Marcelo Hernandez is taking some of the energy he displays regularly on “Saturday Night Live” and lending it to Wells Fargo.
In a new campaign from the financial-services company that will debut on specific local English- and Spanish-language stations playing NBC’s telecast of Super Bowl LX on Sunday, Hernandez leads a “party patrol” that helps regular people celebrate some of life’s lower-key financial wins, like staying under budget on restaurant spending; saving enough money to take a mom on a cruise; or seeing an improvement on a credit score.
“I definitely got to add my little seasoning to the commercial,” says Hernandez, during a recent interview.
The campaign puts a new spotlight on how advertisers use the Super Bowl, typically the biggest media event of the year, to go after smaller audiences. Rather than make a pitch to the 120 million or so people who might watch NBC, Wells Fargo aims to capture the attention of consumers in six of its top English-language markets and 10 top markets reached by NBC’s Telemundo, which will broadcast the Big Game in Spanish.
“We’re a national brand, but obviously our presence varies by market, so we really wanted to make this investment work for us as much as possible,” says Holly Hynes, the chief marketing officer for consumer banking and lending at Wells Fargo. There is a hope that Wells Fargo will reach younger consumers who will be interested in Hernandez’ antics and catch their notice with an ad that uses a different creative motif than many other banking commercials.
“A lot of banks tend to talk about these great big life moments,” like buying a first home or getting ready for retirement, says Hynes. “We want to help our customers through those life moments as well. But it’s really all those everyday financial wins that kind of create your full financial journey. So we want to celebrate those and recognize those — and those are the wins also that are most relatable to most of our target customers.”
Omnicom Group’s BBDO helped create the ad campaign.
Advertising in the Super Bowl is usually a play for mass reach, but some marketers are using the spectacle in more precise fashion. In 2024, for example, advertisers were able to place Super Bowl ads that ran commercials only on Univision, which had the rights to air the game in Spanish. Others relied on ads that appeared only on kids-cable favorite Nickelodeon, which ran a telecast aimed at families. Some were able to place ads only on the version that streamed on Paramount+. And many chose the widely-distributed original telecast on CBS.
Hernandez was given a lot of freedom, Hynes says. “He had an opportunity to shape and hone every scenario and really bring his special humor and warmth to each of those scenarios.”
For his part, Hernandez, who did a ad for Nissan that ran on Univision during its 2024 Super Bowl telecast, says he enjoys doing commercials, particularly when he feels an alignment with the product. “Saving money is something that my mother is very passionate about, and it felt cool to be a part of that conversation,” he says.
How is making an commercial different from creating a sketch on “SNL”? “We have more time to do the commercial,” says Hernandez. “It’s more planned out.”