The Super Bowl 2016 Ads Were All About Your Small Screen

(crowd cheering)

[Narrator] The Superbowl is as much

about the advertising as it is about the football.

Sometimes more so.

I mean, what did you see more tweets about,

Payton Manning or the walking intestines?

[Commercial Narrator] You never know when

IBSD will show up.

[Narrator] Every year, brands spend millions

on epic ads that beam their products and slogans

directly into your living room.

[Commercial Voiceover] I've seen things.

[Narrator] But this year, it was way less about TV

and more about the Internet.

More to the point, your phone.

Take Jeep's commercial.

The stark photos of American icons

were displayed in portrait orientation.

On your TV, that left big black chunks on either side.

But it filled your phone's vertical screen.

And while Coke's ad stretched to every corner

of your set, it also dropped clues about how to buy

collectible mini Coke cans that you can't get

in regular stores.

You had to watch that thing over and over

and follow Coke on social media if you wanted one.

(Hulk roars)

You could almost call it a secret formula

within a secret formula.

Well played, Coke.

Advil's lo-fi spot was the opposite of

a polished TV ad.

It looked like something your aunt dropped

in your Facebook feed.

Of course, it wasn't, but its grainy videos

and normal-looking people definitely fit in.

And while Vaughn Miller made the game by steppin'

on Cam Newton, creative agencies brought in

an MVP of their own.

Big words printed all over your screen.

From Budweiser to PayPal, it was a clear strategy

to craft media for social feeds where video

will likely play without sound.

The biggest winner yesterday was actually

your smallest screen.

(heavy techno music)