Last week, Victoria’s Secret released a 90-second online spot (featured below) featuring its models suited up and playing football. But if you were wondering if the release gave any indication of the brand’s actual Super Bowl effort, the recently-leaked ad answers with a resounding “Hell no.”
Instead, the 30-second Super Bowl spot, created in-house, is a very much by-the-books effort. In fact, the ad was pieced together almost entirely from footage already used in the past 18 months, with the lone exception being a shot of model Adriana Lima filmed for the new ad in January.
“We only shot one piece of new material for this commercial—we decided to come to the game late and then we wanted to leverage every opportunity,” Ed Razek, the brand’s chief marketing officer, told Adweek. “We’re not crazy enough to do a commercial where all of our girls are dressed like football players,” Razek explained. “We do what we do—it’s two weeks to Valentine’s Day.”
The ad, the brand’s first in the Super Bowl since 2008, will run during the two-minute warning. Perhaps due to the volatile placement of the ad, Victoria’s Secret decided to leak it early — with heavy support from social media on channels including Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook. But will fans of the brand really care about an ad made from recycled footage?