The Ads
30/01/13 05:47
Everybody else is writing about it, so there is probably nothing substantive that I can add to the topic. And I think I have written blogs about Super Bowl advertising in the past. But let’s at least get the numbers out up front. Super Bowl advertising is expensive – very expensive. $3.8 million is the base rate for a 30-second commercial. We’re talking about a league in which I don’t play and in which I never expect to play. The annual budget of our church is just over $309,000 this year. That’s for a whole year of operations. $3,800,000 for just 30 seconds is a rate of spending that is literally incomprehensible for me.
The advertisers are lining up for the privilege of purchasing those expensive advertisements. And some are paying premium for special spots. Half time ads cost more. Last year an advertisement featuring Clint Eastwood consumed two full minutes of halftime advertising. It got a lot of attention. I guess people are bound to notice when you spend money at that rate. A year later, however, how many people can remember what company was advertised in that commercial? For the record, the company was Chrysler, though I’ve heard people say it was General Motors. It seems to me that part of the goal of an advertisement might be for people to remember which company the advertisement is meant to promote.
But then, I’m no expert at advertising.
There was a time when people found the advertising to be part of the entertainment of the Super Bowl. They would stay glued to their television sets during the breaks just to see what the advertising agencies and companies had come up with. But there is no longer a need to wait until game day to be surprised by the ads. You can already see the advertisements that will be shown during the 2013 Super Bowl on the Internet. No surprises there. The pundits have already chosen their favorites.
Volkswagen had a successful ad last year that depicted a child who thought his Darth Vader costume and imitation light saber gave him special powers when his dad messed with him using the remote starter for his car. This year they are following up with a white guy supposedly from Minnesota who sports a Jamaican accent. I guess it is supposed to suggest that driving a Volkswagen beetle is so much fun that it changes your outlook – and even your accent. I think it just makes the man look stupid and I am not inclined to buy a product that makes one look stupid. I seem to have sufficient capacity to make myself look stupid without the assistance of a particular product.
Besides, the car dealers in Rapid City pretty much know that I prefer used cars and once I get one I tend to drive the wheels off it before it occurs to me that I might need or want another. They have to sell their top end models and flashy colors to someone else.
I’m pretty sure I’m not a typical viewer of the Super Bowl. I’m likely to turn on the television during the game, but I’m also likely to be doing other things. I often become bored with television and find other activities to do. It is not uncommon for me to become distracted by a project and forget to pay attention to what is going on in the super bowl. A few months from now, I probably won’t remember if Kia or Toyota purchased Super Bowl ads. I’m pretty sure that Coke and Pepsi will spend big on the game as well as Budweiser. None of those companies make much money off of people like me.
I’m just not their target demographic.
But it does make me wonder.
What if one of those companies decided to forego Super Bowl advertising and instead directed an equal amount of money towards feeding hungry people, or providing transitional housing, or creating drug rehabilitation programs? Imagine what a 3.8 million investment in a jobs program at Pine Ridge might do! I know that money won’t be diverted to such causes. I know that the companies are convinced that whatever recognition they might get for investment in charitable programs is not worth the money they might spend. But I think that if a company were to forgo Super Bowl Advertising in 2013 so that they could invest in Superstorm Sandy recovery, more people would remember the name of the company a year later than is the case for the gigantic two-minute commercial run at the half time of last year’s Super Bowl. (Hint, I already put the name of the company in this blog, but it is easy to forget.)
I sort of like the formula that the Frito Lay Company has been using in recent Super Bowls. They run a contest for amateur filmmakers. Two of the best of the submissions run during the Super Bowl. The winner is determined by the USA Today Ad Meter (whatever that is) receives the prize of getting to work with a famous filmmaker on the latest project. There are also cash prizes for the winners. At least they sell a lot of bags of Doritos to amateur filmmakers who try to feature the chips in clever ads. Most of the amateur ads leave no question about what it is that they are advertising.
Well, as you can tell, none of the companies who will be placing ads in this year’s Super Bowl came to me for advice or consultation. I’m just not the kind of person they are interested in impressing. And the way I think is pretty different from the way they think. That’s OK. I don’t have the kind of money that they need to make in order to be able to run ads during the Super Bowl. They have to get that money by selling their products to others.
Still, I’m willing to bet that a year from now you won’t remember what brand of car sponsored the ad where a teen goes to prom by himself, kisses the prom queen, gets a black eye, and drives away in his dad’s car.
The advertisers are lining up for the privilege of purchasing those expensive advertisements. And some are paying premium for special spots. Half time ads cost more. Last year an advertisement featuring Clint Eastwood consumed two full minutes of halftime advertising. It got a lot of attention. I guess people are bound to notice when you spend money at that rate. A year later, however, how many people can remember what company was advertised in that commercial? For the record, the company was Chrysler, though I’ve heard people say it was General Motors. It seems to me that part of the goal of an advertisement might be for people to remember which company the advertisement is meant to promote.
But then, I’m no expert at advertising.
There was a time when people found the advertising to be part of the entertainment of the Super Bowl. They would stay glued to their television sets during the breaks just to see what the advertising agencies and companies had come up with. But there is no longer a need to wait until game day to be surprised by the ads. You can already see the advertisements that will be shown during the 2013 Super Bowl on the Internet. No surprises there. The pundits have already chosen their favorites.
Besides, the car dealers in Rapid City pretty much know that I prefer used cars and once I get one I tend to drive the wheels off it before it occurs to me that I might need or want another. They have to sell their top end models and flashy colors to someone else.
I’m pretty sure I’m not a typical viewer of the Super Bowl. I’m likely to turn on the television during the game, but I’m also likely to be doing other things. I often become bored with television and find other activities to do. It is not uncommon for me to become distracted by a project and forget to pay attention to what is going on in the super bowl. A few months from now, I probably won’t remember if Kia or Toyota purchased Super Bowl ads. I’m pretty sure that Coke and Pepsi will spend big on the game as well as Budweiser. None of those companies make much money off of people like me.
I’m just not their target demographic.
But it does make me wonder.
I sort of like the formula that the Frito Lay Company has been using in recent Super Bowls. They run a contest for amateur filmmakers. Two of the best of the submissions run during the Super Bowl. The winner is determined by the USA Today Ad Meter (whatever that is) receives the prize of getting to work with a famous filmmaker on the latest project. There are also cash prizes for the winners. At least they sell a lot of bags of Doritos to amateur filmmakers who try to feature the chips in clever ads. Most of the amateur ads leave no question about what it is that they are advertising.
Well, as you can tell, none of the companies who will be placing ads in this year’s Super Bowl came to me for advice or consultation. I’m just not the kind of person they are interested in impressing. And the way I think is pretty different from the way they think. That’s OK. I don’t have the kind of money that they need to make in order to be able to run ads during the Super Bowl. They have to get that money by selling their products to others.