Final month, images circulated on gossip websites like TMZ and MailOnline of actor William Shatner consuming a bowl of Raisin Bran in his automobile and clutching the cereal field as if it have been his most prized possession. 

The weird paparazzi pictures had some observers scratching their heads, till Raisin Bran pulled back the curtain: Shatner’s cereal-obsessive conduct was only a setup for the model’s Tremendous Bowl marketing campaign. 

It’s a method we’ve seen earlier than. Two years in the past, CeraVe pulled the same trick with “Michael CeraVe.” Over a couple of weeks in January 2024, actor Michael Cera was noticed toting bottles of CeraVe lotion round New York Metropolis, and stormed out of a podcast interview when requested about his ties to the skincare model. His odd public appearances fueled the rumor mill till CeraVe launched a Tremendous Bowl advert starring the actor.

Now that the Tremendous Bowl has morphed right into a weeks-long advertising spectacle, pranks and stunts have change into a key a part of advertisers’ playbooks. However because the pranks pile up, what occurs when audiences can predict the joke?

Maximizing the funding

The shift towards elaborate stunts comes down to some large modifications within the media panorama.

Whereas Tremendous Bowl advertisers was solely centered on profitable sport day, the rising value of an advert slot meant “that single second wasn’t sufficient” to justify the funding, stated Ryan Carroll, govt inventive director of GSD&M. 

The value tag of a Tremendous Bowl advert slot has climbed to at the very least $8 million, with NBCUniversal this year selling a handful of 30-second Tremendous items for $10 million or extra. 

Desirous to seize consideration and get extra bang for his or her buck, over the previous decade, Tremendous Bowl advertisers began turning their commercials into an even bigger second, releasing teasers weeks earlier than the sport. However now teasers are commonplace, too, and “the pre-Tremendous Bowl window has change into simply as crowded as sport day itself,” Carroll stated. 

Manufacturers are additionally competing in a crowded panorama on social media, the place consideration is extra fractured than ever. Pranks and stunts are primed for such an setting, stated Ted Kohnen, CEO of Park & Battery.

“Social media rewards thriller and hypothesis. A bizarre movie star sighting or sudden activation turns into a breadcrumb path audiences need to resolve,” he stated. “Stunts and pranks are a approach to stretch a 30-second advert right into a cultural second.”

Such stunts additionally attraction extra to youthful audiences who’re “more and more skeptical of screen-only experiences and drawn to moments that exist in actual life,” stated Benjamin Diedering, founder and CEO of BDX Media.

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