Why the Super Bowl Still Matters ft. Leading CMOs from the SF 49ers, Mars, Comcast & Liquid I.V.

Summary

Podcast Summary: Marketing Vanguard – "Why the Super Bowl Still Matters"

Guests:

• Gabrielle Wesley (CMO, Mars Wrigley North America)
• Stephanie Rogers (VP Marketing, San Francisco 49ers)
• Jon Gieselman (Chief Growth Officer, Comcast NBCUniversal)
• Stacy Andrade Wells (CMO, Liquid I.V.)
  Date: March 20, 2026
  Host: Adweek (substitute host for Jenny Rooney)

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Episode Overview

This episode of Marketing Vanguard delves into the enduring power of the Super Bowl as a pivotal marketing moment. Four leading CMOs whose brands played significant roles around Super Bowl LVIII share inside stories, organizational wisdom, and strategic insight into how and why brands compete on advertising’s biggest stage. The panel discusses the risks and rewards of Super Bowl marketing, explains their creative processes, and reflects on measuring impact well beyond game day.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Why the Super Bowl Still Matters

[00:30, 03:01, 04:32]

• Stacy Andrade Wells (Liquid I.V.): Explained the monumental decision for a fast-growing but still emerging brand to leverage the Super Bowl for national exposure. “Liquid IV has grown so immensely over the last four years, and yet the brand is still below 20% national household penetration. So the upside is incredible. And what better stage to be on than the one that gets the most eyeballs in the entire year?” (00:30)
• Gabrielle Wesley (Mars Wrigley): For established brands, the Super Bowl is about keeping content relevant and fostering experiences that engage and surprise. “It’s not always about one upping yourself every year. It's about having that pulse of relevance and experience.” (05:02)

2. Brand Roles & Game-Time Activations

[01:35–03:22]

• Each guest provided their Super Bowl connection:
  • Gabrielle: Mars Wrigley as NFL sponsor, major game-day activations, and new experiential approaches (Snickers, Skittles live ad).
  • Stephanie: The 49ers as Bay Area hosts, overseeing the fan experience and brand legacy impact with a global lens.
  • Jon: Comcast NBCU as broadcaster and with Xfinity’s in-game ad spot, focusing on longstanding local impact.
  • Stacy: Liquid I.V.’s first big game ad and immersive weekend city-wide activations.

3. Mobilizing the Entire Organization & Taking Risks

[10:26–13:45]

• Stacy: Emphasized getting buy-in for a debut, underscoring testable business rationale and a “gut” creative idea. “The upside on the kind of awareness we could drive for the brand, the trial and the behavior change that we could inspire...that opportunity had to make sense, and for us, it absolutely did.” (10:56)
• Gabrielle: Highlighted the imperative to “take risk,” noting, “If you’re going to take risk, this is it. Because it’s more than just a game. It’s a cultural moment.” (13:45)

4. Super Bowl Creative: Capturing Attention & Driving Demand

[16:21–18:35]

• Jon: Boiled down the challenge: “It’s the game within the game. You’ve got to show up with your best work...Did you create a cultural moment? Did you show up authentically?” (07:12)
• Stacy: On breakthrough ideas: “When you can find a creative idea that gets people’s attention, but then importantly, gets them to think about their behaviors differently...that is where marketing becomes more than just entertaining.” (18:07)
• Example: Liquid I.V.’s ad leverages an awkward but universal truth about hydration, aiming to incite dialogue and category growth by connecting with consumers’ daily behavior. (18:45)

5. Measuring Success: Beyond the Ad Meter

[20:13–24:29]

• Jon: Proposed taking a long view: “I personally don’t worry about measuring the moment at all. There’s a long arc to all of these things. When you start to do that, I think you just tie yourself up in knots and you’re not going to be effective.” (20:44)
• Gabrielle: For impulse categories like candy, “Our objective is to be any and everywhere. Anyone even thinks about treating themselves, they’re going to treat themselves...we have to be in those spaces and we always have to be top of mind.” (21:13)
• Stacy: Liquid I.V. will track social digital engagement, site activity, and ultimately look for behavioral impact on product trial and sales. (22:01)
• Stephanie: The 49ers measure fandom growth globally, focusing on shifting “secondary fandom” to “primary fandom” and leveraging the week’s activities for engagement and storytelling. (23:10)

