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Super Bowl to feature AI product ads from Big Tech

Matt Levin Feb 4, 2025
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It's hard to say how many ads for AI products Super Bowl viewers will see. In the past, AI advertisements have produced a mix of backlash and buzz. Aaron M. Sprecher/Getty Images

Super Bowl to feature AI product ads from Big Tech

Matt Levin Feb 4, 2025
Heard on:
It's hard to say how many ads for AI products Super Bowl viewers will see. In the past, AI advertisements have produced a mix of backlash and buzz. Aaron M. Sprecher/Getty Images
HTML EMBED:
COPY

Tuesday is five days away from the Super Bowl of American marketing — also known as, well, the actual Super Bowl.

Some companies have reportedly forked over a record $8 million for a 30-second spot this year, all so their logo and brand can be sandwiched between those infinite cutaways to Taylor Swift cheering on her boyfriend.

Alongside the obligatory beer and potato chip commercials, you can expect plenty of ads from big tech companies for their AI assistants or AI agents or even AI eyewear.

But selling artificial intelligence to an audience of over 100 million viewers can be, well, tricky.

Commercials for AI products can produce as much backlash as buzz. Remember the Google ad where a dad uses AI to help his daughter write a fan letter to an Olympic track star?

Audiences really disliked the thought of outsourcing a heartfelt letter to a robot. Google ended up pulling the ad from TV.

“You’ve got to be very careful the context in which you present your AI use case. If it’s seen as somehow dehumanizing us, then it’s going to probably get a negative reaction,” said Kevin McTigue a marketing professor at Northwestern University.

That may be why Google is planning commercials featuring how small businesses are using Gemini. And you can expect to see plenty of business to business AI ads on Sunday — think those Salesforce commercials with Matthew McConaughey.

Girish Mallapragada at Indiana University said even if the average Super Bowl watcher won’t ever interact with a Salesforce AI agent, “it’s just that they want to tag along with some trendy thing going on in technology.”

There’s also the question of whether companies will use AI to actually create their Super Bowl commercials in the first place.

Vann Graves at VCU’s Brandcenter said that even with controversies over AI generated commercials, some marketing agencies will want to experiment.

“Don Draper is in the rear view mirror at this point, and this is a way to show that we are on the cutting edge of technology,” he said.

Those Super Bowl commercials? Remember, they’re also commercials for Madison Avenue.

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