Wix has broken its seven-year Super Bowl hiatus to welcome the next frontier of web design: a“first-of-its-kind” hybrid website editor that combines chatbot-based AI with traditional drag-and-drop tools.
With just a 30-second window to showcase its new feature to booze-fueled Super Bowl fans, Wix was conscious not to get too technical. So, rather than explaining the technology, the software company has created a film that adopts a distinctly human perspective on AI.
“The New Way to Create” centers on a woman who wants to build a website for her handmade furniture. Using split screen as a visual language, the spot demonstrates how AI can instantly design and build a website using simple prompts, such as “I need a website for my handmade furniture business. Each piece is unique, colorful, and ready to sell,” and “let’s add more soul.”
The ad will air during the second half of Sunday’s Big Game. It was directed by Tim Brown and produced by 1stAveMachine.
In a sign that fans are eagerly anticipating the new feature, the ad has racked up nearly five million views since it went live on Wix’s YouTube channel on Feb 2.
Wix first launched the AI website building tool and its corresponding flagship platform, Wix Harmony, in January. Wix powers its AI capabilities with a combination of its own AI systems and third-party models.
For capabilities such as AI text creation and image generation, Wix integrates OpenAI models (via the OpenAI API). Meanwhile, the Wix Harmony platform uses a range of models that best support different user needs and experiences, rather than a single LLM vendor.
Before its lengthy break, Wix was a Super Bowl staple through the 2010s.
It last advertised during the Super Bowl in 2019, with “Disruptive World,” an action-packed two-minute film starring Gal Gadot and Jason Statham. The ad followed an oblivious chef, too deep in website building, to notice the actors take down a bunch of bad guys in his restaurant. Popular with fans, the ad was viewed 22.6 million times in the week leading up to the Super Bowl that year.
“The New Way to Create” follows Wix’s competitor Squarespace’s Super Bowl commercial, “Unavailable,” which featured frequent collaborators Academy Award-winning actor Emma Stone and director Yorgos Lanthimos. Created in-house, the film noir-style ad captures Stone breaking down after discovering her digital identity belongs to someone else.