6. Handling External Feedback & ‘Ad Meter’ Rankings

[24:29–26:37]

• Jon: “I pay attention to it. I don’t get worried about this one said two, this one said seven...the cum [cumulative result] of it typically will give you some sense of how it’s going to work with consumers during the game.” (25:14)
• Stacy: “Whether you ended up in the top or you ended up in the bottom, at least you’re not in the murky middle where no one remembers anything you did...I would much rather inspire dialogue and debate and see the business pick up as a result of it than get the number one spot on the list.” (25:30)
• Gabrielle: “It’s less about what they say, but it’s more the advocacy that happens afterwards because you want to be remembered, you want to be understood, and you want to be enjoyed.” (26:05)

7. Most Anticipated Super Bowl Moments

[26:37–28:23]

• Stephanie: Looking forward to creative ad recaps for inspiration; specifically curious about the Clydesdales and animal-led ads: “I just love animals so much and beer. Let's be real.” (26:50)
• Gabrielle: Most excited (and nervous) for the execution of Skittles’ live-on-a-lawn ad.
• Stacy: Eager not just for the ad but “National Rehydration Day” (the Monday after), where Liquid I.V. will activate post-game partnerships and deliver product for those calling out sick. (27:36)
• Jon: Jokingly anticipates a legendary Patriots win: “[I’m] looking forward to the Patriots crushing the souls of Seattle fans on the final play of the game. Again.” (28:23)

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Notable Quotes

• “It’s not always about one-upping yourself every year. It’s about having that pulse of relevance and experience.”
  – Gabrielle Wesley (Mars Wrigley), [05:02]

• “You have to capture attention in a moment where there’s so much going on...But the other piece is then, okay, how do you drive demand?”
  – Stacy Andrade Wells (Liquid I.V.), [17:02]

• “As marketers, our job is to generate demand. Regardless of whether you’re selling candy, whether you sell an experience, whether you’re B2B—it is to generate demand.”
  – Gabrielle Wesley (Mars Wrigley), [13:45]

• “It’s a moment in time, and you gotta continue it. But I think the task is the same for all the brands that participate in the game.”
  – Jon Gieselman (Comcast NBCU), [07:12]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:30 – Liquid I.V.’s business case for jumping into the Super Bowl
• 01:35–03:22 – Intros: Brand roles in the Super Bowl ecosystem
• 05:02 – Mars Wrigley’s Super Bowl strategy and keeping it fresh
• 10:26–13:45 – Organizational requirements & taking creative risks
• 16:21–18:35 – The battle for attention & brand-driven change
• 20:13–24:29 – Measuring brand impact before and after the game
• 24:29–26:37 – “Ad Meter,” external feedback & post-game evaluation
• 26:37–28:23 – Most anticipated Super Bowl moments from each guest

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Tone & Takeaways

• The podcast maintains a collegial, insightful, and lightly competitive tone with a focus on practical marketer wisdom.
• All guests reinforce the Super Bowl as an unparalleled platform for brand storytelling, creative risk-taking, and wide cultural resonance.
• Success is defined more by sparking dialogue, shifting behaviors, and building long-term brand equity—and less by fleeting rankings or immediate sales spikes.
• Whether for a heritage brand, a new challenger, a local institution, or a media titan, the Super Bowl forces teams to find new ways to rise above the noise.

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Memorable Closing

• Jon Gieselman jokingly closes with:
  “I’m looking forward to the Patriots crushing the souls of Seattle fans on the final play of the game. Again.” [28:23]

• Host:
  “These are four incredibly all-pro marketers, and I hope you’ve learned a lot from them. Thank you all for sharing and I wish you the very best of demand creation after Sunday.” [28:32]

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This episode is an inside look at the courage, creativity, and coordination behind the Super Bowl’s biggest moments—and why, even in a fragmented media era, “the big game” is still the marketers’ ultimate stage.

