Healthcare in Super Bowl Advertising

With over 124million viewers, this year’s Super Bowl was the most watched ever. Some say it was the Taylor Swift effect; perhaps. And while I can’t say it was the most creative year ever for the advertising (because that would be impossible to objectively measure like we can with viewership), I can say that I enjoyed this year’s spectrum. And I have also enjoyed all the commentary all week post-game. It’s giving me life this week, so much so that I have hesitated to write much about the spots as so much is being written. I don’t want to merely duplicate.

But not much has been said about the healthcare advertising in the Super Bowl. Having worked in health care during my entire career, it is often over looked for its own creativity on its own terms. With its own restrictions.

So I thought I’d highlight a bit of the healthcare that showed up for the game this year.

Pfizer. During the pandemic, Pfizer came out strong with its science and talking about how science will essentially save the world. Here’s that spot that was so inspiring in the moment, as we were hoping for the COVID-19 vaccine.

Well Pfizer came back to the Super Bowl this year with another celebration of science. Notice the dramatic shift in tone from in-the-pandemic to after-the-pandemic.

Proving that not all healthcare comes from pharmaceutical companies, Google came to the Game with a healthcare spot that shows the impact that the brand’s technology can have on someone’s life. In this case, someone with blindness.

While I don’t exclusively work in healthcare, my work in that field is definitively among my most rewarding. And I hear so many of my colleagues say the same. So seeing our work featured on the biggest stage in the world with the biggest viewership ever, is so inspiring.

Here’s to even more next year.

What’s your experience? JIM