The Super Bowl has always been known as the best platform to reach mass media and launch make or break advertising campaigns. Total spending on Super Bowl ads in 2015 aggregated to over $345m, with companies paying CBS an estimated $5m for 30 seconds worth of advertisement time.
Surprisingly, this year it wasn’t the beverage or automobile or FMCG industry that caught the eye of advertisement geeks – it was the debut of a number of fin-tech companies, who took to onus to challenge the ‘traditional’ or ‘old money’ economy. Paypal, SoFi (an online lending startup that spent 20% of its advertisement budget on Super Bowl), TurboTax Online were all notable companies making Super Bowl debuts. A wave towards e-commerce ads and focus on technology could be seen as the likes of Amazon & LG Electronics also made their debuts.
We can see that since the financial crisis, the amount of Super Bowl spending by financial companies has increased 4 fold, with a focus on tech related companies.
Paypal’s advertisement, in particular caught the investor’s eye – the advertisement promoted the future of money, taking an aim at paper cash, 9-5 commercial banks, and other ‘obsolete’ financial systems that it hopes to displace. The ad’s message aimed to show that ‘technology can play a tremendous role in reaching billions of people around the world that are outside the financial system,’ Dan Schulam [Paypal’s CEO] said.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dF9t_xQGks
This being Paypal’s first advertisement focused on their brand and not their product, the statement to viewers was loud and clear – Paypal, as well as other FinTech companies viewed at the Super Bowl wanted it to be known that fin-tech products have completely transformed modern finance, and improved the lives of its customers when it comes to money in a ‘very big and bold way.’ This year’s Super Bowl is said to have attracted 112m individuals – while shy of the record, is a third of the size of America’s population. Having added 6.6 million new users in its quarterly report, it will be interesting to see the role Super Bowl’s platform plays in Paypal’s upcoming consumer hunt.