Super Mario Brothers Super Bowl Commercial Leads Down Imaginative Rabbit Hole

Interactive promotions creative, bring back memories from childhood in Arkansas

Author:
Kent Smith
Publish date:
Feb 22, 2023 10:15 PM EST

In this story:

FRISCO, Texas – During the Super Bowl an ad came across that might have triggered a bit of nostalgia for people whose late childhood and early teen years ran through the first half of the 90s.

While much of Northwest Arkansas was cheering on the Kansas City Chiefs and most of the rest of the state was simply cheering against the Philadelphia Eagles, an ad for Super Mario Brothers Plumbing came across the screen.

For some, it was just another mindless promotion for the upcoming Super Mario Brothers animated movie, but for those of a certain time, the second the music hit, endorphins that had been dormant since a time when phones hung on the wall, parents dropped kids off at arcades for entire afternoons and the internet was merely science fiction started firing off in their heads.

The music for the commercial draws its inspiration from "The Super Mario Bros. Super Show" that ran in the final minutes of the 1980s and starred WWE's Captain Lou Albano and Danny Wells, best known as Charlie the Bartender from "The Jeffersons."

The commercial in question is a bit meta in that it's a commercial that theoretically could show up in the movie prior to Mario and Luigi ending up in the world of Princess Peach and Bowser.

However, this commercial is way more than 90s kid nostalgia click bait. It's loaded with Easter eggs that not only make this one of the more interactive bits of marketing ever, but it provides a way for parents and their kids to connect over one of the few pieces of pop culture that has managed to legitimately span generations in a continuous manner.

For instance, at one point there is a web site that pops up on the screen for the Marios Brothers' business. If you type in smbplumbing.com, you're taken to a site where you can watch the commercial again, read about the owners, check out testimonials that are Easter eggs of their own and see a list of jobs for with Mario and Luigi are hiring.

The Mario Brothers Plumbing home page — smbplumbing.com

There's even a chance to apply for one of the jobs by clicking the red "Apply Now" button. It takes you to the following screen where it appears the Mario Brothers are still working on their web development.

Super Mario Brothers Plumbing application page — smbplumbing.com

Most likely, this application will become active as the April 7 release date nears. The presumed purpose would be to create a way for Universal Studios to give out promotional items and tickets for those who sign up to receiver e-mails from the company.

In addition to the website, there's also a phone number. As soon as it flashed on the screen, my children demanded the number be called and, sure enough, it's a legitimate phone number.

Here's what we heard when we called.

Then we attempted to text Super Mario Brothers as requested in the voicemail and this is what happened.

Text from the Super Mario Brothers. — Kent Smith / AH Media

The link you receive is to a contact card for NBC Universal that is run by Community. Because it shows personal information, a photo isn't included, but it requests your name, birthday, the city you live in and your e-mail address.

There's then a long set of disclaimers about what happens if you agree to give NBC Universal this information. We never went any further to see what's at the bottom of the rabbit hole, but if you're comfortable handing over that information, then please send us a message on our allHogs Twitter account and we'll gladly add it to the story and attribute that bit of exploration to you.

Either way, it's the movie industry's version of hitting you and your kids in the face with the smell of the best food your grandmother ever had cooking when you walked in the door.

The good news for Universal is that it not only works, it was a good way for the family to come together for a half hour's worth of chasing down Easter eggs and hearing kids say "Oh my goodness!" every time something else cool popped up.

Hopefully the movie brings similar shared happiness.