In addition to being America’s professional football championship game, the Super Bowl is also the most-watched television event in America every year. With all those eyeballs attached to it, the big game draws advertisers like bees to honey. To stand out, there’s something of an arms race in terms of Super Bowl commercials, with each advertiser hoping to stand out and be remembered as “the best” of any given year.
Unfortunately for companies and investors alike, producing a witty or memorable ad doesn’t always translate to real-world success. In fact, oftentimes the companies that have the splashiest ads turn out to be the worst investments. While some perennial Super Bowl commercial champions, like Budweiser, have long-term staying power, many companies with notable Super Bowl ads in 2022 didn’t fare nearly as well.
Basing an investment portfolio around your favorite Super Bowl ads is a whimsical strategy and not one that investors are realistically likely to follow. However, it is interesting to see just how the companies creating notable Super Bowl ads in 2022 have fared in the stock market — and if they got any value out of the $6.5 million they likely spent for an average 30-second commercial.
FTX (Token: FTT)
- Memorable commercial: Don’t Miss Out
- Token price as of 2022 Super Bowl: $44.52
- Token price as of Jan. 6, 2023: $0.908
- How much you would have lost by investing: -98%
Crypto exchange FTX’s now-infamous “Don’t Miss Out” ad will no doubt go down in history as both ironic and tragic. Equating world-changing events like the invention of the wheel with the coming of cryptocurrency, famous comedian Larry David gave the ad extra notoriety. But former wunderkind founder of FTX Sam Bankman-Fried is now in federal custody, as claims of billions of dollars of fraud and outright theft have allegedly tanked his personal fortune from over $26 billion to $100,000.
Rocket Mortgage (RKT)
- Memorable commercial: Dream House with Anna Kendrick and Barbie
- Stock price as of 2022 Super Bowl: $12.26
- Stock price as of Jan. 6, 2023: $7.47
- How much you would have lost by investing: -39%
Rocket Mortgage bagged Hollywood star Anna Kendrick to help out with its 2022 ad, which featured no less than Mattel’s Barbie struggling to buy a home without the help of Rocket Mortgage. With the housing market hurt by rising interest rates, however, Rocket Mortgage had a tough time in the stock market.
Squarespace (SQSP)
- Memorable commercial: Sally’s Seashells
- Stock price as of 2022 Super Bowl: $31.45
- Stock price as of Jan. 6, 2023: $21.40
- How much you would have lost by investing: -32%
Hollywood It Girl Zendaya starred in a well-received ad showing how Squarespace could help anyone sell anything — including “Sally’s Seashells.” The company and its stock had a rougher go of things in 2022, however, as revenue has slowed.
Budweiser (BUD)
- Memorable commercial: A Clydesdale’s Journey
- Stock price as of 2022 Super Bowl: $62.57
- Stock price as of Jan. 6, 2023: $61.09
- How much you would have lost by investing: –2.4%
Budweiser seemingly has memorable Super Bowl ads every year, and 2022 was no different. Featuring the love between a dog and the brand’s signature Clydesdale, the company’s ad was once again less about its product and more about pulling on heartstrings. Compared to many other companies in 2022, Budweiser’s stock actually held up quite well — although that wasn’t likely due to its Super Bowl ad.
Carvana (CVNA)
- Memorable commercial: Oversharing Mom
- Stock price as of 2022 Super Bowl: $141.35
- Stock price as of Jan. 6, 2023: $4.41
- How much you would have lost by investing: -96.9%
Carvana is the poster child for pandemic-era stocks that have since cratered. A Wall Street darling when nearly everyone wanting a car had to buy it online, a multitude of factors, from falling used car prices to higher interest rates to general mismanagement have doomed the stock in 2022. The Oversharing Mom ad successfully showed how happy the Carvana experience could be, at least when times were good.
Coinbase (COIN)
- Memorable commercial: QR Code
- Stock price as of 2022 Super Bowl: $194.53
- Stock price as of Jan. 6, 2023: $33.26
- How much you would have lost by investing: -82.9%
The 20220 Coinbase Super Bowl ad made headlines for its directness and simplicity. Consisting of a QR code that slowly bounced around the screen as if in a game of Pong, the ad raised enough questions and curiosity to keep Coinbase in the national press for weeks. Unfortunately, the crypto winter of 2022 absolutely devastated the exchange’s stock.