Saucony buys digital Super Bowl spot focused on sustainability

Dive Brief:

• Althetic footwear and apparel brand Saucony, a division of Wolverine Worldwide, is running its first Super Bowl ad, the company revealed in a press release shared with Marketing Dive. The ad will run on Fox’s streaming platforms during the game.
• The spot will focus on Saucony’s commitment to community empowerment and the brand’s sustainability efforts, following last year’s Run for Good campaign.
• Boston-based advertising agency Arnold Worldwide worked with the Boston-based brand on the commercial.

Dive Insight:

Saucony, which has struggled with sales in recent years, is turning its focus to brand building to turn things around. This latest effort could help the company drive awareness in front of a large and engaged audience for the big game among a growing audience of cord-cutters and cord-nevers that is driving interest in connected TV ad buys. Saucony saw a 29% uptick in search volume during a previous CTV media buy, which drove a high number of visits to the brand’s website, per press materials.

Last year, Saucony dropped out of third place in market share for the specialty running footwear category, per NPD, as Deckers Hoka One One, New Balance and On Running led the category. In an attempt to reengage consumers, Saucony created the Run for Good campaign, which focused on a message of inspiration, encouraging people to improve the world through running in order to boost sales and awareness.

The Super Bowl ad extends this message of running to make the world a better place and brings sustainability into the conversation. The digital buy across Fox’s streaming platforms will help the brand bring the message to consumers at a time when many are connecting with purpose-driven marketing.

Branding has been making a comeback among marketers who were previously focused on short-term activations, with mixed results, and are now looking to invest in building awareness with a wide audience.

Other brands that have struggled with sales are expected to focus their 2020 efforts on brand building. Using a big stage like the Super Bowl or the Olympics gives these companies a way to build a brand in the long term, since Super Bowl ads tend to have a longer lifespan than simply game day. Fox quickly sold out of ad inventory for this year’s big game, with strong interest driven by an increase in ratings for the game as consumers and marketers embrace live events with broad appeal.

“Companies that focus too much on the short term and ignore the investment in the long-term brand often will pay a price,” Jed Meyer, Ebiquity’s North American managing director, told Marketing Dive in a recent 2020 predictions piece.