Despite the uncertainty surrounding sports of any kind, Mars Wrigley confirmed to Adweek today that it’s buying an ad slot during Super Bowl LV.
Between cancellations due to the Covid-19 pandemic and strikes across the WNBA, NBA, NFL, MLS and MLB following the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Wisconsin on Sunday, it’s hard—in this moment—to imagine the 55th Super Bowl taking place.
While the NFL preseason was scrapped earlier this year to give teams more time to ensure a safe return to play, the league is planning to proceed with the season under a new set of precautionary measures to limit the possible spread of the virus.
But either in the hopes that the coronavirus outbreak will be more under control by Feb. 7, 2021, or simply because the Super Bowl carries such importance in the advertising world that it’s hard to imagine the absence of such an iconic event, advertisers are still planning on (and budgeting for) the Big Game.
“The biggest moments deserve the biggest brands,” said a spokesperson for Mars Wrigley. “Since the Super Bowl is one of America’s most iconic and beloved sports moments, it makes sense that Mars Wrigley would secure a spot to share our iconic and beloved brands.”
The candy giant added that it’s not yet ready to say which brand will be featured in its 2021 Super Bowl ad, but that it’s “reinventing cultural moments for our times.”
As evidence of that reinvention, Mars Wrigley pointed to its plans for a pandemic-era Halloween. Through an app called Treat Town, families can participate in a virtual trick-or-treating experience that allows kids to collect candy credits on Halloween night. Participants will be able to redeem those credits for candy at retailers across the United States, including Target, CVS and Walmart.
This past year, Mars Wrigley featured Snickers in its 30-second Super Bowl slot. The ad was the candy bar brand’s attempt to “fix the world”—a sentiment that seems rather laughably and tragically premature in hindsight, given that it ran well before we had any sense of what 2020 actually had in store for us. Other Mars Wrigley brands that have made recent Super Bowl appearances include M&M’s and Skittles.
https://www.adweek.com/tv-video/mars-wrigley-commits-to-super-bowl-2021-despite-uncertainty/