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Nobody watches the Super Bowl for relaxation.
But thats what William Halligan got.
During a commercial break, the dull roar of the football stadium fell to a hush.
There was Zoe Kravitz, perched on a platform in the wilderness, whispering about beer.
Halligan found himself lulled into a momentary trance.
I went,Whoa!What is this?
Look at this thing!
I hit the rewind on our DVR and played it a couple more times.
His family was unimpressed, but Halligan was transfixed.
She raves about how pure the beer is, but her voice never rises above a whisper.
When VICEconvinces Jeff Goldblum to whisper into a microphonefor an audience of weirdos, its one thing.
Which makes me think, perhaps it really is effective in selling things!
The resulting video makes duvet covers seem surprisingly sensual.
But Halligan had never heard of it before.
It definitely piqued my interest, he says.
After seeing the commercial, he Googled the phrase and started surfing ASMR videos on YouTube.
Halligans experience indicates how the commercialization of ASMR is bringing a niche phenomenon to the mainstream masses.
Veteran ASMR YouTubers are cautiously optimistic.
You dont want to see it exploited just for money.
ASMR is a little like music.
Its power is mysterious.
It does not affect everyone the same way.
It brings millions of people pleasure.
And it can be lifted and used by advertisers in ways both tasteful and nefarious.
Some fans will love to see their band get attention.
I think thats a good parallel to how people feel about ASMR being commercialized.
At the time, awareness of ASMR was just beginning to spread throughout the larger cultural consciousness.
If this video sends you into ecstasy,Ad Agereported, youre experiencing a phenomenon known as ASMR.
Other brands followed Doves lead.
Food sounds became particularly ripe for tingles.
In 2016, a Ritz Crackers adbrought an ASMR sensibilityto the crunchy sounds of one individual cracker.
Advertisers are realizing that this is becoming a part of our global culture, says Richard.
Theres been a steady increase in searches for ASMR on Google trends since 2010.
Its not a fad.
Its not a temporary phenomenon.
People are genuinely, long-term interested in ASMR.
But advertisers dont always know what theyre doing.
It doesnt mean its not oddly satisfying and relaxing.
But ASMR really needs to have some kind of human component to it.
Other ads are too jokey.
Lauw bristles at the thought ofthe Grinchs recent clip.
The Grinch just got really mean and angry at the end, and it wasnt really ASMR.
Anything abrasive can kill the mood.
Both involve close personal attention and an all-consuming feeling of safety.
Commercials strive for a similar effect except the close attention is emanating from a person shilling a product.
Some people go for a run, some people meditate, some people zone out to ASMR.
It seemed like an amazing fit.
Once they hatched the idea, Taylors team at FCB began presenting different ways of incorporating ASMR.
The next step was to present the idea to the Michelob marketing team.
Nobody shut it down, Taylor says.
Some people were like, I dont know what this is.
I gotta find out more.
One person was mystified but spent the whole weekend researching ASMR.
I was casually familiar, says Azania Andrews, the VP of marketing at Michelob ULTRA.
She had seenWmagazines video series in which celebrities like Cardi B whisper into mics.
The idea seems to be that ASMR is pure and soothing and revitalizing, and so is this beer.
Its something people use for relaxation.
To manage stress, Andrews says.
We thought that it connected in the world where Michelob ULTRA Pure Gold exists.
By late fall, the ad agency had settled on bringing tingle to millions of Super Bowl viewers.
They dove into research.
But they needed an expert an ASMR guru, if you will.
They hired Richard, who literally wrote the book on the phenomenon, as an ASMR consultant.
They wanted to understand how to create a genuine ASMR experience, Richard says.
They didnt want to just sprinkle in ASMR triggers, and they didnt want to parody it.
They wanted to create something that might actually trigger ASMR in some viewers.
They can be relaxing, but thats not ASMR.
Those are sounds mediated by a person.
Eventually, Kravitz was selected to be that person.
In an interview withElle, Kravitzdescribed ASMRas really interesting but didnt have too much to say about it.
Andrews notes with pride that itdrew Twitter praisefrom YouTube personality Gibi ASMR.
ASMRrequests, particularly liked that the ad steered clear of overt sexuality.
Zoe was not dressed in a way that suggests hypersexuality, Maque says.
Understandably, Maque is wary of ASMR being incorporated less artfully.
Meanwhile, as commercials embrace ASMR, ASMR is embracing product placement.
YouTubers routinely partner with brands by featuring their products in ASMR videos.
That has not happened so far, she says.
As for Halligan, that dentist in California?
He is just grateful to have learned about ASMR.
Its fun, curiously relaxing, and interesting, he says.
It beats going home and having a tequila and beer at the end of the day.
