FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Feb. 18, 2021 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Now a week and a half removed from Super Bowl LV, enough time has passed for the data to come in on how advertisements fared during the big game. With many of these ads proceeding to run for weeks or even months afterwards online, Exults Digital Marketing Agency wanted to highlight the earliest best-performers that audiences will likely see for much of the near future.
Exults compiled analysis and reporting from various different outlets that evaluated the effectiveness of ads during Super Bowl LV, including Forbes and the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. After review, it became clear that the consensus "winners" of Super Bowl ad space this year were Cheetos, Doritos, and newcomer Reddit.
Cheetos ran a spot featuring a remade version of Shaggy's 2000s hit song "It Wasn't Me," that also included celebrity appearances from Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis. The ad received considerable praise for leaning into its known branding attributes—"Cheetos dust" featured heavily—and communicating to audiences in a fun, casual manner. Kutcher's singing was a bit out of key, but otherwise the ad received near universal praise while earning the top overall grade from Kellogg's Super Bowl Ad Review.
Leading up to Super Bowl weekend, there was considerable speculation that ad quality would be down this year because many companies pulled out that would otherwise run annual ads. While some routine players such as Anheuser-Busch dramatically reduced their spending, another recent yearly Super Bowl brand—Doritos—returned to high praise.
"Flat Matthew" was uploaded to the Doritos YouTube channel on February 2nd and ran early during the game, but was still effective via its use of celebrity endorsements. Matt McConaughey, Mindy Kaling, and Jimmy Kimmel all received positive responses for their lighthearted humor and nods to the classic "Flat Stanley" story. The spot has already received over 10.5 million views on YouTube, and figures to run frequently across the web in the near future.
But perhaps the best performance of the evening came from Reddit, which bought all of five seconds of Super Bowl ad space yet still ran one of the night's most striking spots. Starting off as yet another car commercial, the ad quickly glitches out into a direct message from Reddit thanking its members for participating in their communities. Coming off the Reddit vs. Wall Street saga from the previous week, the spot served as a timely and effective message of encouragement to existing and prospective users.
Overall, while many other ads from this year's game did not prove to be nearly as effective, brands both old and new confirmed that these "high spend for high visibility" opportunities are still massive marketing wins when executed correctly. Even with surrounding conditions forcing companies to adjust their strategies, brands that know how to correctly leverage their assets and speak to their audiences will continue to see victories across the digital marketing landscape.
More About Exults Digital Marketing
Exults is a full-service Internet marketing company that is results driven. Offering a complete range of Internet marketing services to reach its clients' goals, Exults premier services include:
- Digital Branding
- Website Design and Development
- eCommerce platform development and management
- Search Engine Optimization
- Pay Per Click Management
- Social Media Marketing
- Digital PR
If you are interested in rebranding your company for the digital business world to spark meaningful engagement and online sales, contact Exults. For more information, please visit the Exults website (https://www.exults.com/) or call 866-999-4736.
Media Contact
George Eisner, Exults Digital Marketing, 866-999-4736, [email protected]
SOURCE Exults Digital Marketing

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