Every Ad is a Tide Ad

16 Feb Every Ad is a Tide Ad

Super Bowl ads were a little different this year. Most of the advertisers in Super Bowl LII veered away from the politically-minded or socially-conscious commercials in recent years. This past year has left audiences polarized and weary of considering new controversies and issues. Now, people want to relax and have some fun. The commercials this year were entertaining, light-hearted, and clever. However, one particular ad set itself apart for being insanely clever and hijacking all other ads: Tide.

The Ad

Tide bought a 45-second establishing spot in the first quarter, along with 15-second ads for each of the following three quarters. They then filmed each scene as a separate short spot in the genre of whatever product it’s pretending to pitch. These included a car ad, a beer ad, a deodorant ad, and a half-dozen others. Through various twists, they turn out to be pitching the same laundry detergent.

The star of these ads had to be someone that was widely loved in 2017, and that person was David Harbour: Police chief Jim Hopper from Stranger Things. Last year, Season 2 of Stranger Things pulled at our heartstrings with the growing paternal relationship between character Hopper and Eleven. David Harbour also has an endearing social media presence. He engages the Stranger Things fandom audience on his Instagram and is also very active on twitter replying back to his fans.

The Controversy

Right before the Super Bowl, Tide’s product tide pods was put under a national lens. A trend known as the Tide Pod Challenge sparked concern to parents when their children began to eat these detergent filled sacs on camera for social media likes. Therefore, these ads came at a perfect time to keep their reputation clean: just like the shirts.

The Genius

The genius behind the ad campaign is that it took over any other commercial. Each commercial was shot to look like a commercial for something else, but David Harbour would immediately highlight the cleanliness of the clothes and say “it’s a tide ad.” These commercials were so entertaining and were formatted in a way that we recognized them instantly, but it also overshadowed all of the other commercials. While many people stay engaged in the game and use the commercial breaks as a time to get another beer, this ad campaign kept people on their feet to see if they were about to be bamboozled again. In short, if you see clean clothes in a commercial from now on, you might whisper to yourself “it’s a tide ad.” The most genius part of this campaign is that it could be used for an indefinite amount of time. Tide could take other commercials that become popular years from now and put their spin on it.

We could also learn a lot from P&G regarding Social Media. Tide is using #TideAd to comment on advertising conventions and other ads to reaffirm the campaign. Here at Berning Marketing and Production, we have carefully crafted marketing campaigns that stand the test of time for a myriad of industries including retail, government, financial, energy, hospitality, medical and defense. If you are looking for a production team, come see why our company continues producing award-winning campaigns.