Hallow, the Christian prayer app, recently announced that the company will have its first-ever Super Bowl commercial during Super Bowl LVIII on Feb.11, with the release of a teaser video. The 30-second ad will feature actors Mark Wahlberg and Jonathan Roumie. It’s scheduled to air shortly before halftime during the game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs.
A representative from Hallow told Fox News Digital that the ad will air in 15 markets, reaching almost half of all Super Bowl viewers. Roumie and Wahlberg will encourage those watching the Super Bowl to step away from the game for a moment and pray. Wahlberg asks viewers to join him in prayer, saying, “God, we take this moment just to give You thanks.” Timothy Reckhart directed the ad, and Venture produced it, Hallow told Fox News Digital.
Venture is a Denver-based video production company. The Super Bowl this year falls just three days before Ash Wednesday, the start of the liturgical season of Lent. The company also told Fox News Digital that Hallow will launch its annual Pray40 prayer challenge on Ash Wednesday. Wahlberg will be one of the people guiding the daily reflections during the challenge, which “helps Christians around the world draw closer to God during Lent,” said Hallow.
This is the first time since 2008 that the Super Bowl and Ash Wednesday have occurred during the same week. Alex Jones, Hallow co-founder and CEO, said, “The goal at Hallow has always been to reach out to as many folks as possible, both those who take their faith seriously and especially those who might have fallen away and invite them deeper into a relationship with God. When we learned about the timing of the Big Game this year, we couldn’t have been more excited to work with Mark and Jonathan to use it as an opportunity to invite millions into prayer.”
With the ad, Hallow hopes to replicate the success of Ash Wednesday 2023. That’s when Hallow made history when it reached No. 3 in Apple’s App Store – the first health and wellness app ever in the store’s top 10. Hallow launched in late 2018, linking technology and faith. It allows users to personalize their prayer experience. Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, the company, by 2022, facilitated some 100 million prayers across 150 countries, it previously told Fox News Digital.
Since its launch, the app has grown to offer multiple ways to worship. Benefits include being able to listen to meditations and reflections from “world-class retreat leaders that most people wouldn’t have the opportunity to [engage] with,” Jones told Fox News Digital earlier — along with “incredible sermons. Some of the world’s leading pastors are on the app.”