Super Bowl Ads and the Failure of Business
Forget about the game. Forget about the upset and the ugly screw-ups on both sides. Look, instead, to the ugly screw-ups between plays: the ads. Companies spend millions for the time and then for the creative. The spots practically shriek, "We're gonna be on the Super Bowl! Let's show 'em how important we are!" Wtih animation, things blowing up, special effects, and casts that seemed to rival a Biblical epic movie, this was the opposite of tight budget.
But to what end? Other than knowing Budweiser had commercials - because they always have commercials (and I'll admit some fondness for the one about the horse training to join the team) - who do you remember? Hyundai trying to reposition itself as a luxury auto manufacturer but under the same brand? (You want how much for one of those?) Some automobile site, again with a couple of clever ads, but not memorable? CareerBuilders.com, whose ads seemed dull, which is probably not the best association for a business? It was about the commercials, which is fine, I guess, but do any of these companies do research into the history of ads?
Alka Seltzer ran an astonishingly clever series of ads in the 60s: funny, witty, pithy. There was the guy talking about the speecy, spicy meatballs, and the woman whose gastronomic adventures send her new husband seeking digestive relief, and "I can't believe I ate the whole thing. You ate it Ralph." And the company dropped them all. Why? Because while people loved the commercials, they didn't remember the product. Because the commercials became an end in themselves, serving a desire for entertainment, but not directly touching the issue of indigestion in an emotional way that would make people want to try the product for relief.
Does anyone test the results of the Super Bowl ads? I don't mean recollection, but actual sales. Do the companies make multiple times what the ads cost them in total? If not, they are wasting their money. I can't help but wonder if the really smart companies are the ones that avoid the Super Bowl and invest their marketing dollars into things more prosaic ... and profitable.
But to what end? Other than knowing Budweiser had commercials - because they always have commercials (and I'll admit some fondness for the one about the horse training to join the team) - who do you remember? Hyundai trying to reposition itself as a luxury auto manufacturer but under the same brand? (You want how much for one of those?) Some automobile site, again with a couple of clever ads, but not memorable? CareerBuilders.com, whose ads seemed dull, which is probably not the best association for a business? It was about the commercials, which is fine, I guess, but do any of these companies do research into the history of ads?
Alka Seltzer ran an astonishingly clever series of ads in the 60s: funny, witty, pithy. There was the guy talking about the speecy, spicy meatballs, and the woman whose gastronomic adventures send her new husband seeking digestive relief, and "I can't believe I ate the whole thing. You ate it Ralph." And the company dropped them all. Why? Because while people loved the commercials, they didn't remember the product. Because the commercials became an end in themselves, serving a desire for entertainment, but not directly touching the issue of indigestion in an emotional way that would make people want to try the product for relief.
Does anyone test the results of the Super Bowl ads? I don't mean recollection, but actual sales. Do the companies make multiple times what the ads cost them in total? If not, they are wasting their money. I can't help but wonder if the really smart companies are the ones that avoid the Super Bowl and invest their marketing dollars into things more prosaic ... and profitable.
Labels: advertising, marketing
Permalink posted by Erik Sherman at 5:52 AM
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