It might have been the lowest-rated since 2010, but the fifty-second Super Bowl still delivered more than 100 million eyeballs to advertisers, and tech firms and their marketing departments were more than ready. Have a look.
Amazon: Alexa Loses Her VoiceAs usual, the biggest tech giants sat out for this Super Bowl. Also per usual, the exception was Amazon, which delivered an ad - starring Jeff Bezos himself, no less! - that depicts Alexa losing her voice and a long list of celebrities including Gordon Ramsay and Rebel Wilson fulfilling requests in her stead.
Netflix: The Cloverfield ParadoxIn an unpredecendented move, the streaming giant's newest original movie premiered immediately after the Super Bowl, a feat of unofficial post-game programming that analysts will no doubt closely watch to see if it pays off.
Lexus: LS 500 F Sport featuring Black PantherHow quickly times change. We remember writing this site's first car-manufacturer-as-tech-company story back in 2016, and now it seems every manufacturer is hopping on the digital transformation train. Lexus, whose LS 500 F Sport features a now-standard intelligent system, undeniably produced our favourite ad, a slick collaboration with Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman. (Kia also made a Super Bowl ad for its Apple- and Android-powered 2018 Stinger featuring Aerosmith lead singer Steven Tyler.)
TurboTax: The Thing Under the BedTax software developer TurboTax is a perennial favourite of the Super Bowl, with this year's ad campaign making the fear many of its users feel around tax time a bit more literall than usual. (A similar TurboTax ad featured "The Noise in the Attic.")
Squarespace: Make It With Keanu ReevesContent management system, integrated website builder, blogging platform, hosting service, commerce platform, and domain name registrar Squarespace has recently banked on the considerable appeal of actor/luxury motorcycle entrepreneur Keanu Reeves to sell its service to the masses, with this year's Super Bowl spot arguably its most eye-catching yet. (Incidentally, you can see what Keanu made here.)
Rocket Mortgage: Super Bowl 2018 ad featuring Keegan-Michael Key and Big SeanQuicken Loans Inc.'s fintech division, Rocket Mortgage, enlisted Keegan-Michael Key and his well-known "anger translator" sketch persona to translate the flowery language employed by so many marketers (and mortgage lenders) into plain English.
Wix.com: Official 2018 Big Game Ad with Rhett & LinkWe're not going to pretend we knew who comedians Rhett and Link were before watching this, but will concede they made a very nice website using cloud-based platform Wix.com.
Groupon 2018 Super Bowl Commercial - "Who Wouldn't"Groupon takes a page from the Simpsons with this SMB-boosting ad starring Girls Trip's Tiffany Haddish.
Beats By Dre: Tom Brady - Above the NoiseApple-owned Beats By Dre enlists five-time Super Bowl-winning, four-time Super Bowl MVP, three-time NFL MVP, Donald Trump-supporting New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady for its newest ad.
Sprint Super Bowl Commercial 2018: EvelynTelecommunication companies aren't tech companies per se, but we cover them often enough on CDN, and Sprint's vision of AI, and the capabilities of chess-playing Android Evelyn, are closer to reality than you might think. (We doubt an actual AI would laugh at your choice of cellphone provider however.)
SoFi: Get There SoonerFintech Social Finance, Inc. encourages the recent university graduates among its viewers to step online and use its services to pay down their student debt.
T-Mobile: #LittleOnesThere was a time - oh, say, less than two years ago, when ad promoting multiculturalism wouldn't have been considered a political statement. Sadly, we no longer live in that time.
Tide: It's a Tide AdNo, it's not directly tech related (though at the very least its star can probably thank Netflix for the opportunity), but marketers can learn a great deal from this year's most popular Super Bowl ad, a Tide commercial starring Stranger Things’ David Harbour.
It might have been the lowest-rated since 2010, but the fifty-second Super Bowl still delivered more than 100 million eyeballs to advertisers, and tech firms and their marketing departments were more than ready. Have a look.
