The Super Bowl was this past weekend and we all know the commercials are just as important as the game itself (although, Go Birds!). Something I have really appreciated about commercials recently is seeing that Gen Z marketers have officially arrived on the scene. We have had some chaotic commercials lately and nothing shows this better than the Mountain Dew commercials. I was already excited by the ones that were out before the Super Bowl, but I caught myself smiling from ear to ear when the $8,000,000 ad (yes that’s how much Super Bowl ads cost now) came on my screen.
These commercials have lots of flashing lights, bright colors, quick changes in scenery and even topics. The characters may shift or transform completely. I think about the Nerd Wallet commercial as well – the one with the rich man who turns poor and then turns into a robot and then turns into cake. If you’ve never seen this commercial, then this sounds insane and that’s the best part. I love the sense of confusion that comes with watching these ads and each time being able to find something new to laugh at.
The humor found within these ads is very clearly Gen Z humor which can be attributed to our short attention spans and general enjoyment of being confused. While some companies are turning to celebrity cameos for quick recognition and guaranteed captive audiences, others, like Mountain Dew, are brave enough to try their crazy storylines. They have now created an aesthetic that audiences can identify as being specifically for Mountain Dew and it is not by color or by style, it is by the way the commercial makes the audience feel.
Gen Z is more tuned into connection with the audience. The commercials are no longer about the product; they are about the audience enjoying the experience of viewing the commercial. If commercials are a fact of life and we have to see the same ones over and over again, then we might as well enjoy them each time. This is why Mountain Dew has also stayed away from songs and jingles that get annoying after a few views. They have mastered getting a little puff of air out of the audience’s noses every time their ads come on the TV.
Seeing as Gen Z is starting to have more purchasing power, more and more commercials are turning over to the new target audience and I love to see it. I initially thought that these wouldn’t make any sense to other generations, but my Boomer Dad and Gen X Mom laugh along to these commercials, so this could be the wave of the future. There will only be more and more Gen Z entering the workforce, and I am a strong believer that commercials still need to be made by people for people, so hopefully, this task does not get handed off to AI too soon. I am looking forward to the new fever dream commercials to come.