Columbus firms’ ads, Honda, Nationwide, Victoria’s Secret
Who doesn’t love a good Super Bowl ad?
Companies that are headquartered or have a presence in central Ohio have produced quite a few over the years.
Honda, Nationwide and Scotts Miracle-Gro are among those that have spent millions to get their message out during television’s most watched event.
This year, USA TODAY reports, all eyes will be on nascent industries such as cryptocurrency (the Tom Brady-endorsed FTX) and legalized sports betting (DraftKings). Nissan is back in the big game for the first time since 2015. And transcendent celebrities like Megan Thee Stallion — repping Frito-Lay — will be represented, too.
While the Columbus area won’t be as heavily represented as it has in the past, it will make some appearances.
The Columbus marketing and branding agency The Shipyard will debut an ad it created for the California tourism campaign called Visit California. In the ad, a visitor, propelled by the music of Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now,” flies through the state’s attractions including beaches, Hollywood, Yosemite and the Golden Gate Bridge.
Budweiser, which operates a North Side brewery, will again showcase its Clydesdale horses in a Super Bowl ad.
But many of Greater Columbus’ Super Bowl ad highlights are from the past. For a little local flavor before the big game begins, here’s a look back at some ads with a local connection from past Super Bowls.
Scotts Miracle-Gro
Following a robust couple of years in terms of sales and profit for the Marysville-based lawn and garden company, Scotts Miracle-Gro last year ran its first-ever Super Bowl commercial, featuring big names such as John Travolta and Martha Stewart.
The 45-second ad showcased all the fun things people do in their yards, whether it is gardening, lawncare, barbequing, working out, relaxing, or, in the case of Travolta and his daughter, Ella, making a TikTok dance video.
Along with Travolta and Stewart, the spot had cameos from actors Carl Weathers and Leslie David Baker, NASCAR driver Kyle Busch and fitness instructor Emma Lovewell, all enjoying the same yard.
Nationwide
In 2015, Columbus-based Nationwide Insurance ran a commercial that begins with actress and author Mindy Kaling trying to hail a taxi cab. The driver ignores her and stops for a man who gets inside the car without so much as a glance toward Kaling, who is left standing in the street with her arms outstretched.
“After years of being treated like she was invisible, it occurred to Mindy that she might actually be invisible,” the narrator, Julia Roberts, says.
If you don’t remember it, maybe that’s because the commercial aired during the same Super Bowl as Nationwide’s “Dead Kid” ad, which drew widespread criticism.
The spot featured a small boy talking about all of the things he missed out on because he died in an accident. The ad showed an overflowing bathtub and other hazards, and it noted that accidents are the leading cause of preventable death among children.
In the wake of its airing, Nationwide came under fire and its chief marketing officer resigned from his post.
Kaling, who is Indian-American, was in Nationwide’s other commercial from that year that took a much different tone. In it, she goes through life as if she actually is invisible. She plucks a pastry off someone’s plate, eats a gallon pail of ice cream in the grocery store and sunbathes nude in what looks to be Central Park.
It’s only when Kaling takes a sniff of actor Matt Damon — yes, an actual sniff — does the fun come to an end. Damon, startled, backs away from Kaling, who realizes that she’s not actually invisible.
“She had just always been treated that way,” Roberts says. “Join the nation that sees you … as a priority. Nationwide is on your side.”
The commercial prompted an op-ed from National Public Radio’s Rhitu Chatterjee in which she discussed how she, as an Indian woman who’s lived in America, and her minority friends have experienced their fair share of invisibility.
Honda
In a clear homage to the John Hughes classic “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” actor Matthew Broderick — who starred in the movie — plays hooky from his acting job and instead spends the day driving around in his CR-V in a Honda ad from 2012.
“Hi, can I get my CR-V brought up please?” Broderick says into a telephone after duping his agent into believing he’s sick.
While Broderick didn’t exactly reprise his role as Bueller, he does similar things in the commercial that Bueller did when the character and his cohort skipped school, like going to a museum, going to a baseball game and participating in a parade
Honda has a sprawling auto plant in Marysville, about 35 miles from Columbus.
Victoria’s Secret
The Reynoldsburg-based lingerie and beauty products retailer has aired at least three Super Bowl ads, most recently in 2015. In that one, Victoria’s Secret “Angel” models Adriana Lima, Doutzen Kroes, Candice Swanepoel, Lily Aldridge and Behati Prinsloo suit up and play a fumble-free football game.
The commercial closes with the message: “Don’t drop the ball. It’s not Valentine’s Day without Victoria’s Secret.”
Lima also starred in a 30-second spot from 2008 in which she twirls a football before letting it fall to the ground. “Victoria’s Secret would like to remind you. This game will soon be over. Let the real games begin,” the captions read.
The retailer’s first ad in 1999 was one of the first to show the power of a TV-web tie-in, USA TODAY reported in 2015. It lured more than a million people (a big number back then) to the fashion show website — and caused it to crash.
USA TODAY’s Gabe Lacques and Jim Weiker with The Dispatch contributed to this report.
Monroe Trombly covers breaking and trending news.
@monroetrombly
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