How food and beverage giants like Ritz and Diageo are showing up for the Super Bowl this year
It’s Super Bowl week, which means countless food and beverage brands are competing for stomach share as millions of Americans tune into the big game.
Food and beverage executives say a Super Bowl campaign sets the tone for the year. In turn, some of them, like Oikos, are using the Super Bowl to highlight new product lines. Others are using the big game as an opportunity to promote healthier alternatives to classic game day snacks. When it comes to commercials, many of them are taking inspiration from the backdrop of this year’s host city, San Francisco. And of course, celebrity cameos abound; this year, Ritz is running a “Ritz Island” commercial starring Scarlett Johansson, Jon Hamm and Bowen Yang, a sequel to a similar ad from last year’s game. But it’s not just big national brands getting in on the Bay Area celebration.
This year, Danone-owned Greek yogurt brand Oikos is using its Super Bowl campaign to highlight its latest product, the ready-to-drink protein shakes that launched last summer.
In the 30-second spot dubbed “The Big Hill,” set in the iconic hills of San Francisco, the ad stars actress Kathryn Hahn and pro football player Derrick Henry on a cable car tour. When the cable car unexpectedly stalls, Hahn saves the day by pushing it uphill, thanks to her Oikos-fueled strength.
This is the brand’s seventh consecutive year running a spot during the big game.
Victoria Badiola, senior vp at Oikos Danone U.S., told Modern Retail that this year’s ad is a continuation of a campaign that Oikos has been running for the past few years, revolving around the construct of “hold my Oikos,” followed by someone displaying an impressive feat of strength.
“We consider ourselves to be a brand that stands for strength,” Badiola said. “And the big game is one of the greatest displays of physical strength that we get to enjoy together as a country.”
As a food brand undergoing a branding refresh, Badiola said the Super Bowl campaign acts as a tentpole moment that sets the tone for the rest of Oikos’ marketing playbook throughout the year.
In the weeks leading up to the Super Bowl, Badiola said the brand built up momentum across its socials by doing customer surprise and delights and capturing real-time content from consumers on the street. “We’ve been doing recipe content and showing people ways they can include Oikos in their routines in unexpected ways,” she said.
And of course, the Super Bowl is known as an advertising bonanza for alcohol brands every year. This is Diageo’s fifth Super Bowl as the official spirits partner of the NFL.
Rick Pineda, vp of global sports at Diageo, said that sporting events like the Super Bowl are a major moment for Diageo brands, including Don Julio, Captain Morgan and Guinness. This year, each of these brands are doing localized , on-site events in San Francisco alongside national, 360-degree advertising campaigns.
“San Francisco is a really amazing place, and we wanted to lean into what’s making this Super Bowl unique,” Pineda said. This includes a partnership with Joe Montana and Guinness, in which the brand is releasing a limited-edition Legends Lager in Northern California this month. Another tie-in is the much-talked-about halftime show featuring Bad Bunny, Pineda said. Don Julio is toasting the first-ever solo Latin artist to perform at the Super Bowl with several pop-ups across the city, including a taquería brunch pop-up, a DJ trolley takeover and the launch of the Don Michelada as a game-day cocktail. “For us [the Super Bowl] is a culmination of all the work that our teams, retailers and distributor partners have done over the last seven months,” Pineda said.
It’s not just the official game-time commercials that get dominated by food and beverage companies. At-home snacking is also a big opportunity for grocery brands vying for demand by people shopping for their hosting parties.
This year, refrigerated food brand Kevin’s Natural Foods introduced three limited-time flavors inspired by game-day favorites that the company promises are quicker to prepare than waiting for takeout. The flavors include mango habanero chicken, queso blanco chicken and the return of customer favorite buffalo-style chicken, which launched in major retailers like Target and Kroger nationwide.
Becky Graham, CMO at Kevin’s Natural Foods, said the company decided to launch these limited-edition flavors to cater to customers looking for healthier snack options while watching the game. “These new limited-time options bring all the excitement of game day food, but with high-quality ingredients and the ease of five-minute prep,” Graham said, noting that they each offer 22 grams of protein per serving. “It’s all about great flavor without compromise.” The company is working with online creators to share easy game-day recipes featuring these new SKUs.
This week Kevin’s also launched a “Clean Game” sweepstakes, which will reward a “clean play” on the field. According to the rules, for every minute of penalty-free play during the big game, Kevin’s will randomly select five lucky winners to receive free products for a year. Influencer affiliates are also promoting the sweepstake by explaining the rules based on how a “clean” football game unfolds.
At a time when consumers’ attention is being demanded by various brands, the Super Bowl still reigns supreme when it comes to sheer eyeballs. For Oikos, Badiola said, the brand is currently “laser focused” on its strategy of positioning itself across the country as a top-selling high-protein yogurt.
“We see ourselves as a brand that’s leading the protein category, including being an option for consumers [taking] GLP-1s,” Badiola said. “So we’re trying to stay at the forefront of that with our messaging during big moments like the big game.”