Retail Media Satire
Svedka Tells Critics To Make Super Bowl Ad Themselves
After its AI-made robot ad drew backlash, the vodka brand will pay $500,000 for a fan-made 15-second spot. Entries are due Dec. 1.
Based on real news: After AI backlash, Svedka challenges consumers to create Super Bowl ad (Marketing Dive)
LOUISVILLE, Ky.—Svedka said Monday that the people who criticized its AI-made Super Bowl commercial should go ahead and make the next one themselves, and offered $500,000 to whoever does it best, in what marketers are calling the industry's first fully outsourced apology.
The Sazerac-owned vodka brand is asking consumers to create a 15-second spot for its ready-to-drink Vodka Water, which comes in a clear can, Marketing Dive reported. Entries close Dec. 1, and the brand is offering a digital toolkit and inviting ads that are AI-led, low-budget or anything in between. Its previous Super Bowl ad, made largely with AI and starring a robot mascot, drew backlash. Andy Cohen is helping judge the contest.
"We listened to the feedback," said Marisol Teague, a fictional creative director who reviewed early entries. "The feedback said a robot should not make an ad. So far, 72% of the entries were made by a robot, but a different one, which people seem to feel better about."
said Marisol Teague, a fictional creative director who reviewed early entries.
The fictional Institute for Viewer Sentiment said the contest converts critics into unpaid creative staff at a rate of 0.4 entries per complaint, which it called "a high-intent grievance." Agencies that bid on the original spot have been invited to enter as consumers.
After researching this story, friend, I was served 14 vodka ads, a free trial of video editing software and the weighted blanket that has followed me since 2023, which appeared between two entries and was, I will say quietly, the best-lit thing I saw all day.
"The clear can is a creative challenge," Teague said. "The product is water and vodka, and the container is invisible. Several entries are just a table."
At press time the leading entry was 15 seconds of a clear can on a table. Nobody has been able to find the can. Judges are calling it restraint.
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Riffing on: After AI backlash, Svedka challenges consumers to create Super Bowl ad, Marketing Dive