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Snickers Super Bowl interpretation brings new meaning to "live"

Mars, Incorporated?s Snickers is making a bold move for its high-priced Super Bowl spot by filming the ad live and holding a 36-hour Facebook stream, hoping to be the most buzzed-about marketer. 

With such a high price tag on advertising for the Super Bowl, marketers? high quality efforts have created an environment in which consumers actually look forward to the ads. Snickers? day-and-a-half live stream, paired with the live recording of its ad is one of many brands who are fighting to become the number one talked about marketer from the event. 

"Every year we challenge ourselves to find new ways to satisfy our fans hunger for entertainment by delivering something new and breakthrough, and there is no better way than being the first to have a Super Bowl live ad," said Allison Miazga-Bedrick, brand director of Snickers at Mars. "But the actual ad is only part of the equation ? we're also going to support our 30 second live ad with over 30 hours of original content that we'll stream live leading up to the Super Bowl."

Going live
Snickers is attempting to accomplish what most marketers have never thought about before, a live commercial. Not only is the brand attempting a high-risk stunt, but it will also air during the most watched television event of the year. 

Star Wars and Girls Actor Adam Driver will be the star of Snickers live-recorded Western, of which it has aired teaser-trailers out online. In typical Snickers brand fashion, the teasers are comedic shorts that show a horse auditioning for a role in the commercial, as well as an actor auditioning for the role of a dead body. 


The brand will begin to stream live on Facebook and SNICKERSLIVE.com at noon Eastern Standard Time on Feb. 2. The feed will run for 36 hours straight, but the brand will continue to sporadically live stream related content leading up to and after its Super Bowl premiere.  

Snicker?s live western commercial will air during Super Bowl LI on Feb. 5. All the brand is letting on is that it will be western themed, it will be recorded live and Adam Driver is the star. 
Interested consumers will have to stay tuned during the commercial breaks of the game to see Snickers live event. The appearance marks the brand?s sixth time advertising in the Super Bowl and the third consecutive time in recent years. 

Innovating advertising
While Snickers campaign is a big deal and few have gone where it hopes to go, Target may have been the first to conquer a live ad. Target built on its ambition to make memorable pop-culture moments during last year?s Grammys with behind-the-scenes access on social media for a live music video with Gwen Stefani. 

The retailer leveraged various social media video outlets to ramp up its promotional music video for Gwen Stefani?s album during its run time. The four-minute live music video took place on a sound stage during the 58th Annual Grammy Awards while complemented by a variety of exclusive content on Snapchat, Periscope and Facebook Live (see more). 

Snickers having a unique and innovative take on a traditional ad experience is not surprising given the brand?s usual strategy. For instance, an executive from video game developer Electronic Arts at the Mobile Marketing Association's SM2 Innovation Summit 2015 claimed the path to being successful with mobile advertising is to reward consumers for engaging with marketing content and viewing ads. 

During the session ?How Brands Add Value In Mobile,? the executive detailed the company's successful partnership with Mars International to market its candy bar brand Snickers on the mobile application version of its popular football video game Madden. The executives attribute the success of the campaign to the brand's aversion to intrusive advertising, instead focusing on its rewards program in which users engage with the content for power-ups (see more). 

"We're excited to welcome Snickers back to the Super Bowl on FOX,? said Bruce Lefkowitz, executive vice president of advertising sales at Fox Networks Group. ?There's no bigger platform for capturing consumers' attention than the Super Bowl, which is the preeminent live event on television, and as this first-ever live Super Bowl spot demonstrates, innovation in advertising comes as much from outstanding creative ideas as it does from technology."