The Real Winners of Super Bowl LVI - Media Roundtable Breaks Down This Year’s Ads; Really Real Time With Bill Maher; AI Leaps Over The Uncanny Valley

This episode of the Media Roundtable is a little different from the norm. Last Sunday, over 100M viewers tuned in to watch the best of the best collide to establish dominance in America’s greatest showdown. We’re not talking about the Rams and Bengals; we’re talking about the commercials and in true Media Roundtable fashion, the impact they have on the world.

This week, latter-day madmen, Stew Redwine and Jason Harris break down the biggest winners and losers during what they’re calling The Nostalgia Bowl. But this exercise is not just a fun bit of “Monday morning Creative Directing”, their insights unlock creative insights your brand can use all year long.

“I hate advertising that treats the audience like they’re dumb” – Jason Harris

For the uninitiated, Stew Redwine is the Creative Director here at Oxford Road, and Jason Harris is an award-winning advertising executive and author, whose agency Mekanism has worked on multiple memorable Super Bowl spots including 2014’s iconic “Pepsi Soundcheck” ad.

From Super Bowl LVI’s Barbie’s Dreamhouse to the Crypto Bros’ Screensaver, find out what it means for an ad in the “Big Game” to succeed, and which ads from this year will stand the test of time.

Get a front-row seat as these two ad-pros to discuss the Soul + Science of why ads work and how to view them through the four lenses found in Jason’s book, Original, Generous, Empathetic, and Soulful. In this episode they cover:

• The Nostalgia Bowl
• Coinbase’s place in the ad world’s history books
• Why Super Bowl ads need to be the Second Act in a Three-Act structure
• Uber Eats and the David Ogilvy adage, “The customer is not a moron, she’s your wife.”

Tune in and we promise, you won’t see Super Bowl ads the same way again.

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The Classifieds

Political Host Swaps Commentary for Cocktails

Bill Maher has been a successful host of the intelligentsia and celebrity elite for 30 years. It makes quite a great bit of sense that he would have the best and most eclectic get-togethers, and now his viewers are invited to the party. The comedy stalwart is letting us in on the fun by pairing with Public Media Marketing to bring us a weekly podcast and Youtube series from his bar Club Random. The show will feature many people in varied specialties and backgrounds, with the sole distinction that politics are not allowed. The opportunity is available for sponsorship starting in March and will be a great option for those interested in comedy and society & culture. While probably salacious in nature, it’s also a perfect option for those who want to dip their toe into simulcast tests. Come join the pundit-less party by looking below for details.

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Talk Radio Reinvented in the Twitch Age

Podcasts have recently been rediscovering what has been hidden in plain sight all along: talk radio. Twitch streamer Lyle the Therapy Gecko has gained notable success as clips of his call-in stream have gone viral on Tik Tok and made the front page of Reddit. This podcast from Headgum bundles together the best clips of Lyle’s conversations with viewers, for an easy, relaxing listening experience peppered with jaw-dropping moments of raw intimacy. This format has recently become one of the top-charting US podcasts, and his streams get thousands of eager viewers, who just want to connect in our current age of isolation. This can be categorized as a comedy, self-help and improvement, and mental health, and targets a Gen Z and Millennial audience. Don’t find yourself green with envy, click the link below to test today.

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In Case You Missed It

Even Better Than the Real Thing

“You’re afraid I can do that, Dave.” The Scientific American recently reported that humans find AI-generated faces more trustworthy than the real thing. We’re already seeing deepfakes of our favorite actors doing things we know they’d never really do in real life. But the difference between AI-generated content and the “real thing” is becoming increasingly indistinguishable. It’s happening in the audio space right now and you probably didn’t know. Like many agencies, Oxford Road has been experimenting with AI-generated voices and they’re now passing for the real thing more often than not. Imagine a world where you can translate your commercial into 100 different languages with the press of a button. It’s already happening and you didn’t even know.

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The Podcast Boom Continues

A recent report from WARC shares that more than half of the advertisers surveyed plan to increase their spending on Podcast this year with an estimated cumulative spend of $2B. On the front lines, we’re seeing this in full effect. Inventory is getting tighter and networks are raising minimum thresholds and loosening exclusivity terms. If you’re one of the 16% of marketers not planning on advertising in Podcast this year, you don’t have to take any action, but if you’re not, you need to lock in everything you can, while you can.

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20 Million People Didn’t Hate It

Love it because the QR code hit the corner or hate it because it confused Grandma, the Coinbase Super Bowl ad worked. 20 million people visited the website in 1 minute and the ad propelled the Coinbase app to No. 2 on the Apple App Store from No. 186.
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This Week in Great Podcast Reads

Theragun, Your Favorite Thing

Let’s be honest. You no longer have the time—if you ever did—to keep up with the latest in streaming content, books, conspiracy theories, and all the things that bring you joy do you? Wells Adams and Brandi Cyrus do, and they love sharing it on their weekly podcast Your Favorite Thing. That’s why their recent spot for Theragun, the latest percussive therapy device for releasing deep muscle tension, feels less like an ad read and more like them describing your new favorite thing to you. Starting off with a strong personalized Setup, they go hard on the Value Prop, then each deliver a personal endorsement for an exemplary read, that showcases a few of our favorite things.
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