A Multicultural Perspective on Super Bowl XLVIII Ads

America came to know the adorable Gracie through her first Cheerios commercial in 2013.  Although intended as a heart healthy message, the conversation became dominated by the fact it was the first time a major “All-American” brand featured an interracial family.  This new installment is sure to keep America talking, both by the story it tells, and by the cereal maker coming back with the same family despite the earlier controversy.  In an unusually strong display of brand leadership, Cheerios delivers a case study in how a mature brand can add a new level of relevancy by reflecting America’s changing demographic trends.  Cheerios has always positioned itself at the center of the American family.  With this ad they s imultaneously affirm their place at the head of the kitchen table and also manage to reposition every other competitive heritage brand as out of touch.  Both memorable and brandable, we suspect the ad will spur many a marketing manager placing calls to their agencies in the wake of its success. diego osuna, chief sojourner, globalsojourn, diego@globalsojourn.com, 415-496-6276

Who ever thought the Super Bowl would become as anticipated for its commercials as for the clash between to two teams? This year, unfortunately, the commercials were more interesting than the game. However this year did reward us with the continued trend toward introducing creative with multicultural themes, as the Super Bowl expands its appeal to a broader spectrum of Americans. In my opinion, the best example of this was Coca-Cola’s “It’s Beautiful” spot which I believe expresses the reality of America. And not just today’s America, but that of our history. Our history of immigration and as being a nation blessed with cultural diversity. Some have found it controversial but I see none there. Kudos to Coca-Cola and Weiden & Kennedy for a beautiful execution of a complex concept. Cheerios’ spot featuring an interracial family is another example of a marketer recognizing the reality of the diversity of their consumers’ lives and reflecting it in their creative. It does a great job of expanding (literally and figuratively) on the previous spot based on the same concept and fictional family. Eduardo Perez, President, PM Publicidad, eperez@pmpublicidad.com, 404-870-0099 ext. 205

Bravo!  Encore! Congratulations to Coca-Cola for taking the high road and bridging a multicultural American together through a simple idea: various cultures in America represented and singing parts of “America the Beautiful.” This “It’s Beautiful” spot is poignant, intelligent and beautiful. For many of us, the spot is a modern day twist to Coca-Cola’s iconic mountaintop spot “Teach the World to Sing (Perfect Harmony)” of the 1970s (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ib-Qiyklq-Q).

In “Perfect Harmony” (1971), the spot depicted a hill filled with various people of many cultures singing together. At that time, Coca-Cola was promoting their global reach during the cold war era. Today, forty years later, the global community is here and it’s a very beautiful America. People of Hispanic, Asian, Middle Eastern, African cultures will undoubtedly appreciate the efforts of Coca-Cola. Building brand preference among recent immigrants is a bold, but acceptable, move by the global drink maker.  As per MRI, the Super Bowl and more specifically NFL, attracts the most TV viewers among the four core audiences segments. NFL is the most popularly viewed sports program by African-Americans (10.8 million) and Hispanic-Americans (9.8 million). It’s the second most popularly viewed sports on TV by Asian-Americans (1.3 million) after NBA. Therefore, creating and delivering this spot for the Super Bowl was on target.

Coincidence or not, the arrival of this “It’s Beautiful” spot coincides with a time when more health-conscious natives are moving to better-for-you options. As Beverage Marketing Group reported in May 2013, Coca-Cola Classic experienced an accelerated decline, down 1.2% year over year, while sub-brands like Coke Zero grew, but not enough to fill the gap of Classic. We can expect more of the same declines for Classic Coke when 2013 results are reported later this year.  Sadly, some people felt that the Coca-Cola spot was out of bounds.  The “It’s Beautiful” spot has sparked outrage on Twitter and other social media platforms.  #SpeakAmerican instantly started trending on Twitter as were blogs sharing the awkward notion that being American is exclusive and elitist. Sadly, those people missed the part that the spot celebrated cultures in America today. Social media enables people to say whatever they want and ignite others to do the same. Surely this storm of ignorance will be gone by Wednesday.  With all the excitement, viewers may have missed another historic moment. The Coke commercial is the first time that a gay family has been included in a Super Bowl ad.  Yuriy Boykiv, CEO, Gravity Media, 646-486-0000 x105, yboykiv@mediagravity.com