Prankvertizing: Surprising fans by blurring the lines between advertising and sport

Features Uber Eats, Tubi, AAMI and DoorDash

Nov 19, 2023

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As the global advertising industry continues to grow year on year, the competition to capture people’s attention is becoming more fierce, so brands are needing to become more creative in order stand out. To do this, there is a new tactic surfacing that brands are adopting called “prankvertising”.

In this article, prankvertising refers to the situation where a viewer thinks that they’ve returned to a sports broadcast from an ad-break, without recognizing that what they’re actually still watching is an ad… until they’re surprised.

Below are the ads that have successfully adopted this tactic (by blending in to stand out) and why it works.

Uber Eats “Welcome back to the Australian Open”

The Australian Open is one of the biggest sporting events on the Australian calendar, and in 2019 the tournament attracted 13m+ viewers. It was this same year that Uber Eats first aired their Australian Open-themed ads that tricked tennis fans into thinking what they were watching was a real match.

Written by Special Group and directed by Glue Society, this execution was a collaborative effort also assisted by Nine and Tennis Australia.

To duplicate the broadcast the collaboration did the following:

Production: Used the real Australian Open broadcast crew, camera’s, official’s and commentator’s, player’s were shot in their real match uniforms, and all sponsor logos were deliberately shown
Post-production: The same graphics that Nine used across the tournament broadcast were shared, and applied to the ad
Media placement: The media placement had to be perfect so Nine ensured that the ad was placed at the end of an ad-break, during the relevant player’s match

Here’s how it all came together:

Tubi interface interruption: Super Bowl LVII

More recently, ad-supported streaming service Tubi triggered many of the 113m+ Super Bowl viewers to go into a frenzy with their 15 second-ad that made viewers think that someone was secretly controlling the remote, and turning off the Super Bowl.

Brands spend eye-watering amounts of money on Super Bowl ads on:

Securing the media placement
Agency fees
Production
High-profile celebrities

…And they spend such huge dollars to try and capture your attention and stand out. Created by advertising company Mischief, Tubi’s Super Bowl ad campaign took a different approach to many of the other brands who created Super Bowl TVC’s, and their approach paid off for them as it created talk-ability on a mass-scale (see below).

AAMI comes to the rescue… two years in a row!

In 2022, AAMI launched a game day stunt of their own in the lead up to the start of the AFL Grand Final that saw the match ball safely delivered to the MCG in time after a sky-diver who was originally planned to deliver the ball was cleaned-up by a plane.

By sending “AAMI to the Rescue”, the ultimate “Clanger” is very narrowly missed, as a host of Australian sporting hero’s go on an adventure and work together to retrieve the match ball.

This creative execution was a joint collaboration between OMD, Whooshka and Seven, and it again blurred the lines between advertising and live sport - Post the ad being shown, the live feed immediately transitioned to the live broadcast showing an AAMI representative appearing in uniform on the MCG, delivering the match ball.

This execution was obviously a successful one for AAMI, as they poured more resources into it and backed it up the following year with a similar ad.

In the lead up to the 2023 grand final, to build the storyline they released this teaser video reminiscing about the previous year.

This provided a perfect launchpad for their 2023 ad campaign which featured some of Australia’s top and most relevant sporting talent and moments from the year.

Will we see AAMI roll-out version three in 2024? We hope so.

DoorDash delivers the ball

DoorDash, the official on-demand delivery partner of the NRL, took advantage of their rights to deliver the game ball for the State of Origin series in 2021, and to do this, they employed the help of MKTG.

Fans in the stadium viewed the journey across land, sea and air on the big screens before cutting to the “Dasher” arriving at the stadium on their scooter to deliver the match ball.

Why does prankvertising work?

Although the idea is a simple one, the execution is not. It’s human-resource intensive, and it requires specialised expertise and heavy investment across production and media. Given this is the case, why would brands bother using this tactic?

1. Surprise gets our attention

In their book, Made To Stick Chip and Dean Heath explain that:

The most basic way to get someone’s attention is this: break a pattern. Humans adapt incredible quickly to consistent patterns. Consistent sensory stimulation makes us tune out.

