THINKing

Wasting Money Big Time: Super Bowl Ads

January 24, 2008 on 7:39 am | In Advertising, Branding, Buzz, Creativity, Marketing, Media, Media Relations, Online, Pay-Per-Click, PPC, PR, Public Relations, Search, Social Media, Super Bowl | 5 Comments

Advertisers will spend $2.7 million per 30-second spot in order to reach a mass audience during the Super Bowl, on FOX. There are 63 30-second spots available. That’s around $170 million, most of which is a waste of money.

But, Harry, you are asking, where else can an advertiser reach 142 million people, 45 percent of whom are women? Well, there is no other venue. But that doesn’t change the facts. Here’s why I think most of the cash will be ill-spent.

Most spots are developed by ad agencies which convince their clients that humor is the way to go. Humor is the way to go, if it supports the brand and if it translates to sales or helps improve your distribution. Typically, spots are so off-base that no one can remember who the advertiser was after the spot airs. How does that help you? And, do you know how many beers Budweiser will have to sell to recoup its production and media expenditures? Who drinks Bud anyway?

Now, it is true that CareerBuilder.com saw a 50 percent increase in brand awareness after its 2005 Super Bowl ads. And that translated to web traffic and new business. CareerBuilder had an integrated program to support the buy. They had special landing pages on the site, as well as additional online and offline media. Most advertisers this year may make some effort to integrate their programs, but their big ad agencies won’t know how to do it.

There is a deal between Fox and MySpace (both News Corp. companies) that places commercials from in-game Super Bowl advertisers on a special Super Bowl site on MySpace. Fox will promote the MySpace site during the game. So, this will help give the ad buy more legs.

More advertisers report that this year they will support their buys with search engine programs. Again, I think this is a waste of money. This is a chance for the big brands to jump full-force into social media and social networks. I could do a hell of a lot with $2.7 million spent in PR and social media efforts.

Here are some bonus Super Bowl links:

Super Bowl Ads

Google Super Bowl Trends

Super Bowl Ads Recent News