Superbowl-ads.com Article Archive

Source: Nielsen Media Research

Consider that $3 million you just dropped on a 30-second Super Bowl spot a waste of money — unless you’ve got a smart, calculated search-and-social-media strategy behind it.

Last year, the ads from the big game racked up 99.5 million collective online views and 98.7 million people watched the game on TV.

“Social media provides a longer shelf life for people’s campaigns,” said Anthony Iaffaldano, senior director-strategy and innovation at Reprise Media. “It’s about who’s got a plan in place to take the equity they’re building through all this activity and activate it after the game. Social media becomes more valuable as you continue to engage.”

About 90% of brands had their Super Bowl ads up on YouTube in 2009, estimates a Google executive, although that’s just the bare minimum. A quarter of the brands in the Bowl tapped social networks to try to drive additional comments, ratings and conversation. And more than two-thirds bought paid-search ads against their brands or products.

Increased digital word-of-mouth marketing — using social media and other platforms — could shift marketers’ media plan dynamics for next February’s Super Bowl. Pete Blackshaw, executive vice president of digital strategic services, and Randall Beard, executive vice president and general manager of Nielsen IAG, write that “earned media” — material from social-networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook — “will be a huge test, as the new reality of consumer expression” for next year’s big football game. For instance, Tweets embedded in Facebook feeds, blog entries and Google search results can have long-term value. They say these efforts, in conjunction with Super Bowl ads, can have a “latency” effect and provide brands with an almost endless annuity of “earned media.” Nielsen cites the example of Nationwide Insurance, which three years ago ran a Super Bowl commercial featuring ex-Britney Spears husband Kevin Federline that grabbed over $20 million dollars in “earned media.”

In the advertising world, building buzz is the pregame game. Coca-Cola is readying an update to the Mean Joe Greene commercial featuring Troy Polamalu and his bountiful hair. (Coca-Cola did not return calls seeking confirmation.) “Everybody’s been waiting for the next Mean Joe spot,” says Bob Horowitz, the executive producer of Super Bowls’ Greatest Commercials, adding that Mr. Polamalu is known for his charisma and not his crankiness.

http://tinyurl.com/y87k4h3 Bruce Springsteen shed light on why after years of turning the NFL’s Super Bowl requests down flat, he broke tradition and performed with the E Street Band during the halftime spectacle. He explained to The Los Angeles Times, "I’ve said no for about 10 years or however long they’ve been asking, but, I tell [...]

Local Super Bowl organizers are celebrating a different kind of victory two months after the historic matchup between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Arizona Cardinals. More than 130 area businesses landed $3.96 million in Super Bowl business as part of the Emerging Business Program.

USA TODAY’s Ad Meter tracks the second-by-second responses of a panel of viewers to ads during the Super Bowl and Ranks them from best to worst. ‘Two nobodies from nowhere’ craft winning Super Bowl ad.

How Super Bowl commercials ranked by:
Advertiser, Description, Sec., Qtr., Score
According to USA TODAY’s Ad Meter focus groups.

Bud Light in particular was very disappointing after so many great spots in the past. The spot where an office worker was thrown out a window for suggesting no more beer at meetings should have been shot down in the first agency presentation and the whole “Drinkability” approach is a non starter. One has to wonder if this is the alternative to the “non-drinkable” regular Budweiser.

Likewise, the Bud Light “Party starter” spot with Conan was pretty embarrassing, as was the skiing spot. Making skiers wreck with fake trees was another example of bad, undrinkable slapstick.

With the economy in the doldrums and the nation’s future uncertain, it’s nice to know that some things never change.

Among them: Super Bowl advertisers continue to rely on hot women, violent gags and sophomoric humor to sell their wares.

While this year’s batch of Super Bowl ads offered a lot of the predictable fodder, there were some bright spots. Here’s a look at Ads of the Weird’s take on the best and the worst of this year’s Super Bowl spots.

For a country that needs some economic stimulus, the 2009 Super Bowl did its best. The commercials weren’t the best ever, but they tried to be as big and bold as those from better times. There were romantic Clydesdales, soda-stealing bugs and a hilarious cameo by the rear end of a moose. The laughs mostly outweighed the winces. And if the ads could make you smile during this financial crisis, there’s hope for us all. The halftime show was even more optimistic as Bruce Springsteen and his E Street Band set off musical fireworks (accompanied by real ones) that were soul-stirring enough to make everyone believe we can get back to our glory days. And did we mention the game was exciting?

U.S. tire maker Bridgestone’s Potatoheads commercial was voted the favorite product pitch aired during the Super Bowl Sunday in the ninth annual ADBOWL.

The ad, featuring Potatohead toys driving a car equipped with Bridgestone tires, was the first non-beer commercial to grab the top spot in six years, said Steve McKee, president of the media services firm McKee Wallwork Cleveland and founder of ADBOWL.

Denny’s, Pedigree, E*Trade and job sites score. Free stuff. And public service. That’s what I think viewers are looking for in this Super Bowl of our economic discontent.

Results of a national study conducted among Super Bowl viewers last night revealed that the Budweiser Horse Circus ad was selected as the number one ad of Super Bowl XLIII. To view the rankings for all of this year’s Super Bowl ads go to: www.mediacurves.com

Below are our choices for the 10 best Super Bowl ads of all time. The picks were heavily influenced by commenters on the MSNBC message boards, who discussed their favorite commercials and voted on the subject two years ago. We also considered the economic impact of the ads, which mostly consisted of disqualifying failed dot-com companies.