Transcript

[A]

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[B]

There was a lot of work that went on behind the scenes to even craft the business case for why does the super bowl make sense for us? Why is this the right point in our journey? And ultimately, where we're landing is Liquid IV has grown so immensely over the last four years, and yet the brand is still below 20% national household penetration. So the upside is incredible. And what better stage to be on than the one that gets the most eyeballs in the entire year?

[C]

All right, everybody, thank you all for joining us. I'm really excited about this one. Again, as you just heard, this is a very special edition of the Marketing Vanguard podcast, which is normally hosted by my colleague, our chief Branded Community Officer, Jenny Rooney. But I'm going to have to stand in, so let's dig in. I'm really excited to have four Super Bowl CMOs at Adweek House, if you wouldn't mind. And Gabrielle, perhaps we start with you. Can you introduce yourself? I mean, if you've googled any of these people, you know just how amazing they are and then tell us what your connection to the game this year is. In your case, extensive. But yes, love to hear that. First.

[D]

Well, hello everyone. I'm Gabrielle Wesley. I have the pleasure of leading marketing for Mars Wrigley North America, the 26 brands you all know and love like M&MS. Snickers, Skittles, Twix, and a host of wonderful gum brands that give you lots of reasons to chew. I am here because we are an official NFL sponsor and the official chocolate candy of the NFL and of the game with Snickers. So for those of you that will be here this weekend for the game, be sure to check us out at the NFL fan experience as well as during the game with the where we'll be giving away Snickers ice cream.

[C]

Awesome. Stephanie.

[E]

Hi everyone. Stephanie Rogers with the San Francisco 49ers. My role in this weekend is a little bit different than probably some in the room or the hosts of the big game, and Levi's Stadium is obviously where it's going to be played. That's where we play our home games. So for me, it's all about ensuring that our players, our brand, and all of the various tentacles of that are activating broadly across the San Francisco Bay area. Everybody's having a wonderful time here in our city, and we're making sure that we're leaving that legacy. Impact.

[C]

Yeah. Thanks for joining us, Jon.

[F]

Jon Gieselman, the Chief Growth officer@comcast NBC and Peacock are airing the game, and xfinity has a 60 second spot in the third quarter.

[C]

Awesome.

[E]

Hi, everyone.

[B]

Excited to be here. My name is Stacy Andrade Wells. I'm the Chief Marketing officer for Liquid IV. I'm here because it's Liquid IV's first time advertising in the big game. So we've got some really exciting activations going on around the city across the entire weekend. But most importantly, we're excited for you all to see our amazing commercial go live in the first half.

[C]

Amazing. Congratulations. And again, I'll say to my conversationalists, here we are sitting in the round intentionally so please jump in. Feel free to interrupt, politely disagree civilly. That is the purpose of the conversation. But yeah, let's start, Stacey, because this is a big moment. How many Liquid IVs did you have to consume? How much hydration did you have to do when you started to think about the super bowl and doing the first spot?

[B]

I mean, I pounded two alone before I walked into this room, so the heat is not phasing me whatsoever. But no, it does take a lot to kind of even make that decision to step into the big game and kind of do all of the heavy lifting to get to this final point. So there was a lot of work that went on behind the scenes to even craft the business case for why does the super bowl make sense for us? Why is this the right point in our journey? And ultimately where we're landing is? Liquid IV has grown so immensely over the last four years, and yet the brand is still below 20% national household penetration. So the upside is incredible. And what better stage to be on than the one that gets the most eyeballs in the entire year? So it was absolutely worth all the liquid IVs that went into building it.

[C]

We're going to go a little deeper on sort of the thought process. But Gabrielle, obviously you all have been part of this for a really long time and in a lot of different ways. And some of the most iconic spots and really like cultural moments, because that's what I think of when I think of super bowl ads, they become these very long lived cultural moments. So very different experience. Right. How do you think about the super bowl and sort of the planning and what you want to do to outdo yourself every year if that is in fact the case?

