Blink — and you could have missed Reddit’s Super Bowl 2021 ad.
The social media website took out a 5 second commercial that included a shoutout to “underdogs” — in an apparent nod to the recent Redditor-fueled GameStop frenzy.
“Big game spots are expensive, so we couldn’t buy a full one,” the full-text ad states.
“But we were inspired and decided to spend our marketing budget on 5 seconds of airtime.”
It continued: “One thing we learned from our communities last week is that underdogs can accomplish just about anything when they come together around a common idea.”
That appeared to be a reference to the WallStreetBets Reddit forum, whose members rocked investors last week by boosting shares in GameStop and other companies in defiance of large hedge funds.
“Powerful things happen when people rally around something they really care about. And there’s a place for that. It’s called Reddit,” the site’s ad read.
The unusual spot prompted several people to pause or rewind the game in order to read it.
“In case you missed the Reddit Super Bowl ad… it was only 5 second long. I definitely paused to read it,” one person wrote on Twitter.
Another viewer tweeted: “The reddit ad was great- had to go back and read it.”
“Ok that Reddit commercial made us pause and go backwards and read it. Best marketing I’ve seen in a long time,” a user added.
Even Reddit seemed not to be sure that their message would get through.
“If you’re reading this, it means our bet paid off,” the ad began.
The company later responded to some Twitter users posting the ad after it had aired, including writing: “It worked!!!!”