How does it all “ad up” for the big game?
Dave Wilcox, professional in residence in the Diederich College, reflects on changes in advertising related to the Super Bowl and on what remains the same.
Before talking about the changes, let’s start with what hasn’t changed: the Super Bowl remains the single largest television audience assembled on any given year. It varies year to year, but these days, few things even come close. Regardless of the demographic in question, the Super Bowl delivers the biggest number, even among kids aged five to eleven.
What has changed and continues to change is the impact of two-way consumer engagement. In other words, social media and its ability to foster bidirectional communication between brands and customers has led to all kinds of plays. They either tease an advertiser’s upcoming Super Bowl spot or otherwise promote it heavily. Brands have tied in-store promotions to Super Bowl sponsorships for decades, but this is the ability to try to build excitement — like trailers for an upcoming movie. It makes sense when you consider that an ad costs somewhere north of $6 million this year based on reports out of NBC.
Streaming is another way to get programming to an audience, and NBC will use its Peacock Network service. As such, streaming likely will offset those viewers who no longer subscribe to cable or satellite TV and can’t watch it over the air for whatever reason. Nielsen has made big strides in how they measure out-of-home (think bars and parties) viewing, so my guess is the total audience will not be adversely impacted by streaming.
If you think about it, the ability to pause, repeat and fast-forward have been things we’ve had available as viewers since the VCR. What continues to improve is how the network can source so many angles for replays that viewers don’t need to worry about backing things up (much). I do think recording the game to watch later (maybe because of work or other commitments) is still a popular thing to do, especially because people do love the ads! I’m not aware of any solid research on this, but I have to think if a way cool or very interruptive ad came on, some viewers may opt to replay it. That’s definitely a win for the advertiser. Nielsen has a stat called “Live-plus-three” where for so-called Nielsen homes that are part of the ratings pool, viewing a program up to 72 hours after it airs is considered a live view for ad ratings.
There is a variety of messaging objectives and attendant strategies. If you want to make a big announcement or try for some immediate name awareness, an ad during the Super Bowl can do that well. Just being on garners a brand a lot of talk value and bonus plays. So, if you’re a brand that is poised for an IPO, nothing helps boost name awareness and gives the impression of a big player like a Super Bowl spot.
Sometimes the strategies are to excite and motivate retailers and wholesalers or dealers. Entire internal marketing efforts are built around Super Bowl hospitality opportunities. For example, let’s look at Cadillac. If I want to incentivize my dealers and salespeople, offering all-inclusive VIP Super Bowl trips to top sales leaders is a pretty cool thing. A lot of the access for VIP stuff is firmly tied to advertising expenditures. You know all those skyboxes and great seats? Lots and lots of them are filled with people on the receiving end of hospitality negotiated as part of an overall sponsorship.
Yet another strategy is to be there so you can freeze out a competitor. That’s gotten cost prohibitive for all but the biggest brands (beer, cars) and even now that exclusivity may be limited to just one half the game. And then there is ego. When I worked for Anheuser-Busch years ago, it made Mr. Busch very happy to keep Miller and Coors totally out of the Super Bowl.
Regarding the effectiveness of a Super Bowl ad still being worth the money: yes, it is. When you run the numbers, the cost an advertiser pays to be on the Super Bowl is comparable to most other media when considered on a Coast-Per-Thousand basis. In other words, it costs about the same as other football or premium programming to reach 1000 people with a Super Bowl ad. The out-of-pocket cost is waaaaaaay higher, but the CPM is comparable. Add to that all the social media and promotional hype that comes with a Super Bowl buy, and it is — in my opinion — certainly still a very effective media choice.
My all-time favorite Super Bowl ad is the one credited with turning the Super Bowl into the advertising showcase it has become. Directed by Ridley Scott, Apple’s “1984” ad in 1984, introducing the Macintosh computer, is an amazing little movie-like spot. It was created by Chiat Day, and the Apple board wouldn’t agree to spend the money on it, so Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak paid for it themselves. And the rest is history.
