By: Irina Skaya
TV viewers stick around for the Super Bowl commercials, known for their edginess and sense of humor. Advertisers invest millions of dollars into Super Bowl ads to keep television’s largest audience glued to their seats. This year, approximately $2.7 million is being spent per 30 second spot, an increase from the $2.6 million spent during Super Bowl XLI.
According to the Origin of Brands blog, a typical formula for Super Bowl ad is a combination of celebrities, talking animals, sexy girls, potty humor, big stunts and special effects. Speaking of celebrities, Justin Timberlake (who hasn’t made an appearance at the event since Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction) will rock his body on February 3 in a Pepsi ad.
The mainstays such as Bud and Go Daddy are expected to once again grace the television screen with off-the-wall humor. Hopefully, Go Daddy will submit storyboards to FOX first, before wasting tons of money on filming commercials that will get rebuffed.
So, what is the recipe for a successful Super Bowl Ad?
- Spread a strong brand massage that will resonate and reinforce itself in the mind of the consumers
- Spoon a proper amount of hard-hitting humor — too much, and the commercial will be rejected by the network
- Carefully roll in some controversial parodies with an edgy punch line
A misconception lies about who should advertise during the biggest television event – many believe it should only be the big brands with big appeal and heavy budget. Although the majority of the Super Bowl advertisers such as Bud and Pepsi do fit the above description, smaller companies can advertise and succeed. Advertising during this event is an opportunity to market a product to 90 million viewers. This year, advertisers can triple the exposure to their products because for the first time ever, My Space will host the Super Bowl ads in partnership with Fox. The genius selling point in this program is that it will allow advertisers to add additional content to drive the consumers to the product, such as discount coupon offerings, movie trailers, etc. The ads will play at www.myspace.com/superspots.
I leave you with a classic (one of my favorite Super Bowl ads):
Pepsi “Two Kids”
Technorati tags: YouTube super bowl 2008 super bowl ads
