NEW YORK—Among the beer, car and cereal ads during this year's Super Bowl, you're also going to see a spot for ... a floor mat.
The product won't be a centerpiece of the ad.
Automotive floor mat manufacturer MacNeil Automotive Products Ltd. of Bolingbrook, Ill.—which makes and sells products under the WeatherTech brand—has bought 30 seconds of time for a national commercial on Fox during the Super Bowl on Feb. 2.
The ad, a new spot called "You Can't Do That," is scheduled to run in the second quarter of the game and is being handled by Schaumburg, Ill.-based Pinnacle Advertising and Marketing, according to the company.
WeatherTech has been thinking about buying ad time during the game for the past three years, CEO and founder David MacNeil said in a statement. "With our confidence in the improving economy and the reach of over 111 million viewers that the Super Bowl coverage provides, we thought it was the right time to make the investment," he said.
WeatherTech has its own tooling, injection molding and thermoforming based in the Chicago suburbs, and it has prominently featured its plastics production in print advertising in the past.
Michael Magnusson, president and CEO of Pinnacle, told Advertising Age, a sister publication of Rubber and Plastics News, that WeatherTech hired the agency four years ago, with the objective of helping them build the business to the point where it "made marketing sense" to advertise in the Super Bowl.
The focus of the ad is not on WeatherTech products, but the brand and its founder's belief in the importance of manufacturing in the United States, according to Magnusson. It will underscore the importance of manufacturing domestically, despite difficulties, and will showcase "the challenges a business would face when trying to manufacture here in America," said Magnusson.
Considering that auto brands have long maintained a big presence in the Super Bowl, it might not be a bad idea for an auto accessories company to make its mark. Audi, Chevrolet, Hyundai, Jaguar, Toyota, Volkswagen and Kia are all set to make appearances in Super Bowl ads this year.
The ad is scheduled to air during the second quarter of the game.