Over time our brains have become wired to know what to expect when we watch live sport - The average two-minute commercial ad break is often a string of uninteresting, vanilla-flavored spam that sports fans often don’t want to bother paying attention to. Fans will disengage, pull out a second screen or take a bathroom break until the game returns.

Our brains are also designed to be acutely aware of changes though. So when the game returns, we’ll be triggered to refocus our attention.

This is the beauty of prankvertising - Brands who adopt this tactic not only trick fans into refocusing on the TV screen when they recreate the live broadcast, they also surprise fans when they deliver an unexpected moment such as Raphael Nadal looking down the camera in the middle of a match to tell fans that “ Tonight, i’ll be eating gluten-free dumplings”. This surprise moment jolts fans to pay attention, and provides a solid platform for Uber Eats to deliver their brand messages.

2. Storytelling and contextual sporting moments are an effective way to tell your brand story

Surprise gets out attention, and interest keeps our attention... and a way to create interest is through storytelling.

According to Chip and Dan Heath:

Stories are part entertainment, part instruction… They provide simulation (knowledge about how to act) and inspiration (motivation to act).

The brands above have used storytelling to entertain and reinforce who they are, and what they do. At the most basic level, these ads emphasis that Door Dash and Uber Eats deliver, Tubi is a streaming service and AAMI is their to cover you when you have an accident.

In the case of AAMI, by using highly contextual sporting moments and relevant talent in their ads, they’re showcasing their pride for being Australian and their long, credible history of helping Australians prevent and recover from accidents.

This is the role that these ads play for brands - they put knowledge into a framework that is more lifelike, and more true to a fan’s day-to-day experiences.

Many other brands take a similar approach to their sports sponsorship campaigns…

Rolex uses sports campaigns to reinforce luxury e.g. Formula 1
NAB and Commonwealth Bank often activate community-themed campaigns to signal that they care about the community e.g. AFL Auskick, Commbank Matildas
Cryptocurrency brands such as Crypto.com went on sports sponsorship spending spree’s as part of a mission to build trust and legitimacy
Qantas has been using sports sponsorship campaigns to position itself as an Australian brand for a long time, supporting its “Spirit of Australia” tagline (note: their recent behaviour has undermined this)

….the list goes on.

3. Owning moments and building associations help to increase brand preference and consideration

In the same way, that Four’N Twenty builds strong associations with sports to sell pies, brands activate their sports sponsorships to build associations that increase consideration and preference, and ultimately influence you to purchase their products.

Prankvertising works because the surprise element captures attention and triggers interest, which creates a new, positive association between the fan and the brand.

There is a phenomenon known as the “affect” transfer, where your emotions towards one object/brand becomes associated with another - with this in mind, large brands aim to create awareness of their sponsorships because of the positive flow-on effects that the association can have on their own brand’s perception. In simple terms, when you align your brand to something people love, or are passionate about, a brand equity transfer takes place.

Generally speaking, by aligning to the Australian Open, AFL, NRL or Super Bowl, fans will have a more positive perception of your brand, and will be more likely to purchase your products. The above ads help strengthen this alignment.

4. Extended reach through earned media coverage

Lastly, prankvertising is effective because it can often experience earned-media flow-on effects. In the case of Tubi, the reach and engagement around their stunt was extended well beyond the ad placement. Below is an example of how Tubi’s reach was extended across social media and TV.

Score review

While prankvertising can be entertaining and attention-grabbing, it also comes with potential risks.

The above ads create surprise that attract attention and memory, but if they’re creating unexpected moments for the sake of it, and they don’t reinforce a brand’s core message then they can become worthless.

Also, advertising that is “indistinguishable” from the broadcast is not always well-received by viewers, and complaints have previously been made (unsuccessfully) to the industry watchdog.

Although the risks are evident, it appears as though this tactic (if executed correctly) is one that pays dividends given that this trend seems to becoming more common and those that have used it, are sticking with it year on year.

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