Superbowl-ads.com Article Archive

Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. has selected Burrell Communications’ TV spot ‘Faces’ to debut during Super Bowl XLIII as part of the launch of its new vehicle VENZA. Burrell’s 30-second Toyota VENZA spot ‘Faces’ will premiere in the first quarter during the third break of Super Bowl 43.

Hitwise, announced the Super Bowl XLII advertiser websites with the largest increases in market share of visits on Super Bowl Sunday (Feb. 3, 2008) were Hyundai (www.hyundaigenesis.com), up 1450 percent versus Saturday, Feb. 2, 2008, Paramount’s Ironman Movie (www.ironmanmovie.com), up 800 percent and GoDaddy.com, which increased 616 percent.

Even though the economy is putting the brakes on sales, auto-focused companies still are spending big bucks to drive brand awareness with Super Bowl advertising. Audi, Toyota (TM), General Motors (GM), Hyundai and Cars.com all have in-game ads, which are selling for up to $2.7 million for 30 seconds.

Hyundai did have thoughts about reselling the 60 seconds it bought last fall from game broadcaster Fox, but stayed in.

“We wanted to make sure that it made sense (to keep the time) given the fact that the economy doesn’t look as bright as it did,” Hyundai spokesman Chris Hosford says.

Hyundai, like the other auto companies, sees the Super Bowl as one of the diminishing media opportunities to reach a truly mass audience — and one where the audience watches the ads.

Audi is betting it can rev up its image with a parody of rivals in a Super Bowl commercial backed by a Hollywood-size production budget.

The Volkswagen-owned carmaker is looking to crown itself as the new luxury auto brand. Audi’s first Big Game ad in 20 years features its new $109,000 R8 speed machine. It uses a send-up of an iconic scene from The Godfather to poke fun, without naming names, at luxury car rivals.

Advertising on the Super Bowl will probably guarantee a spike in awareness for a brand–no argument there. But according to New York-based consultancy Brand Keys, the quality of that awareness depends on more than into which quarter of the game one shoehorns the ad.

The firm says that return on investment is really consequent to how well the spectacle and demographic appeal of the game fits a brand’s equity and target.

The score, finally, is based upon “Return-On-Equity,” which measures the level of engagement between the media environment and the advertised brand.

THEY say time and tide wait for no man, but Tide has waited a long time to be advertised on the Super Bowl. Soon, Tide, the biggest detergent brand in America — sold by the biggest advertiser in America — will appear for the first time on the biggest day for advertising in America.

Procter & Gamble, the maker of Tide, has bought time during the Fox Broadcasting coverage of Super Bowl XLII on Feb. 3 for a commercial for the Tide to Go instant stain remover. The 30-second spot, by Saatchi & Saatchi in New York, part of the Publicis Groupe, is scheduled to appear in the game’s second quarter.

After a 20-year absence from the game, Audi will advertise during Fox’s broadcast of Super Bowl XLII.

Toyota, which advertised during this year’s game in February, will also return.

Audi will feature is $109,000 R8 roadster in a 60-second spot that will air during the first quarter, said Scott Keogh, CMO of Audi of America.

“We are going to keep our cards close to the vest until Super Bowl day actually arrives, because I think we have a dramatic message,” Keogh said.

-Steve McClellan

NEW YORK Anheuser-Busch topped a pair of national polls that measure the popularity of Super Bowl ads.

A-B placed seven spots among the top 10 in the annual USA Today survey. A-B also took five of the top 10 slots in an online Wall Street Journal poll.

The most popular ad, per USA Today, was a Budweiser entry that showed crabs worshiping a beer cooler. A Bud execution starring a stray puppy and the Clydesdales placed second, while Bud Light’s take on the game “Rock, Paper, Scissors” came in third.

The survey, published in the paper’s Monday edition, was based on the responses during the game of 238 adult viewers in Houston and McLean, Va.

by Gael Fashingbauer Cooper

Are you ready for some football? Or, more importantly, are you ready for some Super Bowl ads? As I mentioned last week, I’ll be blogging about the big game’s commercials right here, and invite you to join in via the comment field. Note that we’re talking ads only here, leaving the rah-rah rooting and reviews of the on-field action to others. And I may not get to every single ad, so if I skip one and you want to chat about it, bring it up in the comments.

FIRST HALF:

JESSICA SIMPSON FOR PIZZA HUT
Wait, was that a Super Bowl ad? They almost slipped that right past me, it was so ordinary. Was there anything in that commercial that you couldn’t see in any random ad the rest of the year? Cheesy Bites indeed, emphasis on the “cheesy.” And I hear a rumor this is just part of a series. Oh, yay.

BUD: ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS
So they play Rock, Paper, Scissors with real rocks and paper. Rock wins. As a friend of mine says, “It IS a rock, after all. Should beat anything.” But I’m not actually even sure what beer was being advertised, which you’d think is the point.

DORITOS READER-SUBMITTED AD
We’ve certainly heard a lot about these. Can regular folks make ads any better than Madison Avenue? Based on this one, where people smash into a bunch of things because they’re Doritos-happy, my guess is “no.” Reminds me of the VW ads where you start closing your eyes early because the accidents are kind of upsetting.

BLOCKBUSTER PET STORE
Animated animals are usually pretty cute. But the “clicking and dragging” of the real mouse? Yeah, just came across as