Profs & Pints Richmond: What’s Behind Those Super Bowl Ads

Profs and Pints Richmond presents: “What’s Behind Those Super Bowl Ads,” a post-game analysis of the production of some of the nation’s most-watched commercials, with Alyson Gaiser, visiting professor of practice at Virginia Commonwealth University’s Brandcenter, group strategy director at AKQA, and a strategist on past Super Bowl ads.

[Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Available at https://www.ticketleap.events/tickets/profsandpints/richmond-bowl-ads .]

Forget the hindsight dissection of plays and players’ performance. It’s time to tackle perhaps the biggest question arising from every Super Bowl: Why were some advertisements so darned watchable, while others sent us running for kitchen or bathroom?

Get answers from an advertising insider’s perspective by Alyson Gaiser of VCU Brandcenter, a top-ranked graduate advertising program.

In a talk that will leave you with a greater understanding of advertising and how it works on us, Professor Gaiser will discuss how Super Bowl ads don’t just try to advertise products, they seek to produce feelings, quotes, and jingles that stick with you for days (or even weeks). Moreover, they’re often conceived of as part of a package that includes pre-release teasers, social media, and, sometimes, campaigns to gin up social commentary.

Alyson has worked at some of biggest advertising agencies in the world and developed marketing for internationally known brands such as Nike, Pizza Hut, Toyota, and PlayStation. She’ll look at favorite Super Bowl ads from past years as well as the fan favorites among those aired during the most recent game.

She’ll unpack how psychology informs some of the most memorable Super Bowl ads. You’ll learn how research on our minds inspires ads that use tight narrative structure, attention-grabbing openings, surprise, and incongruity and that contain sensory hooks like music and catchphrases. We’ll discuss how ads deliberately cause spikes in emotion such as awe, joy, or nostalgia to get us to remember or share them, and we’ll consider whether it’s better for ads to be funny or heartfelt.

We’ll talk about how the appearance of various celebrities in ads has contributed to or undermined their effectiveness, and how people’s tendency to watch the Super Bowl in groups heightens the impact that ads have. (Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Listed time is for doors. The talk starts 30 minutes later.)

Image by Freepik.