A Super Bowl 50 ad that’s not quite an ad offers a lesson for the indecisive

Squarespace‘s latest Super Bowl advertisement enlists the help of two all-new quirky characters from the minds of Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele: Lee and Morris. These two amateur broadcasters from Atlanta wanted to provide live commentary on this year’s big game, so together they pooled their resources to set up a website on Squarespace where they can host a live broadcast. It’s called Real Talk. But Lee and Morris made one massive oversight when planning for this project: they don’t actually have the rights to talk about the game.

Despite the legal issues involved, they decided to move forward with the plan. How do these two fictional characters go about promoting something they can’t quite…promote? Well, they make a Squarespace site with links to all the videos. Tackling Super Bowl 50, they’ve set up a site on the web platform to not-so-officially cover the game this Sunday.

With this ironic and clever approach to marketing its product offerings, Squarespace’s newest campaign gives consumers a little boost of encouragement. As fans, media companies and brands all gear up for the game day excitement, Squarespace is telling consumers nationwide: if you have a hobby, a passion project, or even a wild idea, you should pursue it. Whether it’s unconventional, peculiar, or just plain crazy, if you’re wondering whether to follow your dream, you should. Further, the company suggests you can follow that dream and get closer to your goals by making a website.

Real Talk fits in nicely with Squarespace’s supplemental You Should ethos, as it tells people that they should follow their dreams, they should make that online portfolio, they should set up a Squarespace site. In essence, Squarespace is saying — even if it doesn’t seem like the best plan, you should take the plunge anyway. Viewers can catch play-by-play coverage from the comedy duo in this strange, hilarious, and totally improvised evening of sportscasting. Even if the two buddies aren’t technically or legally qualified to do so, the power of Squarespace enables them to have a voice and express, promote and distribute their “self-published” content.

Lee and Morris’ live commentary will air for the duration of the entire Super Bowl and the content will be available on the duo’s legitimate (while somewhat bootleg) site.

Here the rationale for Squarespace’s You Should manifesto:

“We believe the world is a better place when we chase what we love. It can be anything. A hobby, a passion project, or even a wild idea. When we’re all in, we all benefit. So go for it. Find your passion and make something you’re proud of.”

The lessons that other advertising campaigns and marketers can draw from this campaign are plentiful. In this case, the company challenges its target audience to do precisely what the fictional characters have pioneered themselves, serving as a dynamic call-to-action that’s light years ahead of a website banner or social media prompt. By using humor and a tongue-in-cheek way of explaining what the Web hosting provider is capable of, the campaign is positioned to break through the Super Bowl-sized noise.

RealTalk | You Should | Squarespace

Originally published at www.psfk.com on February 3, 2016.