Drive business and brand growth with winning media strategies at Mediaweek. Hear from experts at TIME, Peloton, YouTube, Google and more, October 29-30 in New York City. Register.
Saturday Night Live is in its 50th season, and the long-standing series has made it a ripe opportunity for brands.
The company has already announced that Allstate, T-Mobile, Volkswagen of America, L’Oreal Groupe’s Maybelline NY and CeraVe, and Capital One would be sponsors for the 50th season of SNL. And on Tuesday during a panel at Advertising Week, the brands joined Mark Marshall, chairman, global advertising and partnerships, NBCUniversal, to tease what’s in store.
For example, Allstate is creating custom content with SNL’s Please Don’t Destroy, who are behind SNL Digital Shorts. According to Dave Marsey, svp, media and growth marketing, Allstate, the SNL stars and their “entertaining chaos” fit in well with the company’s Mayhem character, played by actor Dean Winters.
“For us, not only being fans of Please Don’t Destroy, it created an environment that was somewhat established, so we wouldn’t be starting from scratch,” Marsey said. “That’s what helped us in this big leap we are taking as a brand by being a part of SNL50.”
Meanwhile, Jessie Feinstein, svp of marketing, Maybelline, spoke about how L’Oreal is a company of passion, which is why it chose Maybelline and CeraVe as the partner brands for SNL.
“We say at L’Oreal that we like to move at the speed of culture. So, how do we move at the speed of culture? By tying into a property that just defines culture,” Feinstein said. “And we’re willing to be the butt of the joke.”
The executive explained Maybelline teamed with former SNL star Vanessa Bayer for its instant age rewind concealer, showing Bayer as a character who parties all night and uses the product to erase any mistakes of the night before. The brand also has a spot coming out featuring their SuperStay Matte Ink.
As for T-Mobile, this is the second year the mobile phone company is partnering with SNL. Kari Marshall, vp, media, T-Mobile, said both brands have a common value of being agile and adapting to last-minute changes.
“We are hosting a lot of behind-the-scenes content for SNL, and the power that it has across generations was important for us to get to the scale of where we want to be,” Kari Marshall said.