[D]

Yeah, absolutely. It is a wonderful stage and it's a marketer's dream to be in this space. And I've been privileged of the fact that we've had a lot of really iconic super bowl ads, from the Snickers Betty White ad to the spokescandies on pause a couple of years ago that kind of broke the Internet. We've really had a really privileged time, but the focus is always on relevancy and providing a new and different experience. And so we activate against the entire NFL season, starting with the draft, all the way through the season, ending in the big game this weekend. So it's really important of having an ecosystem and it's not always about one upping yourself every year it's about having that pulse of relevance and experience. For example, this year we're doing something a little bit out of the box with Skittles and I'm not sure if you guys have all heard, but we are filming a live commercial for Sunday on someone's lawn in partnership where if you buy Skittles from Goldpuff you can enter to win. And we had hundreds of consumers who were interested in filming a big live commercial on Sunday in their front lawn. And we're super excited to bring Elijah Wood to that person's lawn and livestream that production process. So it's about the experiences, right? So it's not always about picking the right message. That's a one way message. It's about providing experiences and engaging with your consumers in a way that's fun and relevant and new each time.

[C]

John, the game, obviously there's so much that Comcast surrounds in the game. So as you mentioned, broadcast and the ad sales and all the rest of it. But when it comes to Xfinity, the brand. Right. It's a different task than a Skittles or a Liquid IV in terms of awareness and the message that you want to send. So talk a little bit about how knowing everything that you know about surrounding the game, how you think about marketing the brand.

[F]

Well, the challenge with our product is how to make the invisible visible. You know, it's just sort of surrounds all of us. This is a super important market for us, the Bay Area, I mean, we've been fueling the growth of this area for decades. So whether it's powering the stadium or all the homes around here, it's a big deal. I agree. I think for us, it's just like the task is the same for everybody. It's kind of the. It's the game within the game. You gotta show up with your best work. Nobody's gonna remember what you paid for the spot. They're gonna remember the creative. Did you create a cultural moment? Did you show up authentically? And it's just, it's a moment in time and you gotta continue it. But I think the task is the same for all the brands that participate in the game.

[C]

Stephanie, we talked a little bit about this at Niner's house, and if some of you hadn't been there, it's a pretty impressive and lovely activation here. We're sorry you're not in the game, but given that circumstance, how do you think about the Niners brand? And you and I talked about how global it is and how it's the number one NFL brand in the UK and so on and so forth. It's really an amazing thing that has happened over the last 20, 30 years. How do you think about the game being here, but also really how the Niners express themselves to the global audience around the Super Bowl.

[E]

It's been a really interesting week for us, right? Because while we are certainly disappointed that we're not playing in our home stadium for the big game, we're not letting that diminish our excitement. Right. We're hosting one of the largest, if not the largest events in the entire world, especially from a sports perspective here in this incredible Bay Area. And so for us, we really wanted to just take advantage of it. Like I said, the legacy impact that we're going to be delivering here, over a billion dollars of economic impact in this region just this year because of the events that we're hosting. How do you make the most of that? Right. The 49ers brand is connected to that. And then separately, Levi's Stadium, that's a venue that we're very proud to call home. And we're striving every single day to a world class destination for sports and entertainment. Many of the brands that we're partnering with help us do that. And so this is a big week for us to show off the power of Levi's Stadium, the investment in the fan experience that we've put in over the last couple years, and elevate both of them. To your point, we have tens of millions of fans all over the world. Number one in uk, number One in Mexico. We've just entered the uae. We have fans in almost every country that you can probably imagine. And so for us, it's continuing to put the 49ers brand out there in the way that is still very authentically us. We love to celebrate. We love to do all of these fun things. If I was sharing with somebody earlier, if you open your phone, you're gonna see our guys doing incredible things, whether it's pouring Pete's coffee, you know, at our hospitality house with Ricky Pearsall or Brock Purdy coaching girls flag football games earlier this week with the NFL or doing any number of different events on their own. So it's just about not letting you know that football side of it diminished the excitement, the celebration, and putting our brand out there in the best place that we possibly can. We've got Roger Crag into the hall of Fame last night, so there's a lot to celebrate from the 49ers.

