At first glance, the idea of a Spanish-language airing of the Super Bowl doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense. After all, football is a quintessentially American sport. You’d think that more acculturated Hispanics would be perfectly happy to view the big game on CBS, with their buddies who are accustomed to watching English-language TV. And those who are less acculturated, who don’t tend to consume a lot of English-language media, wouldn’t be interested in football – preferring fútbol.
In fact, the game turned out to be a great opportunity for advertisers. ESPN Deportes achieved a large audience for the event, with the game delivering the fifth highest ratings ever for the network, beat only by four UEFA soccer championship matches. This was the third such airing of the Super Bowl en Español, and advertisers are getting better about making the most out of the opportunity. In fact, all except one of the spots aired on the game were in Spanish, while only one was an English-language spot. This is a big improvement over 2015, in which 13 of the 39 spots run on the game were in English.
Hats off to beer brands Coors Light and Bud Light, both of which aired Spanish-language spots that were part of their new General market campaigns, but were specifically created for the Hispanic market. The new Coors Light General market spot that hit the airwaves just prior to Super Bowl Sunday talks about how we all have challenges that push us to go higher – our mountains. The Spanish language version is similar, but uses scenes and challenges that are more aligned with the Hispanic beer drinker. The spot closes with “Whatever your mountain is, keep climbing!”
The Bud Light spot uses famous Hispanic actor/musician Michael Peña in an election-themed spot that is consistent with the General market spot that debuted in the Super Bowl starring Seth Rogan and Amy Schumer campaigning for the ‘Bud Light party’. In the Hispanic version, Peña is the campaigner, and he discusses ‘important’ campaign themes like using four last names instead of one. He ends by saying “The future is in our hands!”
Astute advertisers know that, over time, most Hispanics will see their English-language and their Spanish-language ads. As such, it makes a lot of sense to have both types of ads speaking with a consistent voice and using common themes, while not simply being translated versions of the same creative.
Nearly 500,000 less-acculturated Hispanics gathered with family and friends around the set last Sunday to watch the Super Bowl en Español. Whether they were themselves avid football fans or just curious to see what all the fuss was about, advertisers who bought time on ESPN Deportes bought a relatively large and attentive audience who otherwise would have been missed on that particular Sunday. ¡Viva el football!
