Puttin' on the Ritz

A Super Bowl with no crackers

When Super Bowl LVIII kicked off in February 2024, so did digital advertising for brands looking to take advantage of one of the largest viewed events of the year - because a Super Bowl commercial isn’t just a television event, it’s a digital advertising juggernaut. And, while a select few spent big money for 30-second game spots, the majority strategized their way through digital channels to parlay big game impressions. 

Mondelez International, owner of top brands like Ritz, Chips Ahoy!, Triscuit, Wheat Thins, Trident, Toblerone - you get the idea - chose to single out their Oreo Cookies brand for last year’s game, spending $7M just for the airtime alone. This year, Ritz is getting the royal treatment.

However, while resources were focused on Oreo last year, that didn't mean Ritz stood by and let their competitors drive down the field. Between February 1st and February 17th, 2024 (Super Bowl LVIII was Feb. 11th) Ritz spent just over $2.5M in digital advertising with Instagram taking the lion's share at 45%. While YouTube accounted for 27%, that spend dropped significantly as of Feb. 6th, ceding to Facebook, OTT, and TikTok which had marked spikes in the days after the game. 

Timeout - wondering how the TikTok ban/rescinded ban might affect advertising this year? Click to find out. Okay, back to the game.

Though Ritz didn’t fork over the big cash for a commercial during the broadcast, they produced multiple ad creatives, leveraging several digital channels, with messaging geared toward the Super Bowl - including video ads featuring Trevor Lawrence, one of the NFL’s newest star quarterbacks, and quick football-themed social videos.

Is the juice worth the squeeze?

It’s an expensive endeavor to buy a commercial advertising spot during the Super Bowl. But, is it worth it?

Last year, Pluto TV, Snapchat, Etsy, Popeyes, Homes.com, and Opendoor launched their first ever ads for Super Bowl LVIII to mixed results across digital. While Pluto TV, Snapchat, and Etsy increased their total US ad spend (363%, 258%, and 16%) for the 30 days post-game vs. prior to the game, they actually saw a decline in mobile app downloads and Daily Average Users. Conversely Opendoor cut their US digital ad spend by 14% in the 30 days post-game and saw relatively flat app download and DAU numbers. 

However, Popeyes and Homes.com seemed to benefit most from their digital strategy, similarly upping their ad spend in the 30 days after the big game (16% and 330%), and increasing their app downloads 14% and 94% respectively, compared to ad spend prior to the game. DAU’s matched that trend with Popeyes gaining 2% and Homes.com soaring 73%. 

Downloads and users are just one (important) way to measure success, and from our vantage point, the numbers don’t lie. That said, the awareness and recognition gained by brands willing to place big bets on Super Bowl ad budgets can be harder to measure. Arguably, for many of the brands who continue to invest, the juice is worth the squeeze.

Retail Search - a cheese revelation

What can the successes and failures of Super Bowl’s past tell a brand like Ritz? For one, be authentic. Homes.com’s campaign appealed to their customers’ innate need to know their neighborhood before they move to a new home. Popeyes used actor Ken Jeong to show the crispy, juicy chicken wings you always loved haven’t changed, even after a decade of being frozen in cryogenic stasis. A Super Bowl ad for a tried and true brand can be innovative, but what seems to work best is reminding customers what they loved about your product in the first place, even if that perception is a little…off. 

Case in point - Retail Search, our newest product in development, aggregates data that shows which keywords brands and brand categories have been purchasing across retailers Instacart, Walmart, and Target. 

And while Ritz crackers are perceived by its customers to have that rich, smooth, light “cheesy” satisfaction they’re looking for in a cracker, it turns out there’s no cheese at all in the product. However, understanding its customers, Ritz knows that searches putting their ads front and center among cheesier products leads to conversions. 

Since February, 2024, while the search term ‘crackers’ and ‘snack’ were the top terms that showed Ritz for all three retailers, 11.95% of all searches for “cheese” at Walmart revealed the brand’s ads, with Target search at 2.8%, and .4% from Instacart. That’s a lot of cheese from a not-so-cheesey cracker. 

But there’s a catch. Retailers like Walmart and Target don’t actually allow brands to purchase keywords which their products aren’t associated with. So, how is the search term ‘cheese’ showing their ads so high for Walmart? A small cheesy loophole, of course (the best kind of loophole). Through 2024, Ritz ads ranked 3rd in share of voice, by term, and their ads averaged the first position on Walmart’s web page when ‘cheese’ was searched. However, upon closer inspection, the brand purchased banner ads above the search results, showcasing the buttery cracker to an audience primed for cheese, while not actually purchasing the keyword on the site. 

It’s a new bowl-game 

With the run up to Super Bowl LIX on February 9th, we can only guess what Ritz Crackers might come up with to fill their big game spot. The only question might be, how cheesy will they go? 

We’ll be following the channel, spend, and creative strategies for all of the new and veteran brands leading up to and after the game. And, if you’re interested in seeing more competitive digital advertising, mobile app, and audience insights, or can’t wait to learn more about our new Retail Search, request a demo below.