Ad Meter 2022: Carvana
An “oversharing mom” is featured in the online used car retailer’s commercial.
USA TODAY
A 30-second Carvana spot touting the benefits of buying vehicles online will give Arizona-based corporations a presence in the national Super Bowl advertising lineup.
Among television commercials promoted or leaked in advance of Sunday’s big game, the Carvana ad might be the only one sponsored by an Arizona-based corporation, though there’s no mention of the state. Nor does the “We’ll drive you happy” commercial appear to have been filmed here, based on the few generic outdoors scenes.
The spot features a fast-edited sequence in which a frumpy middle-aged mom with a Midwestern accent touts the company’s seven-day return policy and other benefits as she goes through the day at a dentist’s office, in her art class, in a crowded elevator and elsewhere — to anyone who will listen, whether they seem to care or not.
A 30-second Super Bowl commercial by online used-car competitor Vroom sets viewers up for a punchier ending.
No GoDaddy commercials since 2015
The straight-shooting Carvana ad won’t raise many eyebrows and certainly contrasts with the sex-hyped and shock-value commercials of a decade or so ago by another Arizona-based company, GoDaddy. Those ads included a near-wardrobe malfunction by a buxom woman at a censorship hearing and an awkwardly long kiss between a supermodel and a computer geek.
GoDaddy, now headquartered in Tempe following a move from Scottsdale, hasn’t announced any commercials for the Jan. 13 championship game between the Los Angeles Rams and Cincinnati Bengals. GoDaddy last aired commercials for the Super Bowl in 2015.
For this weekend’s Super Bowl, NBC Universal, which will broadcast the game, said advertisers are paying up to $7 million for 30-second spots, compared with highs around $5.5 million last year. The 2022 broadcast is expected to attract more than 100 million viewers, up from around 96 million in 2021.
Traditional advertisers and new ones
The companies and brands advertising this Sunday include traditional Super Bowl sponsors such as Budweiser and its Clydesdale horses, Lay’s potato chips, Taco Bell, Pepsi, Gillette, Irish Spring and Doritos plus various car manufacturers — Toyota, General Motors, Kia, BMW and Nissan among them.
A handful of cryptocurrency and sports-betting companies are among the newer entrants trying to sell products and services. That’s in addition to more traditional financial advertisers such as lender Rocket Mortgage, which has a large employment presence in Phoenix, and Intuit, which offers Turbo Tax software for preparing individual tax returns.
The Carvana commercial, which is the company’s Super Bowl advertising debut, is designed to show that customers have positive experiences, said Ryan Keeton, chief brand officer, in a prepared statement. “Our in-house team had a lot of fun developing this new campaign to be light-hearted and relatable,” he said.
Local ads running, too
National TV commercials, and the hype surrounding them, will dominate Super Bowl advertising efforts Sunday. Yet individual stations will run their own, more localized, slate of ads.
For example, 72SOLD.com, a Scottsdale company, said it bought three 30-second commercials to air on KPNX, Channel 12, the NBC affiliate in Phoenix, to promote what it calls its stress-free home-selling services that include quick appraisals, fewer showings, reduced commissions and flexible move-out dates.
The commercials will tout a promotion contest in which 72SOLD will pay the mortgage expense (up to $10,000 a month) for one Arizona homeowner for up to 72 months.
Reach the reporter at [email protected]
Support local journalism. Subscribe to azcentral.com today.
