Why Tide Won the Super Bowl

There is no doubt that this year’s Super Bowl was filled with unforgettable moments. From the Philadelphia Eagles defeating the reigning champs, the New England Patriots, to Morgan Freeman rapping Missy Elliott, viewers had an evening full of nonstop entertainment. While there is no doubt that the Eagles won the game, there was another team who won the Super Bowl.

Tide and Stranger Things actor David Harbour stole the show with subtle commercials airing during each quarter of the game. Tide’s initial commercial was the longest and started out with Harbour in a car that was “just a typical Super Bowl car ad.” The minute-long commercial then launched into several other “typical Super Bowl ads,” leaving viewers questioning what the ad was for, until Harbour said it was in fact a Tide ad. It was a Tide ad was because everyone was wearing clean clothes. The commercial ended with Harbour asking, “So, does this make every Super Bowl ad a Tide ad?”

How exactly did Tide win the Super Bowl? After Tide’s second ad of the night aired, viewers were left to wonder if every commercial with clean clothing would turn out to be another Tide ad. Not only did Tide have viewers watching for its product, but it successfully had viewers associating clean clothes with its product. Additionally, Tide’s ads proved successful with 1,683,000 mentions of the company on social media according to Talkwalker, a media analytics company (Evans, 2018).

Why did Tide go so heavy on the Super Bowl ads this year? The company could have saved money by only airing the first clever commercial. While Tide executives said they simply wanted the commercials to mirror Tide’s position on top of its industry by placing an ad in each quarter of the game, many viewers believe the ads were meant to distract from the negative publicity Tide Pods have been receiving (Swant, 2018). Whatever the reason, Tide better start planning its ad for next year’s Super Bowl, because this year will be hard to top. – Alli Williams ’19

Evans, M. (2018). Tide and Pepsi Super Bowl ads praised; Dodge Ram ad deemed the worst. Retrieved from http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2018/02/05/tide-and-pepsi-super-bowl-ads-praised-dodge-ram-ad-deemed-worst.html

Swant, M. (2018). Every ad is a Tide ad: Inside Saatchi and P&G’s clever Super Bowl takeover starring David Harbour. Retrieved from http://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/every-ad-is-a-tide-ad-inside-saatchi-and-pgs-clever-super-bowl-takeover-starring-david-harbour/