The Drum Awards for Marketing - Extended Deadline

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By Minda Smiley, Reporter

January 14, 2016 | 5 min read

Tel Aviv-based Wix.com is returning to the Super Bowl this year with an animated spot that features characters from the upcoming movie ‘Kung Fu Panda 3.’

The commercial is the result of a tie-up between Wix and DreamWorks Animation, whose other movies include ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ and ‘Shrek.’ According to Wix’s chief marketing officer Omer Shai, DreamWorks approached the website-building platform last year after seeing its first-ever Super Bowl spot, which featured five former NFL stars attempting to launch their own small businesses.

Even with Super Bowl ads reaching a record $5m this year, DreamWorks didn’t split the cost with Wix. According to Kantar Media, Wix.com spent approximately $18.4m on advertising in 2014 and $17.1m between January and September of 2015. In 2013, the company only spent $4.7m. Kantar Media’s figures do not take into account money spent on social, mobile, online video or paid search advertising, but do include display spend.

This year’s spot is part of a larger global campaign for the brand that has already launched. Called ‘#StartStunning,’ the campaign features characters from ‘Kung Fu Panda 3’ as they try to gain publicity for restaurant Mr. Ping’s Noodles.

A video clip (above) has already debuted, and online content along with social media activations are set to roll out over the coming weeks.

The Drum recently spoke with Shai to find out what the Tel Aviv company’s plans are for game day and whether or not they’ll give viewers a sneak peek of the spot ahead of Super Bowl 50.

Why did Wix decide to return to the Super Bowl this year?

We were very happy with the success of our first Super Bowl campaign so the decision to return this year was an easy one to make. For us the Super Bowl spot is just one piece of the puzzle (albeit a very important one), in addition to the spot we will be launching a cross-channel campaign under the #StartStunning hashtag that will allow us to reach hundreds of millions worldwide.

Wix.com is teasing campaign content online ahead of the spot’s debut on game day, something a lot of advertisers have done in recent years to gain traction on social ahead of time. Are you going to release the actual spot before game day?

Since we treat this opportunity as a campaign, there is a good chance that this year too we will release the Super Bowl spot before Game Day. Nowadays there are many platforms brands can leverage in order to maximize their campaigns’ reach. We feel by tailoring additional content and social media activations for specific platforms, we’ll be able to increase engagement beyond the massive audience that will tune in to watch the game on Super Bowl Sunday.

Why did you choose to partner with DreamWorks for this year’s ad?

DreamWorks approached us after they saw Wix’s previous Super Bowl spot - they reached out to us because they felt our brands and creative approach would mesh really well together. For us this was a no-brainer - how can you pass on working with the best creative minds available on the world’s biggest advertising stage? We love the creative we were able to create together and are confident with our choice to forgo the traditional client-agency route for this collaboration.

What is the allure of the game itself for your brand, besides the fact that it provides a massive audience?

The Super Bowl is not only the most watched broadcast event of the year, it's the most fun. We're excited that we can expose our brand in an event with such massive reach, and to create a campaign that builds up towards it. Our goal is to turn Wix.com into a household name and the Super Bowl campaign will allow us to communicate with a massive audience even before game day.

Why do you think your ad will stand out?

All advertisers bring their A-game to the Super Bowl stage so competition for attention is tough. We created a funny and creative spot showing just how impactful having a professional and stunning web presence can be for small businesses, so I’m confident people will respond to it well.

Internally, how does Super Bowl advertising energize your team and the brand leading up to and during the game?

We have a very big Super Bowl party here in our Tel Aviv HQ, and even though the game starts at 1:30 AM, last year we had 400 people come and stay till sunrise. As an Israeli company that’s coming back to the Super bowl, we all feel very proud to be part of it and it definitely shows the strength of our company and brand.

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