The Big Game’s Big Winners!
While footballs flew across our TVs and snacks filled our stomachs, Gopuff Business Insights analyzed customer behavior in real time during the Big Game. Here’s what we saw:
It would be easy to write about Tom Brady’s sustained peak performance and love of Unreal dark chocolate. And perhaps we will do that one day. But today, we want to focus on the real reason we all tuned in for the Big Game: the commercials.
A 30-second commercial this year set brands back approximately $5.5 million. To put this in Gopuff terms, that amount could buy you 655 miles of Nerds Rope, 11 million pepperoni Bagel Bites, 1.25 Olympic swimming pools of Pepsi or 18 Bud Lights for every citizen of Tampa, Florida (they earned it).
But enough of the hypotheticals. As the experts in instant needs delivery, Gopuff Business Insights ( the team that brought you Consumer Behavior Insights 2020) was hard at work understanding the immediate impact of each brand’s commercials on product sales. In this blog post, we’ll walk you through our in-game observations and who the big winners were by the final whistle. But in the end, we just hope everyone had fun, right?
Measuring Commercial Impact in Real Time
In a pre-pandemic world, opinion-based conversations about the Big Game’s best commercials would dominate Monday morning’s water cooler conversation. This year, Gopuff is replacing opinion with fact by using hard data to measure which ads were more effective than the rest.
Enter the Gopuff Instant Buzz Index
Following the airing of each brand’s ad, we measured the corresponding immediate rise in sales on our platform. Each brand’s sales were then indexed in such a way that the brand with the largest post-commercial increase would receive a score of “100,” the brand with the smallest increase would receive a score of “0” and the rest would fall in line accordingly. By tying stimulus to response, we can easily identify the true winners of the night.
And the award for the most effective advertisement goes to…
Pringles (Instant Buzz Index Score of 100)
Pringles introduced the BBQ Pizza Stack during their commercial just before the end of the first quarter, and consumers nationwide wanted to replicate it immediately. And Gopuff customers did replicate it immediately.
Gopuff saw Pringles’ order volume nearly double in the hour following the spot. What’s more, Pringles’ share of all Gopuff Salty snack sales doubled in the same period. It’s safe to say that those astronauts stranded in the ocean were waiting for a good cause.
Runner Up: M&M’s (Instant Buzz Index Score of 98)
Dan Levy taught us that you can apologize for anything with M&M’s. And if we learned anything from Gopuff orders during the Big Game, it’s that nothing brings people together like those button-shaped bits of bliss.
This commercial was the second most effective in driving post-ad impact, leading to the most M&M’s ordered in a single day in Gopuff history. Interestingly, customers in cities throughout New England were 30-55% more likely than those in other markets to order M&M’s on gameday. Who needs Tom Brady when you have chocolate?
Interested in learning more? Check out our full list of brand performances on Axios.
A Steady Build to Kickoff
For fans nationwide, the hours before the Big Game are critical. The snack assortment has to be on point, the drinks have to be chilled to the perfect temperature and the TV volume has to be calibrated to the optimal decibel level. As the leader in the instant needs category, Gopuff is in a unique position to serve these moments with minimal disruption.
Gopuff orders steadily increased throughout the afternoon leading up to kickoff and into the first few minutes of the game. Orders peaked moments after kickoff, reaching levels 33% higher in the 6:45pm-7:00pm ET window than at any other point during the game.
Customers remained engaged through the halftime show but seemed to disengage as the second half progressed. Generally speaking, orders nationwide steadily decreased as a Buccaneers victory became more and more certain.
Moments after kickoff, one fan in Tampa Bay ordered 4 Red Bulls, an Uptime, a 5 Hour Energy and a bottle of Veuve Clicquot. Strictly the essentials to get from kickoff to the trophy ceremony.
Fun Facts on Game Night Snacks
This year’s Big Game marked one of the biggest order days of the year. To celebrate this milestone, we wanted to leave you with a few fun facts about what the night was like in our world.
Ben & Jerry’s somehow got even more popular during the Big Game, nearly doubling its order share from the pregame period. Whereas Ben & Jerry’s was present in 9% of all pregame orders, the chunky champion made its way into 16% of all in-game orders.
Fans left salty snacks behind once the game started. Tostitos was the #5 most ordered brand pregame, but the #19 most ordered during the game. Similarly, Ruffles and Fritos each dropped 20 spots in the rankings after kickoff.
White Claw was the night’s most popular alcohol. Fans ordered White Claw 76% more frequently than the next most popular alcohol (Bud Light).
Kansas City fans were saltier than Tampa Bay fans. No, really. 51% of all Kansas City customers purchased a Salty snack, compared to 37% of Tampa Bay customers.
Gatorade was the most popular gameday beverage, narrowly edging out Coca-Cola for the top spot. Cool Blue was the most popular Gatorade flavor of the night, matching Bruce Arians’ post-game bath.
Can’t wait for the next big sports event? Be prepared—consider having these classic gameday pairings on hand!
Deliver the Moment
The Big Game is a big deal. It’s the one moment of the year in which people across the nation are doing the same thing at the same time with the same products within arm’s reach. In the world of instant needs, it’s easier than ever for brands to get in on the action before the coin toss hits the ground. Interested in getting your brand on the table? Contact businessinsights@gopuff.com for more information.
- big game
- commercials
- consumer behavior
- football
- insights
