The big drop
While an album announcement and music release hasn’t looked like Verizon and Beyoncé’s ad before, there is at least minor precedent for it.
Nobody’s going to confuse Jeff Bridges for Beyoncé, but the Academy Award winner and Big Lebowski star teamed with Squarespace and Wieden+Kennedy to release his album Jeff Bridges’ Sleeping Tapes with a Super Bowl ad back in 2015.
U2, the band Beyoncé was rumored to be replacing at Las Vegas’ Sphere, loves using the Super Bowl to drop music and concert news. In 2014, it teamed with Bank of America to release a new single—Invisible—during a Super Bowl ad as part of a fundraiser to fight AIDS. Just last year, it announced its Achtung Baby residency at the Sphere with yet another Big Game ad.
An album drop by someone in one of Super Bowl 58’s luxury suites may have raised the stakes in Las Vegas this year—turning the sporting event into an entertainment news platform. This year’s halftime performer, Usher, used his Apple-hosted event to promote his new album—Coming Home—launched just two days before the Super Bowl. Jennifer Lopez, whose first new album in nine years releases five days after the Big Game, was seen working in the music studio before being rudely interrupted by Ben Affleck and company during a Dunkin’ Super Bowl ad.
“Interesting to see this mere days after Taylor Swift announced her new album at the Grammys,” Segal said. “I think everyone’s always trying to do something, something bigger, leveraging a platform and a moment.”
What’s in it for Verizon?
According to data from Dash Hudson Beyoncé’s 2.25 million engagements on Instagram, YouTube and Twitter on Super Bowl night ranked ahead of both Usher (1.71 million) and Swift (1.41 million).
But did Verizon draw as much attention as it could from her album drop once focus shifted away from its commercial and brand? Quint answered succinctly: “No.”
