Israel’s Fiverr & Four Seasons Landscaping team up for Super Bowl ad

High-profile ad to shine spotlight on infamous Trump campaign event; Israeli augmented reality technology also set to be featured during big game.

By MAYA MARGIT/THE MEDIA LINE

FEBRUARY 8, 2021 17:19

An image teasing the partnership between Four Seasons Total Landscaping and Fiverr. (photo credit: INSTAGRAM/@4_SEASONS_LANDSCAPING) — An image teasing the partnership between Four Seasons Total Landscaping and Fiverr.

(photo credit: INSTAGRAM/@4_SEASONS_LANDSCAPING)

Fiverr, an Israeli-based digital marketplace, is shining the spotlight on Four Seasons Total Landscaping in a high-profile commercial that is set to air during Super Bowl LV.

Looking back at viral post-US presidential election moments, one of the most memorable is undoubtedly linked to the Philadelphia-based store.

On November 7, four days after the election, Four Seasons Total Landscaping’s nondescript parking lot — situated between a local sex shop and a crematorium — became the site of a press conference hosted by former President Donald Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani. The goal of the event was to discuss the Trump campaign’s legal challenges to the election results; however, the unexpected location of the venue led to speculation that it had originally been slated to take place at the upscale Four Season Hotel. Giuliani and Trump’s campaign never admitted that a mistake had been made and proceeded with the press conference as planned.

Following the incident, Four Seasons Total Landscaping became an instant Philadelphia landmark. Marie Siravo, founder of the store, became an icon for small businesses struggling in the midst of the pandemic after she launched a line of humorous merchandise with landscaping-themed slogans like “Lawn and Order” and “Make America Rake Again.”

“It was a very funny and epic cultural moment in 2020,” Gali Arnon, chief marketing officer at Fiverr, told The Media Line.

Fiverr CMO Gali Arnon. (Credit: Courtesy)

The high-profile ad, which is set to air during the third quarter of Super Bowl LV, will focus on Siravo and her decision to turn the incident into a business opportunity via Fiverr’s platform.

“We built their whole website and we redesigned their logo, we did some t-shirt designs for their merchandise line,” said Arnon, calling the story an example of the “American Dream on Steroids.”

Most small businesses in the US have suffered financially due to the pandemic, a Federal Reserve survey released last week showed. Of nearly 10,000 businesses that were surveyed by the Fed, a whopping 95% reported that they were negatively affected by the pandemic, with 78% saying that they experienced a drop in revenue.

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“Fiverr is helping small businesses so the narrative [of the ad] is about one small business that can set an example for so many others in the US, which are basically the backbone of America,” Arnon stressed.

Fiverr, which is based in Tel Aviv, has flourished in the past year as a result of more and more businesses moving to online and remote work models during the COVID-19 pandemic. They offer a wide range of services from freelancers across over 160 countries, including graphic design, digital marketing and video production.

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A post shared by Four Seasons Total Landscaping (@4_seasons_landscaping)

Arnon declined to disclose exactly how much the Super Bowl commercial cost. Nevertheless, publicly available figures show that a 30-second spot costs at least $5.5 million, according to Ad Age, a website that reports on advertising. This is roughly the same cost as the 2020 Super Bowl. By contrast, 30 seconds of airtime in 2019 ran at $5.25 million.

According to the company, their stocks have risen more than 1,000% in less than a year and they are now valued at over $8 billion.

“It’s been a landmark year for Fiverr,” Arnon affirmed. “We’ve been really humbled to see how many freelancers joined the platform looking for job opportunities or freelance jobs, [as well as] how many businesses from all over the world joined the platform to find services and access to resources that can help them shift and adapt their business in these unprecedented times.”

While some big-name brands that have long been associated with the Super Bowl have pulled out this time around — such as Coca-Cola and Budweiser — there are a number of newcomers on the docket in addition to Fiverr. These include DoorDash — which saw its business rise during the pandemic as restaurants rely more and more on deliveries — and Indeed, an Austin-based company that helps job seekers find many remote opportunities.

Another newcomer to the Super Bowl ad blitz is Dexcom, a San Diego, California-based company that specializes in glucose monitoring systems for diabetes management. The company’s ad campaign features singer-songwriter Nick Jonas, who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at the age of 13.

Dexcom’s new G6 CGM technology uses a small wearable sensor and transmitter to measure and send real-time glucose values to a smart decide, thereby removing the need for painful finger pricks.

As part of this health-conscious campaign, Dexcom will also give football (and music) fans the chance to watch the game with Jonas via an interactive augmented reality (AR) experience. Fuse.ar is the Israeli startup behind the immersive technology.

“What we are basically enabling here is for Super Bowl fans to have videos with Nick Jonas created directly from their computers or mobile devices,” Liat Sade Sternberg, CEO at Fuse.ar, told The Media Line.

The Dexcom Super Bowl campaign featuring singer Nick Jonas. (Credit: DEXCOMGAMEDAY.COM)

“Many of the stadiums are not having big games and audiences cannot come to the games, meaning advertisers must find new opportunities to reach the fans and the audience,” Sternberg added. “The way to get this passion and excitement can be through augmented reality.”

Before the start of the COVID-19 crisis, Fuse.ar was working with major movie studios like Warner Bros. to promote theatrical releases of films. But once movie theaters shut down and new releases got delayed, the company decided to branch out into new business sectors.

“In my eyes, with COVID-19 any exciting activity that can join people together is something that I think we should cherish,” Sternberg said.