The Golden Globes pulled in 18.6 million viewers this year. Pepsi and Walmart, in what seems like a pre-Super Bowl test, premiered new campaigns during the event.
Pepsi’s 60-second spot featuring William H. Macy was met with positive reviews. It’s not a campaign, but more a content series Pepsi will release through 2019. Walmart, on the other hand, launched its “Walmart Grocery Pickup” campaign, featuring famous film automobiles, appropriate for the show which recognizes excellence in film and TV.
Netflix did its own stint, but with a tweet. The streaming service got awards for a few of its shows. However, Netflix doesn’t submit its audience to ads and they recently made big waves with its hit “Bird Box.”
Pepsi’s Alien Encounter with William H. Macy
The hilarious spot features an Arrival-like alien invasion and the military has hired “the best decoders in the world” in order to communicate with the extraterrestrial creatures. However, a lonely janitor—played by William H. Macy—breaks through with Pepsi. Macy looks at the ship, walks over to it without fear and offers the alien the carbonated drink.
Todd Kaplan, vice president of marketing for colas at Pepsi, told Variety they want to create entertainment and “something people want to look for and lean into.” The ad will only be online for viewers to watch and not be aired on TV again. Kaplan added he wants consumers to “find it on their own.”
Walmart Promotes Their Grocery Pickup With ‘Famous Cars’
The “Walmart Grocery Pickup” campaign kicked off during Golden Globes. It’s the company’s inaugural cross-platform national marketing campaign for the service. In their press release, the company said they chose these “famous cars” because it would be “instantly recognizable to our customers.” The cars were also picked to indicate how simple and easy the service is and most importantly it’s for all walks of life and all types of vehicles.
The 60-second spot features the Ghostbusters car, Ecto-1, the Dumb and Dumber dog van, Scooby Doo’s Mystery Machine and several other iconic rides. It demonstrates various Walmart employees delivering the goods to the vehicles. The main platform for the campaign will be TV, but the “famous cars” content will be seen on social media, radio and Walmart stores.
Netflix’s Snide Golden Globes Tweet
The streaming service tweeted “Shoutout to everyone who is watching commercials for the first time in several months.” The tweet got approximately 64,000 likes and about 5,000 retweets. One tweet user responded by saying “Skipped the Golden Globes and just watched #BirdBox instead.” Certainly relevant, after the movie got about 45 million subscriber accounts to watch it during its first week.
Netflix wasn’t ignored at the Golden Globes. They won five awards, two for The Kominsky Method, The Bodyguard got one for best performance by an actor and Roma got one for best director of a motion picture.
