Netflix should fire their marketing department
The timing on this might be nigh...but this Super Bowl ad shit show deserves some renewed attention.
And why would we at FYMD shine light on a 60 second piece of air that no one noticed. Got no press. And was lost to the world like a $14 million fart in the wind…Because someone should.
Super Bowl Special:
The Super Bowl is the ultimate platform for adverting. Well, in the good ol’ USA that is…and maybe Australia. The Aussies literally don’t shut up about marketing and advertising, they even have an entire show on the television, about ads. No really.
Irony. You have met your future wife. Her name is Kylie and she lives in Woollahra.
Anywho, back to the Super Bowl.
Irrespective of your opinion of ‘American Football’, the Super Bowl is a thing. The marketing hype, the lead up and the general spectacle are like constant dopamine hits to your noggin for a solid two weeks. It’s truly the only real platform left on American broadcast television and because of that it requires a bit more thoughtfulness to take advantage of and make the juice worth the squeeze on cost/effectiveness/value/etc.
Table Stakes:
1: Every agency in the world wants you to do a Super Bowl spot. This is the highest cost :30 spot for your media agency to broker and probably the most profitable production of the year for your creative agency - so in one fell swoop your single :30 spot may have allowed your agency to hit their operating margin for the month (or more).
2:Every creative in the world wants to do a Super Bowl spot. The opportunity to use the essence of creativity combined with the power of the platform can truly transform brands and solve business problems. Ok…that’s bullshit. This is about award entries, portfolio building and general starfuckery - but that also doesn’t mean it won’t be good and/or help your business.
Competitive Insight:
Kantar Media said in Super Bowl 2022 there were over 44 minutes of ad time across 68 actual ads from 56 different advertisers (Thanks WPP, you’re the bestest). This includes 6 ads from direct streaming competitors. There’s no way around it, even with an engaged audience that’s a fuckton of messages.
Now the millions of advertising professionals reading this will naturally ask: What about testing for Brand and Execution cut-through? Hmm..thinking that probably didn’t happen…we love entertainment marketing here at FYMD.
No testing. Tick. Tons of category messaging. Check. Nearly an hour of commercials. Bingo. We’ll take advertising effectiveness for $100 Alex.
Creative Appreciation:
Actors! Movies! Jump Cuts! Netflix! Ryan Fucking Reynolds! He’s just so dreamy and personable (no really, guy seems super cool and funny) that people should just hand over their credit card because they’re so lucky to see the Adam Project. We hate to use irony twice in one post, but…Ryan Reynolds is quite the marketer, so it’s ironic that he would approve of such a boring, shitty ad for his brand. They guy has taken on challenger marketing with his Mint Mobile, he owns socials and generally takes a different approach on communicating with his various audiences - and he seems pretty genuine in wanting to connect with them.
What The FYMD Staff Has To Say:
After an extended stroll around the FYMD’s Brooklyn offices - we adjourned to the hard kombucha bar and took the temperature on this mess, coming up with 4 high level issues that we hope Netflix addresses for their future Super Bowl dalliances: Lack of leadership, Fear based decision making, Unclear objectives and Poor strategy.
Who ever approved this ad had probably been navel gazing for while and/or is highly susceptible to agency bullshit. There was just no way this ad was going to have any real impact and a quick search of the Googles proves it - the ad is no where to be found in any ranking. So who made the decision to push go on a $14 million dollar spot without a strong POV driving it and a clear link to their business.
That being said, this is pretty typical entertainment marketing fare - because this is what used to work. Limited choice and limited distribution created excitement and awareness and so why not make an ad that internal stakeholders will approve. But is that a creative solution to a business problem? Is getting something approved the goal? Don’t fuck up shouldn’t be the decider here…
So, you’ve pulled the trigger on a Super Bowl spot - did you create a killer brief? Did you pressure test the objective to make sure that your creative partners could deliver something worthy? Did you design for consumer outtake and understanding? Did you account for how this piece of communications actually works? Did you realize you were going to be surrounded by all of your competitors? As marketers we can’t do everything and we shouldn’t want to - it’s your job to make hard fucking decisions with the hope they are based in research, gut instinct, years of experience, market forces, or something else that will actually move the needle on your business.
And lastly, and the real reason that Netflix should fire their marking department is that if you don’t have a very clear strategy, spending $14 million dollars on one TV spot is a terrible fucking strategy…They didn’t understand the platform that is Super Bowl, they didn’t use creativity in a way to connect with audiences, they didn’t try to stand out, they didn’t do anything really except enrich their agencies and probably waste time in endless meetings talking about their shitty ad.
So next time spend $14 million dollars on thousands of cable ads or 20 more seasons of “Is It Cake?”
Better yet…just ask Ryan Reynolds for some advice.