[C]

I had a. I had a. I had a Roger jersey when I was. And I grew up in central Illinois, but I just love his style.

[E]

He's incredible.

[C]

Amazing. Amazing. All right, jump ball. Perhaps not the right sports metaphor, but I didn't want to say a punt or a kickoff there. Okay.

[E]

I don't have much up, so.

[C]

Yeah.

[D]

Yeah.

[C]

As marketers, what does it take organizationally and culturally? And again, you're sort of in different stages of engagement with the super bowl, but what does it take organizationally to get really the entire. Not just marketing organization, but the company behind activating in this moment, whether it is as the official chocolate sponsor or it is your first spot or it is the way Comcast rounds it, just getting my head around that. Right. Seems very daunting. So please jump in.

[B]

I mean, I'm happy to jump in. I mean, I think for us especially because it was our first time, you're kind of starting from a base of zero. And so, like, how do you mobilize an organization to really get on board with that? And I think two things for us had to be true. Number one is that the business case had to make sense for it. And I kind of talked about that earlier, but there was so much more to gain than there really was to lose by stepping into this moment. And we felt like the upside on the kind of awareness we could drive for the brand, the trial and the behavior change that we could inspire with people and then the entire system, which Gabrielle talked earlier about the ecosystem, but the opportunity to have this really Travel Beyond a 30 second spot, that's airing on national television and really penetrate experiential moments with consumers. Omnichannel, E commerce moments, retail displays that can drive the business. That opportunity had to make sense, and for us, it absolutely did. The second piece was we had to have an idea that felt just in our gut, like, wow, that's really cool. Like, that's something that people are going to love, that's going to really connect with people, that's going to cut through the clutter. And if we hadn't landed on that, we would not have done it.

[A]

Does it ever feel like you're a marketing professional just speaking into the void? But with LinkedIn ads, you can know you're reaching the right decision maker, a network of 130 million of them. In fact, you can even target buyers by job title, industry, company seniority, skills, and. Did I say job title? See how you can avoid the void and reach the right buyers with LinkedIn ads? Spend $250 on your first campaign and get a free $250 credit for the next one. Get [e-mail] Campaign terms and conditions apply.

[C]

What did it feel like when you knew?

[B]

I think as a marketer, there's times where we sit in the creative room and we're seeing the ideas. And first and foremost, I try to always view things just purely as a consumer. Like, take my CMO hat off, I'm on my couch, I'm watching it, and, like, what does it feel like immediately when I see it? Do I laugh? Do I cry? Does it make me feel emotional? And for me, at least, for what we're doing with Liquid iv, oh, I laughed out loud. And anyone who's in the room will tell you it was kind of this just immediate gut reaction that I could not ignore. And I think that's when, as a marketer, you know, you're onto something. Now, the counterpoint to that is, like, it also made me stand up a little straighter. I was like, oh, I think that's hilarious. I don't know if everybody will find that hilarious. And it's that combination of the gut reaction with slightly uncomfortable that's magical. You're like, okay, let's follow that down.

[C]

Yeah, the space is in between. Gabrielle.

[D]

Yeah, it is definitely about taking risk, right? As a marketer, this is the stage. If you're going to take risk, this is it. Right? Because it's more than just a game. It's a cultural moment, regardless of whether you watch or are a fan. Somebody's going to a Super bowl party, somebody's going to an event. And even if you're just going for the snacks, which, hey, we're all for that, even if you're just coming for the snacks, it's about entertainment and that connectivity. I think for us it's a little bit different because we have been in the game and we've been in those spaces for a lot. So it's now it's like, what are you going to do now? Because as marketers, our job is to generate demand. Regardless of whether you're selling candy, whether you sell an experience, whether you're B2B, it is to generate demand. And so it's about gaining the trust of my peers that I'm going to do my job in generating demand. And whether that is a 30 second spot or whether that's an experience or whether that's a sponsorship or whatever that may be, it's building the trust with my peers that I am going to be really good at generating demand and that it's going to end in success for the business.

