Hailing from Pittsburgh, or should I say Sixburgh, I’m obviously still ecstatic at the outcome of this year’s Super Bowl. But for our purposes here, I’ll spare you the Steelers fan gloating. There were other winners on Super Bowl Sunday and they come from the advertising and marketing community.
According to USA Today, the Doritos crystal ball commercial was the favorite of the evening. I literally remember sitting in a room full of people before the first commercial break and someone managed to crack the joke: “Here come the blatant marketing pitches.†Maybe my sarcastic friend spoke too soon. As the now infamous crystal ball Doritos commercial ensued, the entire room erupted into laughter and one of my friends even said, “That makes me want to buy some Doritos for sure.†Mission accomplished.
During another part of the evening, a commercial played for an upcoming feature film. My friend who interns for the studio made sure to hush everyone as the spot played. Being that it was a preview for a comedy, the room’s continued silence was not a good sign. “Damn, that cost a lot of money,†my friend said to disapproving stares. On the up side, she used our live, informal focus group the next day during a meeting to let her supervisors know that the preview did not go over well with our crowd.
But if anything, the Super Bowl proved that there is still a place for advertising and marketing in a fast-forward world. From 3-D glasses, to impressive strides in mobile campaigns, marketers are still cleverly rising above the clutter. In industry specific news, the Super Bowl even had a DRTV spot for Cash4Gold that played to rave reviews and even rivaled Doritos as the night’s favorite.
“Super Bowl 43 was memorable for several reasons, so much so that the media world is still buzzing about it a week later. It was arguably one of the best games ever, and certainly one of the most exciting fourth quarters in recent history. A record number of viewers tuned in as well — Nielsen’s final report put it at 98.7 million, up a full million over last year. Unprecedented economic times meant no ads from perennial sponsors General Motors and FedEx. But despite the loss of these brands, NBC successfully sold all 65 spots for a record $206 million, with in-game ads running at $3 million apiece. That is up 11 percent from last year’s Fox rate for the game,†according to Video Insider.
Furthermore, a recent study actually shows that watching ads increases the pleasure of the TV viewing experience. Maybe consumers are especially willing to watch ads during the Super Bowl because they know that ad execs are at the top of their game. Perhaps the lesson for advertisers should be to act like it’s the Super Bowl every day. As a Pittsburgh Steelers fan, I can assure you I certainly will.
Pat Cauley is Electronic Retailer magazine’s eMedia editor.
It was the summer of 2003. I had just finished my first year of college down South, returned home to Pittsburgh and landed an internship in the Steelers’ marketing department. Walking into Heinz Field’s corporate offices was like something out of a movie for someone who was born and raised in ‘Steelers Country.’
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