YouTube Announces 2022 Super Bowl Ads Showcase, Highlighting all the Major Super Bowl Campaigns

Super Bowl LVI is nearly here, and for marketing nerds, that can mean only one thing. Time to check out the latest big-budget campaigns from the major brands, in order to get a sense of the key trends of focus, and maybe figure out how you can adapt the same into smaller social media initiatives for your promotions and plans.

This year could see some big pushes too, with the light at the end of the COVID tunnel coming into sight, and more brands now considering how they can maximize their return to regular business. We’re not through the Omicron phase just yet, but projections are that with vaccine take-up rising, and infection rates leveling out, we should be on our way out of the worst of the pandemic in the next few weeks.

I say ‘should’, because nobody’s confident enough to make any concrete projections after two years of uncertainty. But the outlook is starting to improve, and that optimism looks set to add even more fuel to the latest Super Bowl ad push.

Looking to get ahead of the big game, and take in the nuance of the key campaigns?

Lucky for you, YouTube is bringing back its AdBlitz showcase, where it will host all the Super Bowl tie-in ads for the year.

As explained by YouTube:

“Now in its 16th year, AdBlitz is the premier hub for Super Bowl ads with playlists for the most comedic, dramatic, action-packed, and inspirational spots. According to a Kantar survey, when excluding those that don’t care about sports or don’t plan to watch the Big Game, 72% rewatch at least some football commercials before or after the game.”

Which, of course, is part of the reason why Super Bowl ad slots are so expensive, with brands this year paying up to $6.5 million for a 30-second promo during the game.

You can bet that they’ll be looking to make the most of it, which means bringing in the top minds in the industry to use their ad knowledge and trend nous to come up with the most innovative, creative brand promotions to grab as much attention as they can, and win the day for their business.

It’s like a free lesson in the best marketing creative, and while not every campaign will be a home run, it is worth noting the techniques and ideas on show, with a potential view, as noted, to your own ad experiments.

YouTube’s AdBlitz is already active, with teaser clips of the Super Bowl campaigns from Pepsi and Lay’s among those already up on the site.

Entertainment value alone is likely enough to get you to check it out, while there’ll also be additional campaigns added to the collection up until the game on Monday the 14th of February.

It’s definitely worth taking a look, and taking notes on the clips. Or you could focus on planning out your real-time tweet game to newsjack the Super Bowl discussion (ala Oreo in 2013), or maybe take Reddit’s approach from last year and come up with an ad that grabs attention by subverting expectation.

Either way, there are always creative lessons to learn from the Super Bowl ad sweepstakes, and YouTube’s AdBlitz offers a singular reference point to keep tabs on all the campaigns.

You can check out YouTube’s AdBlitz for 2022 here.