two teams to face each other in Super Bowl XLVII. It comes at the end of the first season of a multiyear deal designating Tide as the official detergent of the National Football League.

Kraft, like Procter, also intends to run a 30-second commercial in the third quarter of the game. The Kraft spot will be for MiO Fit, a new variety of its MiO line of “liquid water enhancer” that is to compete with sports beverages. Like Procter, Kraft will run a teaser campaign for its spot but resist the full Monty until the game.