Each year on Super Bowl Sunday, viewers ruminate on important, philosophical questions. Questions like: Will the coin land on heads or tails? Will the result of the toss correlate with the game’s outcome? What will the halftime show performer wear? What color Gatorade will rain down on the coach of the winning team?

These questions drive hordes of people across states where sports betting is legal to sportsbooks en masse. The American Gaming Association expects about $1.76 billion in Super Bowl bets will be wagered this year, a 27% YoY increase, and Super Bowl Sunday is the largest single sports betting day of the year worldwide, according to Matthew Bakowicz, director of the sports management program at American University’s Kogod School of Business.

It’s no surprise, then, that sportsbook ads have carved out a place in the Super Bowl broadcast. This year’s game is set to include spots from DraftKings and Fanatics, with the latter making its Big Game debut. But as the sports-betting market matures in a year full of major sporting events, some past Super Bowl advertisers are adjusting their strategies around the game, with some pulling back to focus on other marketing moments.

“Advertisements are switching a little bit in the sports-betting world because they’ve already captured a vast majority of the market,” Bakowicz, who previously managed sportsbook operations for DraftKings at Foxwoods Resort and Casino, told Marketing Brew.

Still, “the biggest expense that sportsbooks spend on is marketing,” he said, so it’s a safe bet that Super Bowl viewers will still see them on their screens in some capacity this weekend.

Continue reading here.—AM

It’s not often a creator gets an executive title. But that’s exactly what Vivian Tu, known online as Your Rich BFF, has done with SoFi.

Late last year, Tu assumed the role of chief of financial empowerment at the financial services brand, and today, SoFi is making Tu’s role at the company widely known as the face of the brand’s latest ad campaign.

The campaign centers on Tu’s life and financial journey, and is now playing across networks like AMC, HGTV, Food Network, and Investigation Discovery, as well as on streaming platforms like Amazon Prime, Hulu, Netflix, YouTube TV, and Paramount+.

“The hope is that people will see that I am a normal, regular person,” Tu told Marketing Brew. “I want everybody to feel that type of inspiration…that they can build the financial life that they want, and also feel very rich in their life.”

We spoke exclusively with Tu about her role as chief of financial empowerment at SoFi, what it was like shooting the campaign, and why we may see more creators assume in-house roles this year.

Continue reading here.—KH

Meta is looking to give Super Bowl viewers some fashion advice this year.

The tech company is bringing its smart glasses collab with Oakley to the Big Game with a new campaign, its second consecutive ad focused on wearable tech. The spot, called “Athletic Intelligence is Here,” features athletes including former NFL running back Marshawn Lynch, pro golfer Akshay Bhatia, and Olympians Sky Brown, Kate Courtney, and Sunny Choi engaging in athletic feats while sporting Oakley Meta’s HSTN and Vanguard models. (It’s not just athletes: Director Spike Lee and streamer iShowSpeed appear in the ad, too.)

The action-packed 60-second spot will air as two 30-second-long cuts in the first and third quarters of the Big Game.

“We think that the best way to tell the story of what the glasses do is by having people use them and having them tell the story for us authentically,” Alex Himel, VP of augmented reality at Meta, told Marketing Brew. “We’ve really tried to make sure that we’re just getting the glasses in the hands of people who will enjoy them and will do fun things with them, whether that’s climbing the Empire State Building or running a marathon or just capturing everyday moments at home with kids.”

Read more here.—JS

Yahoo is refreshing its brand without starting from scratch. By leaning into nostalgic assets like the yodel and its self-aware humor, the 30-year-old internet brand is modernizing its voice for today’s audiences. Here’s how Yahoo is turning nostalgia into modern relevance.