Feb 8, 2021 - Economy & Business

How Super Bowl ads performed instantly

Data: goPuff; Table: Axios Visuals
Data: goPuff; Table: Axios Visuals

In an on-demand world, ads can drive instant sales. So how did last night's commercials perform? We partnered with delivery service goPuff to find out.

The winner: Pringles introduced the BBQ Pizza Stack during their first-quarter commercial and goPuff customers immediately wanted to replicate it.

  • Pringles' order volume nearly doubled in the hour following the spot (vs. the preceding hour), the strongest performance of any brand with products sold on goPuff.
  • Rounding out the top four: M&M's, Bud Light Seltzer and Mountain Dew.

How it works: We created an "Instant Buzz Index" to compare goPuff orders for the hour following each brand's ad to goPuff orders for the hour preceding it.

  • The brand with the highest percentage change was given a score of 100, the brand with the smallest percentage change was given a score of 0, and all other values were scaled accordingly.

More data:

  • Peak order time: goPuff orders peaked right after kickoff. Orders were 33% higher in the 6:45–7:00pm ET window than throughout the rest of the night.
  • Ice cream wins: Ben & Jerry's and Coca-Cola were the two most ordered brands during pregame (present in 9% of orders). Ben & Jerry's got even more popular during the game (16% of orders), while Coke remained steady (8%).
  • White Claw wins: Fans ordered White Claw 76% more frequently than the next most popular alcohol (Bud Light).
  • Makes sense: Chiefs fans were salty. 51% of all Kansas City customers purchased a salty snack (i.e. chips), compared to 37% of Tampa Bay customers.
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