Why the State Farm Super Bowl Ad Won the Advertising Competition
Super Bowl ads cost a lot and State Farm got its money's worth.
Super Bowl ads this year cost about 7 million dollars for thirty seconds. Many will wonder if it’s worth it. The answer is yes - but only if you can make a significant impression on a big part of the audience that’s watching.
According to Morning Consult, and contrary to what many may guess, the NFL has a fan base that skews slightly liberal. But it’s very close, so let’s call it even. If you want to maximize your advertising investment in the Super Bowl, you must appeal to both groups because otherwise, you’re wasting half your money.
Many Super Bowl spots miss the mark on this front because they lean liberal or conservative. Consider the spot from Apartments.com. It featured Jeff Goldblum as the inventor of the “apartminternet” with the usual Apartments.com sci fi theme. It’s a clever spot, but the combination of talent (Jeff Goldblum is a Hollywood actor who campaigned for Joe Biden) and science fiction pushes this ad toward liberal customers - half the audience. At least in this case, the market for apartment renters is more liberal because they are located in higher population density locations. So, the alignment of the ad with its intended audience is strong, but that’s only half the viewers of the Super Bowl.
The State Farm ad featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger was one of the few that worked for everyone. It may not be your favorite, but I guarantee it was a standout for appealing to more people watching.
The State Farm ad was remarkable because it wove together values that, according to research in social psychology, resonate with either liberal or conservative customers. Moreover, the ad invoked a couple of shared values to create greater cohesion. So, put all together, State Farm won the ad contest from the standpoint of maximizing its investment.
Usually, celebrity actors invoke an immediate liberal appeal through their association with liberal Hollywood culture - as did so many ads this year that crammed in more actors and singers per second than any previous Super Bowl (ok, I don’t have the data for that). Of course, Arnold Schwarzenegger in the State Farm ad is an exception. Not only was he the Republican Governor of California, but he also played roles in movies that naturally appeal to more conservative customers. That doesn’t mean liberal customers won’t like him - it’s just that he’s an effective celebrity to bridge the liberal-conservative divide.
Now, combine that selection of celebrity talent with an ad theme about empathy. State Farm’s tagline is “Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there,” and Schwarzenegger’s role in the ad is helping strangers. He’s also having fun with his Austrian accent.
Research demonstrates that liberal customers tend to empathize more with wider, less structured circles of people, such as friends vs. family. Liberal customers also tend to have more empathy with strangers (and aliens and rocks, according to one study). Conservative customers will empathize more with family, country, and hierarchical groups. So, the ad’s core theme will tend to resonate with liberal customers. Again, I’m not saying conservative customers won’t have empathy for neighbors, but the theme in advertising will lean toward a liberal market.
Now add two more values into the mix, and you have an ad compelling for all Americans: Friendliness and informality. These are two of many values that liberal and conservative customers share from our research. They are American values. The ad is light-hearted, with plenty of jokes, and is relatively informal. So, when you mix these values into the ad, you end up with something for everyone.
If you watched the Super Bowl, you may have a favorite ad, which may not be the State Farm ad. And that’s the point. There is a pluralism of values and culture types, and appealing to a large audience is a huge challenge. It takes stepping out of your worldview and culture to consider how ads can engage with a broader collection of cultures. That’s how you make seven million dollars pay off.