All successful Super Bowl ads have this element

A thirty-second Super Bowl ad comes with a hefty price tag of around $7 million, so companies must ensure the commercial it airs will really resonate with viewers. But how do companies know what actually makes for a successful Super Bowl ad? Mark Douglas, CEO of MNTN, sat down with TheStreet’s J.D. Durkin to discuss what goes into a commercial that will stick in the minds of consumers.

Full Video Transcript Below:

J.D. DURKIN: Talk to me about something that you think all successful companies do when it comes to the right. Super Bowl ads. Some pull at your heartstrings. They're emotional, others are funny. You're kind of in it for the quick laugh. But talk to me. Are there any kind of shared similarities or things you've seen in your business over the years that really can tie a company up for success?

MARK DOUGLAS: Well, I think I think you're really good at this. You just nailed it. They make it funny. Like the entertainment in the ad has to be better than the game. And sometimes some years that's not that hard to do. The games can be a little boring. Yeah, exactly. Yeah but the ad has to be entertaining. It really has to capture. It has to, I think alot of them put celebrities in the air because they kind of just pulls your attention towards if you're there with your friends and everything. Seeing, hearing a certain voice like a Martha Stewart voice, you just recognize it immediately. The, so it's having something that's very, very entertaining. And if you know, it's like YouTube, you could find a way to put a dog in the ad or something like that. If people say, aw, and they laughed, it's probably a good. 

J.D. DURKIN: All right. So we look for dogs in the street. When in doubt dogs and cats, you never know. 

MARK DOUGLAS: It's like it used to be horses, right? 

J.D. DURKIN: Clydesdales, of course, they were iconic for the sport. But that's another thing, though. You develop that relationship with your viewers, right? So if we see a clydesdale, we're like, oh, we know this is Budweiser because you're so conditioned to it for doing it for. So many years. Right a lot of companies now and I guess this is kind of the social media era of all this. They release the commercials ahead of time. I don't understand that. Explain to me kind of the calculus as to why seven days, 10 days before Super Bowl social media is going to release the virtually the same second ad I'll see after kickoff.

MARK DOUGLAS: Yeah, I don't think that's a good idea. I think if you have something really special, you want to have a special moment to put it into the world. So I personally wouldn't think that's a good idea to put the ads out in advance. But, you know, build on that campaign after I think makes a lot more sense. 

J.D. DURKIN: I wonder, are there any particular ads, companies or types of commercials you think you're most looking forward to this?

MARK DOUGLAS: Well, you know, last year I thought there were a lot of ads that kind of pulled on nostalgia and like pulled on TV shows that aren't here anymore. So I remember, like Breaking Bad, there was a Pop Chips ad where they were like out in the desert and they had certain type of -- there was quite a bit of that. And I thought that worked really well, was funny. And it was shows that people liked and they had the celebrity element in it. And I thought a lot of those worked really, really well. So I think you'll probably see more of that this year.