GRAND HAVEN, Mich. — Not everyone watches the Super Bowl for football. Sometimes, the commercials are just as big.
This year, the "He Gets Us" ad campaign made one of the biggest splashes nationwide, all the way from an agency in Grand Haven.
"Hopefully, it tells people that like some of the best work in the country, comes right from here," said Jason Vanderground, president of BrandHaven. "I think that's just part of our West Michigan ethic and that commitment to excellence in our craft."
Vanderground has been working with "He Gets Us" for three years. Two years ago, the faith-based campaign made their national debut, hoping to spread their message as far as possible.
"The whole point of 'He Gets Us' is to tell everybody that Jesus' love is for them," Vanderground said.
The ads didn't come without criticism, much of which was about the price.
While BrandHaven isn't saying exactly how much was spent, a 30-second Super Bowl ad this year is estimated to cost $7 million. "He Gets Us" took up 60 seconds, adding up to potentially $14 million, not including the cost of actually producing the campaign.
Vanderground said it's money well spent.
"To run your message in front of 120 million people and to say, 'let's go back to this example of Jesus, who was incredibly generous, with his time with his resource, and let's follow that example'," Vanderground said. "That's what we're encouraging people to do."
This year's big game brought in 123 million viewers, making it the most-watched broadcast since the moon landing in 1969.
Their commercial featured some images that touched on multiple politically-charged topics, like racism and climate change. While the agency acknowledges the timeliness, Vanderground says it's not meant to be inherently political.
"As a presidential election year that is coming, and so it's going to be very divisive and toxic," Vanderground said. "We just keep asking like, 'where is all of this taking? Where are we going as an American people? And what was Jesus saying all the way back then?'"
He says it doesn't stop with the Super Bowl. They plan to have more presence at big events this year, connecting people in the community to resources and their message.
This year, that includes the NFL Draft in Detroit, the Olympics and the Republican and Democratic National Conventions.
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