[E]

Sorry, I was just going to say one thing I would add is that I think they're projecting somewhere between like 120 or 130 million people to watch. Right. And then that's just watching. And then you have all the other channels that are capturing attention. So I don't even know what that number is, but that's like 4x what a massive game in the NFL is at prime time.

[C]

So feel free to come back and Mark Marshall of NBCU Advertising come talk about it. But yes, yeah.

[F]

Anyways, for every company, there's a lot of similarities and differences too. For us, the arc of it has been interesting. You know, we're a mature company trying to find material growth again. And, and this is kind of a moment where the belief has now been infused and the company's starting to get its mojo back again. And sales and marketing organizations just feed off of that. It just builds momentum. So for us, culturally, it's having just as big an impact as I think it will for consumers as well. And that's equally important.

[C]

I'm so glad you talked about sort of the generating demand part of it. Right. Because I do want to dig in on that because like you have 30 seconds or 60 seconds, what elements, as you think about it, are the things that people got a tortilla chip in their mouth and someone's talking, like, how do you think about the grab? Right. Or essentially like the moment that people are like lose all sight of what else is happening around them, they're captivated again for all of you.

[F]

I think it comes down to just a very simple truth or a very simple metaphor that's easy to say. Do that. It's difficult to pull it off. In our case, it was just a very simple story of what would have happened at Jurassic park if it was powered by Xfinity, the whole day would have gone fine. So you can tell that story instantly, and it's culturally relevant because it's a piece of IP that we all love. So I think that's the challenge. Either tell that in a 30 or 60.

[C]

Everybody see the baby iguanas in the lounge? They're there.

[F]

They're velociraptors.

[C]

Oh, oh, oh. Yes.

[F]

They would be insulted if they were in the room. Insulted.

[C]

All right.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Now I'm definitely not going to go look at them clearly. Yeah, Sorry, sorry. Yes. My bad.

[B]

Just to build on what you're saying, I feel like there's kind of two jobs you're trying to do to your point. Like, on the one hand is you have to capture attention in a moment where there's so much going on. So the creative disruption is absolutely imperative. The moment calls for it. Right. But the other piece is then, okay, how do you drive demand? So if you disrupt and all you do is, like, okay, people find it entertaining, but it doesn't have anything to do with your brand or your category or your business, not very much will come of that. And so I think what we've really tried to find is the intersection between creative disruption and brand strategy. And so, for us, we are the number one functional hydration player in the category. Our number one job is to grow the total category. If the category grows, we grow. And what we've identified is that the number one barrier to growth of functional hydration is just complacency. Eight in 10Americans have hydration regret, which is, I wish I hydrated better than I do. I feel like there's a lot of people in here who.

[C]

Yes, I see that you guys are feeling it. For sure.

[B]

You feel it. And yet I don't really see any liquid IV out here. Like, oh, we got one glass. Yeah. There you go. So behavior change is so, so difficult to inspire. And so when you can find a creative idea that gets people's attention, but then importantly, gets them to think about their behaviors differently, and that inspires attention on the category and therefore growth of the brand, that is where marketing becomes more than just entertaining. It becomes functional for the business.

[C]

For those of you in the audience and listening to the podcast who don't read adweek.com every day and I'm not sure why you don't. But Stacy, can you tell them a little bit about what the moment's going to be?

[B]

Sure. So I could tell you a little bit of our story, which is I told you about the challenge that we're trying to address, which is hydration, complacency. And part of what we've identified is that 59% of even the people in this room are willing to admit that they look at the color of their pee before they flush the toilet. And 40% of people admit to googling. What does the color of my pee mean? More than half of America feels relief if the color is clear or pale yellow. And they pat themselves on the back and say, I'm hydrating well today. And it's an uncomfortable truth, but it's very funny and it's very relatable and it's something that all of us experience. And so that is really the anchoring human insight that gave birth to our entire campaign. We have not released the spot ahead of time. That was very intentional. I think part of the joy of super bowl is seeing this stuff in real time. And we've kind of moved away from that as an industry and I understand it, but as a viewer and a lover of the consumer experience, I'm like, that's half the fun. So we've held it back, but we've given just enough. We did an amazing official soundtrack release of our official song Against All Odds. It was recorded by ej, Golden Globe winning, Grammy winning Oscar nominated singer, songwriter. She did a beautiful rendition for us. We've dropped an official trailer which gives you just enough to wonder if we're really going there. And then on Super Bowl Sunday, you'll find out that, yes, in fact we are.

