According to NPR, the cost to purchase a 30-second advertisement spot for the 2024 Super Bowl was a hefty $7 million dollars – $233,333.33 dollars per second. With this year’s viewership during the Chiefs vs. 49ers matchup drawing a whopping 127.3 million according to Nielson – the largest TV audience of all time (potentially thanks to the Swifties) – what a time for a business to attempt to boost sales with a marketing campaign. For rapper and entrepreneur Kanye West, he capitalized.
While it’s been near-impossible to neglect West’s recent controversies when in the public eye – his 30-second ad spot in the Super Bowl was nothing short of genius.
Standing out against surrounding high-budget, very-produced advertisements for car companies, beer brands, and banks, West’s ad was seemingly shot on an iPhone’s front-facing camera while riding in a truck.
Admitting they spent all their money on the ad spot so they couldn’t afford a production, West announced that he’d have “some shoes” on his website for sale, and that’s it—literally 30 seconds of vertical iPhone footage.
He then publicly shared on his Instagram (a method which, along with anti-semetic remarks, had soiled partnerships with Gap and Adidas) that he made $19.3 million in sales off the products on his website, posting the total with the caption “The people have spoken Yeezy.com”. To make the number seem even more impressive, the products were all on sale for just $20.
It appears as though the minimalism of West’s Super Bowl ad had allowed it to stand out amongst the now seemingly conventional route of ad-making for the most-viewed TV event in history. Generating that shocking number of sales, is it possible that West (who, despite his shortcomings, has always been a trendsetter) could ignite a new approach to advertising?