📷 Image Credit: Deadline; Campaign; 10 News

TL;DR This year, the Weekend’s halftime show became meme fodder. We saw A-list celebrities in the most prominent ads of the year. And Gen Z did their social thing on Twitter during the game.

As we know, some people watch the super bowl for commercials. Are you one of them? Most people who fall into that category were not disappointed with this year’s lineup of great bowl ads—featuring a list of celebrities in the commercials added to the fun and on social media. Some of the most-watched ads from the super bowl this year were Michael B Jordan’s Alexa commercial, Bruce Springsteen’s Jeep commercial, and Cadillacs Edward Scissor Hands video starring Timothée Chalamet and Winona Ryder. If you didn’t see them, check them out on YouTube. Cheers to Uber eats for their success as one of the most-watched ads. These super bowl ads are not cheap. We all know that in the marketing world, a great bowl ad is one of the most extravagant spend debuts worth millions of dollars for one spot; even with hype by some brands pulling out of the spend and speculation for viewership decline, viewership was not disappointing for these brands.

In addition to the commercials…let’s talk Halftime show, shall we?! There were approximately 1.4 BILLION viewers that tuned in to see the Weekend’s halftime show. The Weekend made history by investing $7 million of his own money into the show. The Weekend is also the first performer since Lady Gaga not to have a guest performer. Kudos to him for creating a unique artistic style, whether you liked it or not, giving fodder for the buzz afterward with his “audience,” creating hysterical memes, and taking over the feeds in social media. Brilliant! His YouTube downloads also hit the roof. He succeeded in getting attention surrounding his performance.

Overall statistically, Gen Z doesn’t tune into the super bowl and sports like Millennials; the super bowl is no exception. However, this year, Gen Z dominated Twitter discussions during the show. Brands got creative this year. They combined social media to reach younger Gen Z with conventional television advertising, and it worked. Check out Franks Red Hot brand convincing David Dobrick to Tweet them back, gaining a HUGE amount of attention from the YouTube star’s broad audience. The bottom line to all you marketers is if Gen Z won’t come to you, go to Gen Z… on social media.

Written by: Sofia Christensen, Intern

Edited by: Lisa Knight, COO & Mentor