[C]

For the non K pop fans in the room, that will blow people's minds, quite frankly. So just in terms of sort of how you all think about the moment that you're creating, right, this notion of the return, right? I mean, marketers, CMOs, we enclosed rooms and open rooms talk a lot about defensible budgets and the CFO and the Darth Vader of the C Suite. I think the question is how do you think about the outcomes, right? Not just a week later, two weeks later, but literally like into the rest of the year.

[F]

I mean, I personally don't worry about measuring the moment at all. There's a long arc to all of these things. When you start to do that, I think you just tie yourself up in knots and you're not going to be effective. You're optimizing for the wrong thing. So it's a big moment, it's an investment, it's a lot of money. You better show up right and on the right part of the ranking list. But, you know, there's a long arc to all of this and it's about showing up this way consistently day in and day out, not just in this moment.

[D]

For us, I would say Candy's a little bit different because we're an impulse category. Right. And our objective is to be any and everywhere. Anyone even thinks about treating themselves, they're going to treat themselves. People are choosing to treat themselves right. But we want them to make sure in that treating moment that we're the ones that are chosen. And so it requires us to always be top of mind and to remind people that they really, really want a snicker. Right. And that's really what it's about, is being chosen. I mean, you have lots of choices when you treat yourself. And so for us, we have to be in those spaces and we always have to be top of mind to know that we're here, we're ready, we're everywhere and choose us in that moment.

[B]

I think Liquid IV is quite similar in the sense that, like, we have an opportunity to be physically available in the days leading up and in the moments after. And making sure we have that kind of retail digital presence is very important. Some of the things that we are looking at as we go through the next couple of weeks, brand awareness, digital engagement on our social media platforms. On the day of, we'll actually be in a war room. We'll be communicating with our community on our social media channels. In the comments section, I want to see the site traffic. Did the ad make you wonder, wait, what is this product like? Let me go learn more about it. Right. So I think all of those things, there's not one metric alone but the body of evidence to understand did this do ultimately what we wanted it to do, which is that it captured people's engagement, it sparked dialogue, and ultimately we want it to change behavior, which means we should see that in product trial, in product sales as we move through the rest of the year.

[C]

Stephanie, how are you measuring and how do you think about the impact of this week on the Niners brand and sort of how you're thinking about marketing because, you know, it doesn't come around that often.

[E]

Yeah, absolutely. It's similar to what John said. We're really focused on creating the long term relationship with our fans. Right. But in the moment, we also want to see impact, right? Our social engagements, we want them to be higher. So the way that we think about consumption is really fandom, right. And so we have primary fandom and secondary fandom. And what we're trying to do you sort of mentioned grow the category, right? We're trying to of course grow global fandom always. But the numbers that I really look at are the secondary fandom percentage to the whole and how are we growing that transitioning people from secondary fandom into primary fandom as we're continuing to grow the global fandom. So for us this week when we're talking in marketing measurement, we have our guys all over the place doing all sorts of different things. We measure our players, interactions, engagements, awareness and that ultimately then ends up transitioning into how we're storytelling. Our content team is everywhere trying to capture that not only deliver content on their player channels, but on our channels as well. We're hoping to see a big lift in terms of follower growth, engagement rates, things of that nature. People coming into our fandom because of the magnitude of this event and they're paying attention this week because of all of the chatter. So for us it's similar, of course, but obviously a little bit different. When you're measuring fandom for a sports team versus immediate impact, whether that's Snickers or Liquid iv, I'm going to make sure that check in all of that or the long term in terms of global fandom and how that shows up for us.

