Wix.com Steps Up To The Super Bowl Stage

As the countdown to the Super Bowl begins, full length spots are slowly but surely being released to the public, much to our delight.

Web development platform Wix.com is among the first to unveil its 30-second Big Game spot with a hat-tip to upcoming film, Kung Fu Panda 3 from DreamWorks Animation.

Omer Shai, Wix.com’s CMO (pictured above), talks to shots about engaging users, changing tack from last year and the pros of working without an advertising agency partner.

Tell us about the results of your campaign at last year’s Super Bowl; did you see an increase in business after the spot(s) aired?

Last year’s Super Bowl was really successful for the brand and as a campaign. 115 million viewers tuned in to watch the game, and our campaign, It's That Easy (below), engaged with over 300 million people worldwide. We had a positive return on investment and saw tangible results which encouraged our return this year.

You tapped into the sporting theme directly last year by using players in the campaign; was it a conscious decision to move away from that this time?

It was important for us to take a fresh approach to this year’s Super Bowl. When DreamWorks Animation approached us, it felt different and creative. It was a new way to get our message across.

How did you come up with the idea to work around the Kung Fu Panda theme and why did you think that would be a suitable tone? Why was animation right for this year?

After DreamWorks saw our Super Bowl advert last year, they approached us because they felt our brands and creative approach would work well together and we absolutely agreed.

The team at DreamWorks Animation has an undeniable track record of creating compelling stories which capture viewers’ hearts and minds. There’s no one better to collaborate with on a Super Bowl campaign when we’ll be fighting some of the world’s top brands for viewers’ attention.

And the project meant you wouldn’t be working with an advertising agency partner; was that a conscious decision and how has the creative department at Wix taken on the challenge to collaborate with DreamWorks?

We decided to forgo the traditional client-agency approach for this collaboration and we’re very confident in our choice. For us there was no way we could pass up an opportunity to work with the best creative minds while using the world’s biggest advertising platform. Working with DreamWorks Animation has enabled us to create a fun, effective campaign that gives us an edge come Super Bowl Sunday.

Would you compare it as similar to two clients coming together to create a campaign, considering there is Wix’s service and a movie being promoted as a result?

Yes, this campaign is a result of Wix and DreamWorks Animation joining forces because we share similar values. We’ve found a way to promote both brands by devising a memorable campaign which we believe will drive awareness and engagement for us both. 

Why was 30 seconds the right format for the campaign this year and do you think in-game spots are as effective as they used to be considering the emergence of online and multi-screen viewing?

Except for the World Cup Final, the Super Bowl is the most watched sporting event of the year and has enormous scale and reach online as well as on air. For us it’s not about one 30 second spot but a cross-channel campaign which reaches online screen worldwide. We want to turn Wix.com into a household name and #StartStunning will bring us one step closer to that goal.

And the characters will be familiar to some viewers, but tell us about the choosing the noodles scenario and the big rocket theme compared to setting up a website….

It doesn’t matter whether you sell noodles or build rockets, we want to communicate that whatever your business, you have to start with a stunning website. 

Finally, your company can be considered to be successful already and offering a genuine product and service is obviously the most important thing, but how valuable to a business can the Super Bowl and its advertising opportunities be to a brand?

Our Super Bowl campaign was ROI positive and we have seen meaningful growth in our brand awareness over the last year as a result. It has made a valuable difference to our business but it cannot be used in isolation. By constantly improving our product offering as we are able provide over 78 million users with a comprehensive solution to create, manage and grow a professional online presence, and by leveraging multiple other marketing channels we’re able to reach hundreds of millions of potential Wix users worldwide.