The Evolution of Super Bowl Ads

Getting the Most Out of the Money: Super Bowl Ads and the Internet

Ryan Rinchiuso-Advertising Agency Account Coordinator

Remember as a kid when you sneaked a peek at your Christmas or birthday present early?  At the moment it was exciting and cool because you got an early peek at something that you weren’t yet supposed to see.  Then the big day rolls around and the moment where you unwrap is anticlimactic because the surprise is gone.

What does this have to do with a marketing blog?  Well, as those little boys that peek at their toys grow up and their Christmas moves from Dec 25^th to the end of January/early February when our wonderful nation comes screeching to a halt one magical Sunday evening to celebrate the Super Bowl in all its glory.  Over the past 30 years  the Super Bowl has transformed into a game crowing the champions of the NFL into an American institution.  The Super Bowl is now not just about a 3 hour game, it is about the 6-hours of preshow before, a big spectacle of a halftime show and those wonderful, and memorable commercials.

Sometimes, especially when the game is a blowout by the 2^nd quarter, the most entertaining things going on that day were the commercials.  It is the one time of year when people DON’T change the station when the commercials come on and they are actually looking forward to them.  With a cost of $3.5 million the agencies in charge of the commercials KNOW that they have to make an impression or waste a lot of money.  What these means for consumers is that they are guaranteed one day a year of talking animals, big celebrities and a lot of silly antics during every commercial break.

For a Super Bowl junkie like myself the anticipation of the commercials was almost as exciting as the game.  It was fun waiting for the next spot, what would the next commercial be?  Would we see a Pepsi commercial with a famous rock star or a preview of the big summer movie?  Then a few years ago that fun was partly taken away when many forms of media started publishing who had commercials when in the game.  Now a little more of the fun and anticipation are gone for these commercials because they have been posted online a week before the game.

Do you want to see Ferris Bueller in a Honda spot go ahead and Google it and enjoy.  It is not only Matthew Broederick that you can spy early; there is the new Volkswagen Star Wars commercial (now starring dogs!), movie previews and a healthy sampling of Seinfeld.  I am a Super Bowl purist (I don’t know if that is a thing, but if it is not I am coining the phrase now) so I have avoided all these commercials with a fiery passion.  I want to experience the commercials first hand on the big night, I don’t want that feeling of been here/done that.  Why would the businesses want to spoil that fun for us by releasing early?

    After I thought that I quickly realized because it gets the ad seen MORE.  No one is still going to change the channel during commercials so even if you saw the ad online, you will be one of the many millions watching it again.  Is it as exciting as the first time? No, but do the businesses care about that? Not so much.

It is said that for a message to stick with a person they have to see the commercial at least three times.  These companies debuting their commercials early are already 2/3’s of the way to accomplishing this goal by the end of the Super Bowl because it was watched online and then again during the Super Bowl.  Repetition is the name of the game and people are doing the job for the companies.  We are watching the commercial again and again and if they are good we are emailing them and sharing with all of our friends online.  A video can spread a lot quicker in these days with Social Media, email and Youtube and it just means more eyeballs for the companies selling their wears.  For instance, that Matthew Broderick starring commercial already has over 10 million views for an ad selling a Honda.  This is brilliant if you ask me because those 10 million views aren’t even the main course they are just the appetizers.

So if you see me clapping me hands over my ears and yelling pay no attention to me.  I am just trying to keep my own silly tradition of watching Super Bowl ads alive and kicking.  Agencies and companies have found out a way to spread the money spent on the ads a little bit further and they are not going to change course.  While I might wish the ads had a tag that said, “don’t open until Super Bowl” I know that it won’t happen.  While I might have come to this realization, don’t get me started on the practice of filming an ad to tease an ad that teases a product,  some things I will never understand.