Feb 3, 2017
Canadian fintech Wealthsimple joins 'biggest boondoggle in advertising' with Super Bowl ad
This year’s lineup of Super Bowl ads in the U.S. includes spots from big brands like Pepsi, Intel, and Mercedes-Benz.
Typically, ad inventory for the big game is reserved for big brands. And with good reason. Price tags for nationally broadcast 30-second spots, on average, were nearly US$5 million this year.
But in some U.S. cities, ad watchers will catch a new commercial from Canadian fintech Wealthsimple.
Wealthsimple’s ad will be airing in markets like Austin, Boston, and Seattle.
“The Super Bowl is widely known as the biggest boondoggle in advertising,” Wealthsimple CEO Michael Katchen told BNN in an interview earlier this week. “People know it’s $5 million for 30 seconds in the states and that’s crazy. And that’s not what we’re doing. So, for us, we looked to see across the states, are there regional opportunities where the investment makes a lot of sense.”
But the company’s ad is not only being aired during the Super Bowl. The commercial was uploaded to YouTube last month, and has since been viewed nearly 2 million times.
“And so, if you think about television today, not many young people watch live TV. Or if you do, you fast forward through the ads – whereas the Super Bowl is that one event where we actually pay attention. So for us, we looked to see, well if that’s true, are there any underpriced opportunities if you break it across the regions rather than looking nationally. And we found a few markets that were pretty exciting so we made those investments.”
Wealthsimple already has some experience in airing Super Bowl ads. Last year, the company bought ad time in Canada during the big game.
Katchen added that the advertising cost per capita, is actually one of “the cheapest forms of live TV advertising.”
In a blog post written last year, Katchen wrote that the $170,000 price tag for Wealthsimple’s Super Bowl ad is a “smart investment”.
The post comes after Wealthsimple announced it is expanding its services into the U.S. with a $20-million Power Financial Corp. investment.
This will be the first Super Bowl where American ads will not be replaced by Canadian ads.
--With files from Laura Woodward
