Super Bowl Commercials: What Started the Strategy of Agencies Scooping Themselves?

CLEVELAND, Feb. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Prior to 1997, no one would ever think of previewing an ultra-secret Super Bowl ad prior to the game to risk taking away from that big reveal on Super Sunday. It just wasn't done. That is … until Dirt Devil and their PR firm, Falls, had the risky idea of scooping themselves.

The commercial of bringing Fred Astaire back to life to dance with Dirt Devil's new Broom Vac was made possible through the then-new CGI, computer-generated imaging, taking old movie footage of Fred Astaire dancing with a hat rack and substituting it with a Broom Vac.  Although the commercial was cool and fun – the real impact was the reaction of "how did they do that?"

"The commercial itself was creatively brilliant, but we knew we were up against the big and dominant advertisers," said Mike Merriman, then president & CEO of Dirt Devil. "The $1.8 million buy was a significant spend for a little company like ours, so we needed to figure out a way to maximize the investment. It was Falls that came up with the idea of scooping ourselves by not buying any more ad time before the Super Bowl, but rolling out a comprehensive plan of getting free media to tell this story. It was brilliant."

A press conference was held in New York City with Ms. Robyn Smith Astaire against a 1940s-styled movie set. Later that day the copy of the video news release (VNR) was distributed nationally. Footage appeared in more than 75 television markets on local stations throughout the country. All three major networks did their own expanded pieces, including all three national morning news and evening news show, plus all entertainment news shows. In addition, more than 600 print outlets ran it worldwide and 1,100 news sources. It also appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Late Show with David Lettermen, and The Academy Awards with Jim Carey.  Prior to that, no VNR had more pick up than this one. The media impressions were more than four times that of the Super Bowl ad itself.

The early release also allowed Dirt Devil to ship more than $4 million worth of product to retailers even before the ad even ran. "It was a great strategy that netted Dirt Devil millions more than if we just relied on the ad," said Merriman. 

"Working with Dirt Devil, the ad agency, and Mrs. Astaire, we shot our own B-roll during the filming of the commercial. We then put it all together into a media package to introduce Dirt Devil's new breakthrough product. The Broom Vac was a home run," said Rob Falls, founder, president & CEO of Falls.  "It has actually given Mike and I some quiet satisfaction to see this strategy used again and again since we started it in 1997."

Falls is a purpose-driven firm that accelerates growth and success for its clients. Falls offers outstanding strategic marketing communications, digital, advertising and branding campaigns from its Cleveland, Ohio headquarters. One of the fastest-growing firms in the Midwest, the fully integrated agency is celebrating its 32^nd year of building and protecting brands. Our mission is to get the world to listen, care and act. Our vision is to help organizations serve their communities and make the world a better place.

Falls serves its clients locally, nationally, and internationally through its long-term membership in PROI, the largest group of independent firms in the world. 

As a full-service firm, Falls has deep strength in the following areas: strategic and senior counseling; marketing and brand building; communications, public relations, media and social media; advertising, creative and design, media planning and buying; analytics and research; digital transformation, web development, lead generation and online services; corporate communications and crisis and reputation management;  civic engagement and public affairs; internal communications, culture and talent marketing; social impact leadership.

SOURCE Falls