Super Bowl Ad Preview 2018: How to Stand Out

How can a brand stand out during the Super Bowl's commercial-packed ad schedule? This is a high priority issue, given the multimillion dollar cost of the commercial time, not to mention production costs and sheer "noise"--meaning the number of ads packed into a commercial break during the big game.

One strategy being used to stand out in 2018: Publicize NOT running an ad during the Super Bowl. No, this time it isn't the classic Go Daddy technique, as in 2015, when the web hosting firm was "forced" to pull an ad at the last minute due to protests about content. At the time, the CMO said: "Now we are at the point where we don’t need to grow brand awareness domestically any more. A platform like the Super Bowl is really not something that’s necessary for us." Lots of publicity about not running a Super Bowl ad!

This time, the company that is NOT running a Super Bowl ad is Skittles. The candy brand had run ads in the past, but for 2018, it's telling the world that only one viewer (a teenager in California) will be able to view the Skittles commercial starring David Schwimmer. One viewer, one time.

The world will be able to watch the viewer's reaction via Facebook Live (the brand has 23 million likes and 22 million followers). No commercial, just the viewer's reaction. Oh, Skittles is using teaser ads, starring Schwimmer, to publicize the lack of a Super Bowl ad and the exclusivity of the audience. And watch for a "documentary" about the one ad/one viewer experience, right after the big game.

Skittles is highly social, with an active Twitter presence and 393,000 followers, plus 40,000 Instagram followers...among other accounts. Lots of David Schwimmer teaser images for the non-Super Bowl ad.