Good morning.
Those of you who watched the Super Bowl last night know it was a great game, with a kind of odd halftime show. But I watch the Super Bowl for the ads. As a media executive, it’s useful to see who’s spending $7 million for 30 seconds of airtime. The ads also offer a window into the business zeitgeist of the moment.
So what did we learn last night? Well first, crypto is out, after dominating last year. And not just crypto—tech in general was underrepresented. Google pushed its Pixel phone. Workday ran a clever ad with Ozzy Osbourne, Billy Idol, and Joan Jett encouraging people to stop calling their work colleagues “rock stars.” (My personal favorite.) Booking.com featured Melissa McCarthy on holiday. And Uber hosted Sean Combs saying “Diddy don’t do jingles”…but then doing one.
