The Process Behind Wix’s Action Movie-Inspired Super Bowl LI Spot

Wix is known for creative Super Bowl spots. Though there is always some pressure knowing that the ad will be viewed by over a hundred million people, we love rising to the challenge and have learned a lot in the process about what it takes to stand out during the biggest advertising event of the year. Here’s some of what we learned from one of our most memorable campaigns.

Past Wix Super Bowl ads

In 2015, we made our Super Bowl debut with “It’s Just That Easy,” where NFL players created their own business websites. In 2016, we switched gears and teamed up with DreamWorks Animation to create a spot based on their release of Kung Fu Panda.

The Kung Fu Panda campaign resulted in more than 500 million global video impressions. Following that success, we considered something similar for our return. The original idea was to team up with an existing movie franchise. We wanted to build the campaign around an action movie, so we could create a sequence that would demonstrate the need that our customers are fast, powerful and nimble in the face of an ever-changing world.

You may need to adapt

As is often the case in marketing, we had to evolve our plans based on circumstances changing. When we didn’t find the right film partner, we decided to create our own. We pride ourselves on our in-house creative and collective marketing teams for contributing and executing on big ideas.

Wix

The campaign was titled “Disruptive World.” Wix serves small businesses around the world, and we wanted to convey that we empower our customers to successfully navigate chaos. We brought on established action producer-director Louis Leterrier to help bring our vision to fruition.

Once we had our plan, it was time to cast. We already knew that we wanted to work with Gal Gadot. An Israeli actress and soon-to-be Wonder Woman, Gal was the perfect star for a Wix action movie. To back her up, Louis called on his Transporter star Jason Statham, and our two-minute Super Bowl spot suddenly had all the makings of a blockbuster.

Go big

The sequence was everything we wanted: fast, edgy and exciting. We wanted to convey both a sense of excitement and stability for entrepreneurs, artists or anyone using Wix to build their dreams online, even in the face of disruptions (like Gal Gadot, Jason Statham and a bunch of bad guys destroying your restaurant).

Things were coming together beautifully when our team had to make an important decision: Where should the ad debut? We considered a morning show, a well-worn tactic of Super Bowl advertisers, but then decided to do something different. Wix is a bold, exciting company and our advertisement was all about action, risk and adventure.

We decided to release our commercial simultaneously on Facebook Live and YouTube Live, making us the first company to debut a Super Bowl advertisement by live streaming online instead of traditional broadcast TV or simply posting the ad online.

Debuting live online made absolute sense for our brand. We are a product company that prides ourselves in our use of data and measuring what we do; we are not a marketing company. We know that we can get more impressions, control the rollout of our story and reach our audience fast when we control the release.

We launched the ad and knew instantly that we had made the right choice. Our initial announcement on Facebook received 1,635,260 views, and the commercial was viewed 22.6 million times in the week leading up to the Super Bowl alone. It’s still racking up views on YouTube to this day.

The final score

The spot was a success for creative execution and reach. It was also perfectly on message for our brand. “Disruptive World” was a narrative about Wix and our customers.

Marketers who want to create a great Super Bowl ad must be more than creative. They must be bold, fearless, flexible and remain focused on the theme. When the idea aligns with stunning visuals to create a story that appeals across the globe, as it did for us, you are sure to score.

Omer Shai

@Wix

Omer Shai is the CMO at Wix.com.