$7M: How the Cost of a Super Bowl Ad Could Transform Lives

Seven million dollars can do a world of good, especially when those funds
are put to work by nonprofit organizations. The same amount of money can also
put a talking cat or a low-carb beer in front of hundreds of millions of viewers
in between touchdowns — for just 30 seconds. While some of these ads will break
through and become hot topics on social media, most will ultimately be
forgotten. Imagine if those brands did something more impactful — like applying
their dollars and creativity to a social issue that’s aligned with their brand.
Or what if they developed a sustained initiative to make a transformative
difference for nonprofit organizations and their beneficiaries?

Surprisingly, inflation didn’t touch the cost of Super Bowl airtime this year. A
30-second slot will cost advertisers the same as last
year:
$7
million, or $233,333 per
second.
(That’s 200 percent
more
than the same advertising spot cost 20 years ago, and a staggering 16,371
percent
increase
since the big game’s inception in 1967.) After factoring in creative, production
and talent costs, the total tab can rise to $10 million or more. Some brands
are even capturing the Super Bowl “buzz” without investing in actual airtime,
reports
Digiday
— but are also spending millions of dollars to do so.

We challenge all these advertisers — whether they invest in primetime, digital,
IRL or social visibility — to skim the nonprofits below and think about
diverting even a million dollars of their gametime spend to address urgent
social issues. (As a stark example, less than half of what the US public is
expected to bet on the Super Bowl this year — $23.1
billion
— would fully fund the hunger-related appeals of the 17 countries covered in
Action Against Hunger’s 2024 Hunger Funding Gap Report!)

This year, we asked some of our favorite and most respected nonprofit organizations what they could do with the transformative power of $7 million. Here’s what they shared.

• Action Against Hunger could
  treat more than 46,600 children facing life-threatening malnutrition.

• Decoding effective methods of driving consumer behavior change

  Join us for a transformational experience at SB Brand-Led Culture Change — May 8-10 in Minneapolis. This event brings together hundreds of brand leaders eager to delve into radical lifestyle shifts and sustainable consumer behavior change at scale. The trends driving cultural acceleration are already underway, and you can be at the forefront of this transformative movement.

  ALS Association could advance two-to-three new
  treatments into clinical trials to provide hope for a fatal disease with no
  cure, as well as developing four-to-five new ALS clinics to treat people
  living with ALS.

• American Heart Association could fund more
  than 200 scholarships to advance research and healthcare careers for diverse
  students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities and at
  Hispanic-Serving Institutions.

• American Lung Association could
  provide Courage Kits and one-on-one mentorship to 70,000 newly diagnosed
  lung cancer patients through its LUNG FORCE
  initiative.

• Big Brothers Big Sisters of America
  could match more than 4,600 at-risk youth with a reliable mentor or positive
  role model.

• Empower the People could help close
  the civic-opportunity gap for 700 youth face-to-face, and 60,000 students
  virtually each year, for 94 years.

• Feeding America and
  No Kid
  Hungry could
  provide 70 million meals to those experiencing food insecurity through their
  food bank network. (PS: Don’t miss the Feeding America appearance in
  Hellmann’s “Mayo Cat” ad — a contender for one of the year’s most memorable spots.)

• Green Bronx Machine could deliver
  1,000 K-12+ indoor gardening programs, enabling students to grow, eat and
  love their vegetables, reaching 1 million students and 85,000 teachers.

• Habitat for Humanity could upgrade 1,166
  homes with energy-efficiency grants or add solar panel solutions to 350
  homes.

• Planned Parenthood could more than
  double its research capacity — accelerating efforts to break down barriers
  to increase access to sexual and reproductive healthcare.

• RAIIN could educate 4.2 billion people about
  preventing sexual violence.

• Save the Children could educate
  400,000 children in the US living in poverty.

• Shatterproof could expand the
  Shatterproof Treatment Atlas across the United States to guide 49 million
  people struggling with substance-use disorder to the right type of quality
  addiction treatment or expand work to reduce addiction stigma across the US
  — especially with healthcare professionals.

• Soles 4 Souls could give new sneakers to
  350,000 kids experiencing homelessness.

• USO could help around 280,000 service members
  transition into civilian communities each year.

What could your organization achieve — or help your nonprofit partners achieve —
with $7 million? We’d love to hear. Share your ideas with us on
LinkedIn.