Shilling for Suburbia
How a cheesy family that raps became this season’s marketing meme
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Hidden Valley Ranch couldn’t afford a Super Bowl commercial. The 61-year-old brand may be the top-selling salad dressing in the country, but ads for the game this year were so expensive—$4.5 million for a 30-second spot—that “it’s tough for us to pull off,” says Julia Ponce, Hidden Valley’s associate marketing director. Instead, her team made a commercial about the Super Bowl.
On Jan. 21, in partnership with the women’s blogging network SheKnows, Hidden Valley released a two-minute parody of halftime performer Katy Perry’s Last Friday Night. Called It’s Sunday Night, the video’s about parents who can’t attend a Super Bowl party because they have to take care of their children, then show up anyway with a bottle of ranch.