[C]

All right, so let's talk about. Do you care about the meters? The ad meters? There's so much more post game punditry on the ads than there ever was. And I'm sure you and your teams are like, oh God, really? Another one? We're doing Shameless Plug. We're doing a live show whole life adweek.com and on our LinkedIn on Sunday night. But I'm just curious because I always use the example of herding cats. I think it was 2001 or 2000. Anybody remember the herding cats ad from the Super Bowl? Yes. Anybody remember what the actual company was? Right, exactly. But it was one of the highest awareness of that year and there are a zillion examples since then. So I'm just curious as we sort of take this home, that sort of external noise or feedback, how do you think about that?

[F]

I pay attention to it. I don't get worried about this one said to. This one said seven. This one said something snarky. I don't, I don't pay much attention to that. But the cum of it typically will give you some sense of how it's going to work with consumers during the game.

[B]

Gabriel yeah, certainly we look at it right. We're marketers, everybody's reading those. But I think at the end of the day, this is such a forum where I just have deep appreciation for people who are willing to come in and swing for the fences. And for me, it's like whether you ended up in the top or you ended up in the bottom, at least you're not in the murky middle where no one remembers anything you did. And I think, like, I would much rather inspire dialogue and debate and see the business pick up as a result of it than get the number one spot on the list.

[D]

All of them are really important. They're all data. But I think the sentiment for me is, is how engaging were our fans and our consumers in it. The people who love us, like, did they talk about us? That advocacy is so important. It's less about what they say, but it's more the advocacy that happens afterwards because you want to be remembered, you want to be understood, and you want to be enjoyed. And those are the measures, to me, that are the most important.

[C]

Awesome. All right, just, we'll go rapidly. And Stephanie, I'll start with you. What's one spot or moment that you're most looking forward to in the Super Bowl?

[E]

I am looking forward to following along with all of the recaps because, you know, on the sports side.

[D]

Right.

[E]

We have a lot of creatives and I try to utilize all of your guys brilliance on these ads to inspire us to think a little bit differently in terms of engaging with audiences. So I'm certainly looking forward to that. I saw the Clydesdales walking down the street the other day, and I'm interested to see how that one's going to come out because I just love animals so much and beer. Let's be real.

[D]

Well, selfishly, I'm hoping that this live commercial, we were actually able to pull this off. I mean, I'm going to be on the edge of my seat just like the rest of you trying to figure out what this thing is going to be. But more than anything, hopefully have a lot of fun and it represents Skittles in that wonderfully weird way that we are used to seeing that brand.

[C]

Amazing. John.

[B]

Well, of course I'm excited for the actual day of we've held back the spot, so I'm eager to see how consumers and our communities are going to respond to it. But I'm actually also very excited for the Monday after which we've identified is the number one day in the year where people call out sick from work. Couple guesses why. And so we've actually branded that National Rehydration Day. And we're going to have a partnership with DoorDash where we will get you Liquid IV immediately if you need it. We've got a couple of corporate partnerships where we will bring our brand ambassadors to the company headquarters to provide Liquid IV in real time for those that have to go back return to office. So our celebration doesn't stop after Sunday. It really carries on after the game to make sure that we're keeping the conversation about hydration alive well after Super Bowl.

[C]

Awesome, John.

[F]

I'm looking forward to the Patriots crushing the souls of Seattle fans on the final play of the game. Again. Again.

[C]

There you go. All right. We can't do better than that. Truly. These are four incredibly all pro marketers and I think you've learned a lot from them. I hope you've learned a lot from them. Thank you all for sharing and I wish you the very best of demand creation after Sunday. Congratulations, guys. Thank you, thank you, thank you for

[G]

listening to Marketing Vanguard, part of the Adweek Podcast Network and Acast Creator Network. You can listen and subscribe to all of Adweek podcast by visiting adweek.com podcasts. Stay updated on all things Adweek Podcast Network by following us on Twitter DWeek podcast. And if you have a question or suggestion for the show, send us an [e-mail] thanks for listening.

[A]

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