Super Bowl commercials aired on Sunday and what followed are the numerous analysis posts. Both by social media users and media outlets. The media outlets are out there proclaiming the best and the worst as well as reviewing those that stuck out the most.
Car commercials were not an exception. This year, automotive marketers took up eight ad spots, and while less than last year, it left them more room to shine. And see a lift in traffic activity.
It’s important to know that 97% of people looking to purchase a car start their journey online. These automotive marketers knew how to attract people’s attention and draw them to start looking up more information.
Still, what’s really interesting about this year’s Super Bowl automotive marketing endeavors are a few particular ads. Specifically, the ones featuring electric vehicles (EV).
Out of the eight automotive ads this year, four of them were for EV models.
The EV Super Bowl ads were not a common occurrence and it is rare to see one, let alone four EV ads featured during Super Bowl. As a matter of fact, three is the number of total EV Super Bowl ads aired in the last ten years.
However, this year set a precedent.
Car companies want people to start realizing electric cars are the future. The question is, are people ready to listen?
Super Bowl automotive marketing: The EV commercials
Four car companies debuted their EV models during Super Bowl: Audi, Porsche, Ford Mustang, and, probably most surprising of all, GMC’s Hummer.
It just goes to show the rising importance and relevance of electric vehicles, that big-name car companies set aside millions of dollars to raise awareness of their upcoming EV models. After all, Super Bowl is one of the biggest sporting events, attracting millions and millions of viewers every year.
“Let’s drive toward a more sustainable future” wasn’t just Audi’s tagline but it seems to be the general message car companies wanted to send this year.
Another novelty was the very concept of ads. Moving away from introducing EV models as something people have to transition to in order to “save the Earth”, these car companies introduced EV models as something people want to have. Modern, sleek, fast and beautiful seemed to be the undertone of every ad.
Porsche especially hammered down this message by showing their EV model as better and more desirable than its older models what with the EV taking a lead in a car chase with different Porsche models.
Game of Thrones’ Maisie Williams implored you to “let it go” in an Audi ad, using Disney Frozen’s famed song to emphasize the importance of letting go of the (gas-guzzling) past and looking forward to an EV future.
And GM, who in the past dropped Hummer due to its fuel-emissions issues, surprised the public by now introducing its EV model which many immediately started comparing to Tesla’s Cybertruck. Even though Hummer boasts a “quiet revolution” in their commercial, I’d say theirs was more of a loud one.
And last, but not least – Ford re-ran its ad for Mustang (aired before the Super Bowl) featuring actor Idris Elba as he narrates: “And just when you think you know where they’re going, they do something unexpected, something that moves us all forward and holds nothing back.”
These companies have sent their message. Don’t look back, but rather move forward toward a new future. One that is more sustainable than the world we’re living in now.
The question remains, though: how did the audience receive that message?
Super Bowl EV commercials online analysis using Mediatoolkit
Over the two days since the ads aired, they’ve accumulated a total of 5 082 mentions and an impressive number of 97 432 632 impressions.
If you take a look at the share of voice chart, you’ll notice that Porsche and Audi’s ads were the most talked about. 42.4% of all mentions were about Porsche’s ad and 35.1% about Audi’s ad.
The most popular source seems to be the web, which makes sense because many media portals took to analyzing the Super Bowl ads – many of which took notice of the importance of these new EV models.
The sites whose articles were the most influential among all four ads seem to be the New York Times, Chron and TechCrunch.
Right after the web, most mentions were on social media sites Twitter and Facebook. Again, it only makes sense that people also ran their own commentary on the aired ads. Twitter especially seems like the most popular way of expressing one’s opinion, and it’s no different in this scenario, as it’s the second most popular source.
The sentiment surrounding these EV ads is overwhelmingly positive.
People seem to be rather accepting and enthusiastic about the EV future of the car industry.
Here’s what they’re are saying:
Many also took to comparing these new EV models to Tesla. Not only that, but many seem of the opinion that these ads were indirectly helping Tesla, too – as they’ve raised general awareness around the electric vehicles.
On the other hand, for some, GMC’s Hummer EV raised eyebrows. Some were wondering who’s that car even for…
…and some were just plain flabbergasted:
Some even called out Audi for their not-so-clean past:
What does it all mean?
Despite some of these comments questioning the car companies’ legitimacy, the sentiment still remains dominantly positive and people seem to be accepting of these new EV models.
However, one can’t help but wonder if acceptance and enthusiasm are enough to raise EV sales and change the direction of the automotive industry?
So far, the EV car buyers were few and far between. In 2019 carmakers sold a little more than 300,000 electric vehicles in the US, which is less than in 2018.
I guess only time will show if these commercials reverberated with the audience enough to cause EV demand increase.
Until then, stay tuned because this is not the last of us on the subject of automotive marketing and electric vehicles.
After all, the Geneva International Motor Show is just around the corner and we’re itching for another good analysis.
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