Super Bowl commercials: what's the big deal?

News

by Max Marbut

Staff Writer

Super Bowl XLI ended Sunday night when the game clock showed 00:00 but the contest to win the hearts, minds – and pocketbooks – of viewers and consumers has lasted all week.

This year, like it has been for many years, there was as much talk about the commercials that appeared during the game as there was about which teams played or even which team won. The ads have been a popular topic for Monday morning after-the-game non-work-related office conversations for years.

The popularity of the game’s time-outs for advertising even made it into the plot of at least one network sitcom this week when one of the characters declared what is on the minds of millions every Super Bowl Sunday: “I only watch it for the commercials.”

If you really want to understand the magnitude of how popular it is for people to discuss the commercials and declare their own personal favorites, type “Super Bowl commercial polls” into a Web search engine. You’ll get more than 6 million hits.

For the second year in a row, St. John & Partners Advertising & Public Relations conducted their own Web-poll this week to find out which spot was the favorite among local viewers.

In addition to all the post-game exposure, this year some of the heaviest hitters in the consumer products industry even sent out calls for amateurs to create commercials that would appear during the single most-watched television broadcast in the world. Both tactics are part of the game plan to maximize the effect of this year’s Super Bowl ads, according to Don Fibich, executive vice president and creative director at St. John & Partners.

”What marketers are really trying to do here is extend the conversation,” he said. “We talk about ‘buzz’ – to get the noise going in the marketplace about this thing you’ve done. It’s the water-cooler effect.”

Fibich added that the nationwide call for people to submit their own Super Bowl ad ideas was designed to increase the buzz factor even more this year.

“It was a way to get the buzz going months before the Super Bowl actually happened and then keep it going for as long as it can after the Super Bowl. That’s the goal. It’s a device to allow the conversation to continue.”

Fibich also pointed out there is more than meets the eye when it comes to the stories behind the people who won the “create your own ad” contests. He said the winners, “weren’t some guy who has never had any experience in marketing or advertising or had never held a camera before. They were advertising students. They were filmmakers. They had some connection to the industry, which is great.”

The commercials also were produced and filmed by the same professionals who would have been called in if the spots were written by the advertisers’ agencies, he added.

As it turns out, Fibich has quite a bit of experience with Super Bowl commercials, including one of this year’s favorites, the Blockbuster Video commercial with the mouse. Fibich was creative director on the campaign when he worked at an advertising agency in Detroit three years ago. The spot had a short run in Canadian markets, but had never been televised in America before last Sunday.

He said Super Bowl advertising has gone through a major transition over the years.

“The biggest change is that it’s hard to sneak up on people. Fifteen years ago, you could surprise people much more easily. I think people watch now with really high expectations.

“In our industry, we talk about the Mean Joe Green (Coca Cola) commercial or the Apple Macintosh ‘1984’ commercial. Stuff like that is just about impossible to do today, because when those were done, nobody expected them. Viewers didn’t show up looking for the commercials, so when something that big and spectacular happened, it was jaw-dropping. Today, we’ve all seen ‘King Kong’ and ‘Lord of the Rings’. We’ve seen the best that Hollywood has produced. Viewers expect to be wowed and it is very, very hard to clear that bar today,” said Fibich.

One product line in particular has been a Super Bowl advertising Most Valuable Player.

“Budweiser had nine commercials and five minutes total ad time. They have been the perennial Super Bowl heavyweight for the past 20 years,” said Bob Springer, St. John & Partners vice president and director of media. He said that over the years, Budweiser has bought $250 million worth of Super Bowl commercial time.

With 90 million viewers in the United States alone, even at $2.6 million for 30 seconds of air time, can advertising during the Super Bowl ever be considered a poor investment?

“It’s a gamble. There’s a big risk. It can be a very good investment or a very bad one,” said Springer, who pointed out that three days into the St. John & Partners Web poll, Pepsi’s commercials were at the bottom of the balloting and had not received a single vote as anyone’s favorite even though Pepsi is second only to Budweiser in Super Bowl ad spending.

“It’s a good investment as long as you can satisfy the viewers’ expectations,” said Springer.

“I’ve seen this having participated in it for the past few years. Viewers come with a pretty cynical point of view. Their expectations are so high,” added Fibich.

Springer said the A.C. Nielsen Co., the firm that gathers data for television ratings used by advertising buyers to determine where to place ad buys, plans this spring to begin reporting ratings numbers for commercials as well as for the programs themselves.

“During Super Bowl, when people tune in wanting to watch the commercials, one would expect there to be a significantly higher number of people watching the commercials than in other programming. People have always assumed you get a lot bigger bang for your buck with Super Bowl, but nobody has really been able to quantify how much that is as opposed to regular programming,” said Springer, who added that when the Super Bowl’s advertising performance is measured, if it turns out to be as effective as some believe it is, “we could see the price go up to $3-4 million for a spot.”

This year, one ad backfired on an advertiser, proving that getting your message in front of 90 million viewers isn’t always a good thing.

Commenting on the Snickers candy bar spot that was pulled off the air soon after Super Bowl when viewers objected to its depiction of two men almost kissing, Fibich said, “I think you could have seen that coming. It’s happened before when Super Bowl spots didn’t connect with consumers the way marketers had hoped and they’ve had to pull them (off the air). Trying to surprise people or do something unexpected or shocking may overwhelm good sense at times.

“You have to be careful. A lot of people are watching.”

When asked if he thinks the cost of creating Super Bowl commercials and the amount of money it takes to get them on the air will continue to rise, Fibich said, “Over the last 10 years, the commercials have become part of the fabric of Super Bowl. It has become a kind of national holiday and a big tailgate party.

“I think there is a risk that the whole thing may become too big for the commercials to really pay off.”

St. John & Partners’ armchair-ad-review.com Super Bowl poll results:

Pick your 3 favorite commercials

1. Bud Light - “Rock, Paper, Scissors”

2. Blockbuster - “Mouse”

3. Budweiser - “Clydesdale Dog”

4. Bud Light - “Hitchhiker”

5. Doritos - “Contest Winner”

Favorite Commercial

1. Blockbuster - “Mouse - 234 votes

2. Bud Light - “Rock, Paper, Scissors - 233 votes

3. Budweiser - “Clydesdale Dog” - 127 votes