ANA Marketing Maestros

Super Bowl Advertising 101

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

Ad Spending Up But Down

by Mark Fogelberg

According to whichever recent report and whatever recent article you might have read, the sky is falling. Or not. Maybe it's a good thing. Or not.

The summary version reads, "Advertising GROWTH to taper off." Growth in spending has slowed? Rather than think doom and gloom, perhaps a pat on the back is in order? Perhaps advertisers have become more efficient, spending valuable dollars more judiciously.

Averaging 3 big name forecasts gives a percentage growth in excess of 3.1% for US paid media during 2007. That growth percentage (and the underlying billions) seems hardly insubstantial or unhealthy. Especially when factoring in new media venues - with their smaller audiences and lower cost basis - the ad business continues to do well as a whole.

There are some pockets of hurt as adjustments are made and new media forms explored but the Darwinian nature of media should allow for better opportunities for advertisers. Traditional media venues continue to deliver the audiences advertisers need - with content which draws the crowds. The fact that there has been an explosion of new choices to help marketing efforts warrants 3 cheers as mass efforts can be complemented. We can do more and reach more with integrated messages - and we can do it all more efficiently.

Technorati tags: Ad Forecasts Media Spending