No one denies the Super Bowl is an American holiday.
And no one denies that the game yesterday was one of the most yawn-worthy games in the history of sports. The safety was cool, the field goals were nice, and the first two touchdowns were fun. After that my sense of surprise checked out early and was not seen for the rest of the evening.
But let’s get down to the reason for the post. Advertising. Did you watch the commercials? Did you find yourself running to the bathroom only to remember the whole reason you were watching the boring game was to watch $4 million get spent in 30 seconds? When you think about it, it’s like a really twisted and expensive game show.
Advertising is a mix of art and business, which is why so many people are attracted to it and things of that nature (Mad Men, hello). Who doesn’t like art and who doesn’t like making money? The way I (and many) people see advertising now is not as ad-vertising but as enter-tising.
Old School: Take product. Place product in the middle of the ad. Put together a few words describing the product and its specifications, abilities, etc. Add a background or a context. Publish. Watch the cash roll in and the product roll out.
New School: Write a funny story. Get someone with mass appeal to play the key character in your story (Don’t have one? Make ’em up!). Direct and shoot the whole thing. Place the actual product you want to sell at the very end, and add your tagline, if you wish. Watch your ad get shared and the price of the celebrity character go up. The product? I don’t really know…?
I do not moonlight as an advertiser and I do not have a degree in marketing. What I do have is a consumer mentality and that makes me valuable, whether you think so or not. When I watched these commercials I did laugh a few times, I did say “aw” a few times, but mostly I was left with the terrible question no writer wants to hear, and if I imagine correctly, no company wants to hear either- “So what?”
You’ve told me a heartwarming story, thank you. You made me laugh, thank you. But I can’t help but feeling like the advertiser is getting ripped off because I have taken entertainment from them but will not give anything back in return. Certainly not my dollars, I don’t even know what your product does! At best, I might ask someone of they saw such and such commercial but I think that is all I can offer. And I can guarantee I won’t go into a store and when I see the product on the shelf think, “That yogurt made me laugh! I think I’ll choose THAT one above the rest EVEN when the other one with the same amount of protein for serving is CHEAPER!”
What is the value in a Super Bowl commercial? What are the returns? While I see a lot of hype leading up to the game I wonder why there is rarely any coverage a few months later on the quarterly report. People love bragging about themselves so why don’t they brag about how fantastic a call it was to spend the big bucks on the big game?
Is it because we don’t know? IS it because they are not effective? Is it because the glamour of being included in those slots is worth the entire investment? I don’t know, maybe yes, maybe no. But I have a question for the companies (like Oikos, GoDaddy) who released their commercial days in advance on the Internet. Isn’t the whole point of airing the commercials during the game to grab attention and get people to WATCH them? Why then would you show the commercial day before so that when the spot comes on people think, “Phew! I’ve seen this one before, lemme grab some more guacamole” ? It seems like the equivalent of doing a screening for an unreleased movie the week before it hits theaters, only this screening can be done from your own computer, is available to everyone with access to the internet, and has virtually no blocking.
Here is my question, and I wonder if anyone with experience knows the answer. What would happen if you release an ad via website or social media site and label it as, “What WOULD Have Been Our Super Bowl Commercial?” Would you get as much exposure because of your two powerful words? WOuld you get sued for some kind of Rule 40? Or would you be the gnarliest advertiser capitalizing on the Super Bowl yet saving yourself from spending and exorbitant amount of money for exposure you could try to get beforehand?
I guess what I’m getting at is that when I see a commercial nowadays I rarely remember what the commercial was advertising for without a ditty to remind me. Sometimes I feel the story is so far off I am put off by the company for its ineffectiveness (looking at you, Cosmopolitan) or I am annoyed that you could have substituted the product out for anything else, not even necessarily a competitor product, and have had the same effect.
My brother read me a tweet from Steve Martina along the lines of, “There is a lot of product placement in the commercials this year.” Well said, Martin. Well said.
Am I wrong? Does releasing commercials early over the Internet in fact help companies with exposure? Do you re-watch commercials during the game even when you’ve already seen them? Do you sit through the same commercial twice? Help me out in the comments, I just want to KNOW!
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