What Franchises Shined During the Super Bowl’s Coveted Commercial Spots?

For most people, the advertisements that take place during the Super Bowl are just as much of a spectacle as the game itself. According to Business Insider, the price of a Super Bowl advertisement spot has grown exponentially over the years, and marketers put serious dollars, time and effort behind those 30-second spots.

This year, Business Insider reported that just one of those time slots on the incredibly popular sporting event costs a company $5.6 million—and that’s just the cost of the time slot. The advertisers who make it to the Super Bowl also often put money behind social media campaigns, cross-promotions with other brands, relevant celebrity or athlete endorsements and more.

While most of the airtime is reserved for consumer behemoths like Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Budweiser, a few franchise brands made it into the mix as well. Two franchise brands, Hard Rock Hotel and Little Caesars, made the cut.

The Hard Rock spot was directed by Michael Bay, legendary director of box-office hits such as Armageddon, Pearl Harbor and Transformers. The commercial ran two minutes and 16 seconds long and starred Alex Rodriguez, DJ Khaled, Pitbull, Steven Van Zandt and halftime performer Jennifer Lopez. The commercial follows the stars through a high-speed chase filmed at the Guitar Hotel at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood. The big game itself was hosted at the Hard Rock stadium in Miami.

Little Caesars used its 30 seconds to debut the brand’s latest innovation—delivery. This is huge for the franchise considering how third party delivery has taken over the fast food sector. Dominos has been one of the few brands to resist the trend, and it looks like Little Caesars may be either trying to do the same or at the very least turn out more profits for stores with its in-house delivery system. The commercial stars Rainn Wilson of the office and can be viewed here.