Universal Orlando’s new ad campaign will take center stage during Sunday’s Super Bowl broadcast.
The series, dubbed “This Changes Everything,” will include a 60-second spot titled “Lil’ Bro” that will air just before halftime of the big game, Universal announced.
While the resort’s Epic Universe theme park, which opened in May, features prominently in the campaign, the campaign includes all of Universal Orlando Resort’s parks and is based on experiences there.
“It’s really a combination of different parts,” said Alice Noseworthy, president of global marketing for Universal Destinations and Experiences.
“We spent most of last year introducing the Epic Universe because there was a story there that we wanted to tell,” she said. Universal’s Super Bowl ad last year featured the park’s entrances to theme lands such as Super Nintendo World and Dark Universe.
This year’s “Lil’ Bro” revolves around the competitive dynamic between two young siblings. Viewers will see them in their home environment before experiencing Universal attractions such as Volcano Bay Water Park and Transformers: The Ride – 3D at Universal Studios Florida Theme Park.
The older brother teased the younger brother repeatedly by calling him “dwarf.”
It culminates with a Stardust Racers scene, an Epic Universe roller coaster, and the tagline, “Four parks. One vacation that changes everything.”
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“The transformative experience is something we really wanted to emphasize, push and capture within 60 seconds of storytelling,” said Danny Brooke Taylor, founder of Lucky Generals, the agency that partnered with Universal on the five-part series.
Other ads in “This Changes Everything” include a blended family on their first vacation together, a teenager getting used to getting braces, and “a group of superfans including a friend who just can’t let their guard down,” Universal said. The fifth ad brings together the other four stories.
“Finding truth and human truth in those experiences was our starting point,” Brooke Taylor said. “And the four spots in the Anthem Spot are just us all grabbing onto them and putting them on a pedestal and shining a light on them so that, hopefully, you can recognize yourself or recognize life and the integrity and authenticity in it.”
Spot will roll out across multiple platforms over the next few months, Norsworthy said.
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Filming took place within the theme park, one attraction at a time.
“I think it would have been much easier to build everything in CGI and do it all on green screen, but we didn’t do that,” Brooke Taylor said. “Again, the authenticity of it is very clear. That made it more troubling, but I think it was very important.”
Universal did not reveal the price of its Super Bowl commercials, but the game traditionally draws huge television ratings and is typically among the most expensive commercials of the year. This year’s game between the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots, played at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, will be broadcast on Peacock, a streaming service owned by NBC and Universal’s Comcast affiliate. NBC and Peacock are also providers for the Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy.
Other reported Super Bowl advertisers this year include first-time Grubhub (with George Clooney). Sofia Vergara from Skechers. Sabrina Carpenter endorses Pringles. Instacart featuring Benson Boone and Ben Stiller. Bowen Yang of the Ritz. Emma Stone appears on Squarespace. And Rocket Mortgage and Lady Gaga covered Rollins College alum Mister Rogers’ “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”
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