At a time when the world’s biggest brands fight for attention in the Super Bowl’s crowded advertising space, Intel took a different route. We used our technology to create a form of entertainment on the biggest stage in America. During Lady Gaga’s Super Bowl Halftime Show, we launched over 300 custom drones over Houston’s NRG Stadium in a custom light show that seamlessly integrated our technology with the show. It was the first drone integration on television.

It lasted only a few minutes, but it gave millions of people around the world their first experience of seeing a drone perform and demonstrated an entirely new function for the technology that many had never considered.

On live TV with 150 million viewers watching, Lady Gaga began her performance from the top of Houston’s NRG Stadium. As she began to sing “America the Beautiful,” the drones lit up in the sky behind her like a constellation. They gradually began to move and reorganize. At the climax of the song, they changed colors to red, white, and blue, as they formed the shape of the American flag.

Moments after the show, we launched a broadcast spot to provide brand attribution and real-time social content that gave viewers a peek behind the scenes and kept fans engaged after the event.

To pull off this complex performance, a team of engineers, pilots, and technicians tested and controlled the drones onsite, with a single Intel-powered computer. We worked closely with Lady Gaga, the NFL, Pepsi, and the FAA to coordinate and choreograph every detail of the performance.

An estimated 150 million people watched the Super Bowl Halftime Show live, and the performance has gained almost 30 million views on YouTube. Within the Super Bowl broadcast, the drone light show generated the highest aided-awareness ad recall at 53%. The show garnered 4.9 billion potential impressions through article and broadcast clip mentions, including over 950 feature articles and over 1,200 media hits.

The Super Bowl is the US’ biggest event of the year, a time when the world’s largest brands fight for attention in the game’s crowded advertising space. To break through the clutter of the Big Game, Intel took a different route by becoming part of the show. With 150 million viewers watching, Intel launched over 300 drones to create a dazzling light show, kicking off Lady Gaga’s Super Bowl Halftime performance. The light show seamlessly integrated Intel technology with the show and was a crucial piece in Lady Gaga’s iconic performance. It was also the first drone integration on television.

Intel’s strategy was to create awareness and garner brand credit for the first drone integration in a Super Bowl Halftime Show, delivering on the brand promise that Intel makes amazing experiences possible. Our target audience was Super Bowl viewers and the broader U.S. market.

In 2017, Intel went to the biggest televised event in America, the Super Bowl, with one goal: use Intel technology to create an experience unlike anything the world has seen before and change people’s perceptions of what that technology can do.