Tag Archives: Super Bowl
Even though Super Bowls can be a bit of a let down, advertisers and brands swarm to get spots for the big game. Case in point, all of the Super Bowl ad spots were sold out before Thanksgiving this year. This is mainly due to brands wanting to get in front of one of the largest audiences to view television programs. It is predicted this year there will have been 100 million people watching (REUTERS) the Super Bowl; and at a price tag of $3.5 million dollars for a 30 second spot, it may seem like a deal. However, I’m not sure that the brands truly recognize the value of the spots or the return they may, or may not get from them.
The Retail Advertising and Marketing Association states that 73% of consumers who watch the Super Bowl ads, watch them for entertainment; entertainment, not for purchase. Only 8.4% of all consumers who watch the ads, say the ads influence their intent to purchase. Now that number is quite scary. Brands invest $3.5 million dollars for 15-30 seconds of the consumers’ attention and only 8.4% see that spot and think, “purchase.” I won’t even go into my concern that the brands aren’t even doing their market research on the audience. How many brands that advertise during the Super Bowl know they are advertising to their target demographic?
Motorola, VW, and Chrysler scored with critics and viewers in the Super Bowl advertising game. Yet, in the weeks following the game, they’ve missed (and are still missing) opportunities to convert viewers into customers through their online channels. These three brands all replay their ads on their sites, but that is not enough. Advertisers in the Super Bowl — and other big events like the Oscars — must create online experiences that get viewers more deeply involved with their products and the brand. That’s what pays off the huge advertising investments.
VW’s endearing “Darth Vader” spot speaks to affluent parents who are the primary market for the Passat. When those viewers visit VW.com, however, the most easily found content for the new Passat a snarky but flat-footed video, “VW Academy with Bill Hader.” The video’s sarcasm seems off-key compared to “Darth Vader” and more akin to a Bud Light commercial. Plus, the video is slow to communicate a handful of the model’s key features. It risks diffusing the goodwill earned by “Darth Vader.”
Worse, there is little information on the new Passat anywhere on VW.com. If you click on Passat, under the Models menu on the home page, you get information on the current model. The lack of details on the new Passat is a huge missed opportunity for VW to keep potential customers engaged and feed their curiosity about the new model.
Motorola does a better job following up on its “Empower the People” spot for the Xoom tablet. After viewers find their way to the Motorola Mobility consumer site, the Xoom is featured on the home page. The Xoom product page leads with a replay of the TV ad, but it’s easy to skip the ad and get to an overview of the Xoom.
After the daring TV ad however, the product page is a let down. The Xoom ad, like it’s 1984 inspiration, promises change, but visitors get a typical, staid list of specs and features. The Xoom page could have related tech specs and features to human needs and situations. Read More
If you had to sell 100 million people a product in less than a minute, what would you say? Saying too little is what makes Super Bowl ads more obsolete every year. It isn’t that the commercials were better back then, and increased viewership has nothing to do with it. There are just too many better ways for advertisers to spend $3 million now.
They’re advertising ads now?
A clear sign that advertisers are losing faith in the Super Bowl is the pre-released ad. To generate buzz this year, Volkswagen, Careerbuilder, GM and others released their commercials weeks before the game. Then they tried to drum up further interest with ‘making of’ videos and other media appearances. When advertisers are trying this hard to sell you on their commercial, you wonder why they don’t just sell you their product, story or brand another time.
It’s a tough crowd.
Despite murmurings that social media would radically alter this year’s Super Bowl commercials, very little changed. Most ads tried to get a laugh from the lowest common denominator, employing animals or children or plenty of CGI work. It’s understandable, because it’s hard to get a big crowd to listen but it’s easy to accidentally turn one against you. So the best hope with so large an audience is to entertain without offending. As a result most ads aren’t memorable to anyone.
Super Bowl viewers don’t want to interact.
Although brands did try to get users involved, it was little use. Many tried to get viewers to find them on facebook, watch alternate endings or tweet about them, yet most refused. And those brands were the lucky ones.
13 years old. That is how old David Sills is. He verbally committed to play quarterback at USC this week – in the year 2015. Forget for a second that at 13 years old he is already six feet tall and obviously very athletic. At that age, how can he have such a high level of understanding of the game? If you watch this video you can hear the way the coach is talking to him about reading the safety and defensive coverage. Really? At 13?
So as we prepare for the Super Bowl this weekend, a game that includes arguably the greatest thinking quarterback to ever play, I asked myself what role the web, and associated digital environments might play in the development of a QB. Yes, I stretched a bit to find a digital tie in but bear with me. I’m not Bill Simmons.
I posted the link to that video on FB and Tim Schavitz of Critical Mass fame posted an article in Wired about the realism of video games, specifically Madden football.
“The many hundreds — even thousands — of hours that athletes put into videogame football give them more game experience than Bart Starr, Terry Bradshaw, or Joe Montana were able to log in previous eras.”
Gaming is now counted as “experience” for athletic training.
When Peyton Manning was growing up, Tecmo Bowl was the game of choice and I’m sure he and his freakishly young looking brother played as much as they could – that is when Archie wasn’t running them through drills until two in the morning and not letting them eat McDonald’s. I believe its possible that Peyton Manning will be able to read the Saints defense on Sunday in part because he memorized the 1989 Bears secondary on Tecmo Bowl.
