$5 million per 30 seconds does not make sense to me

This year, advertisers are paying a whopping $5.25 million for each 30-second ad airing during Super Bowl. There is no doubt that the opportunity to be able to showcase one’s product in front of 100 million or so viewers is huge. But can one ad change the perception of the brand? Are all 100 million the right target for the brand? Does spending big mean big results? I don't think so!

Super Bowl ads are special and different when compared to other TV ads during the year. Many people watch Super Bowl for the ads. Ads are more entertaining than the Super Bowl itself. Some ads have made me envy the people who made it. I wish I had got that account and brief to work on. Some ads are clever and memorable and trigger conversations online.

Stakes are very high

It is traditionally believed that Super Bowl advertising is an opportunity to introduce, scale and build a brand in front of the biggest TV audience. If advertisers are spending so much money, maybe something is clearly working for them each year.

Everyone is trying to create the most entertaining and memorable ad, but it is a big risk. Many careers are on the line due to just one ad. The big question is when stakes are so high, are advertisers seeing satisfactory results for their brands? Is Super Bowl the best option to spend on?

High production costs

The cost of producing Super Bowl ads is very high. Many brands simply add a celebrity to the ad without thinking it through if it was even the right choice for the brand. Often it is the influencer status on social media that drives this decision. The celebrity may not even represent the core values of the brand.

Pressured agency

There is tremendous pressure on creative teams to deliver extraordinary ideas. One can only imagine teams putting many all-nighters trying to do better than the previous year. And if any year the brand fails to live up to the entertainment value it has consistently delivered, the risk of negative social conversations is huge.

Insecure CMOs

In a business model where CMOs have a short tenure in a company and are constantly under pressure to produce quick results, investment in a big Super Bowl splash seems like a good idea. Short term vision does not help build a long-lasting brand.

Budget limitations

There are better ways of spending so much money wasted in production and buying airtime.

Sometimes ads are entertaining but one-offs and not fully in sync with the other year-round marketing programs. When so much already has been spent on one ad, it is hard for marketers with limited budgets to build an ecosystem of supporting communication across various channels around the ad.

Where is the ROI?

Super Bowl ads are mainly to sell an image. It’s good for obscure brands to get noticed by more than 100 million viewers that watch the Super Bowl game. Are these people all football fans? If they watch NFL regularly, then we do have a target customer and can figure out some trustworthy metrics. But the long term gains and ROI are not clear and available. Most brands do not see any spike in sales. Super Bowl ads may entertain us, move us emotionally but they do not really change our shopping preferences. It is also unclear what the call to action is in these ads. The plans look more like a spray and pray tactic.

Mass media and mass marketing have been taken over precision targeting today. While the impressions are huge, but they do not translate into measurable returns. I have never seen an ROI of a super bowl ad publicly available via an agency or a marketing department. Not sure it even exists.

Reach vs. Engagement

Marketing departments of large companies with deep pockets are mistaking exposure and views for impact. Their speed to market focus to get as many views and clicks as soon as possible might be justifying this massive spend. If the big budgets are all about reach, imagine how much reach one can get spending on Facebook instead? The question is — Is reach the goal or engagement?

Sometimes these ads feel like carpet bombing of messages to everyone and anyone when the brand has not figured out who their real target consumer they should reach and connect with. Advertisers seem to be counting people they can reach via the ad. They should reach people that count towards brand building instead.

Advertising is an attention business. Smart ads tied to the brand values will always be shared. But the question is what kind of attention are we seeking. Is it something that will leave a lasting impact or something quick like light-hearted humor that we forget after a chuckle?

I agree some ads, for large brands like Apple and Anheuser-Busch, have attained iconic status and these brands have benefitted from it. For smaller brands ‘frequency’ is a more effective option than using a brute force of ‘reach’ button to pull the trigger on $5M.

Large brands can do it

Big brands do not have much to prove or win by having a Super Bowl spot. They already have awareness and brand recognition. It is because of the big brands willing to pay, the prices have gone up. If pricing was reasonable, medium-sized brands would also get a chance.

One might argue that a good marketing campaign is more than sales numbers. It generates awareness, loyalty, changes perceptions, habits and captures the imagination of the customers. But the question is, do you need such massive one time spend for a mere 30 seconds to achieve it? Brands should ask how much it is worth to get their brand in front of 100M people that are not all its target. There is definitely some value in it for large brands who have enough money to not only fund a Super Bowl campaign but also run many other campaigns around the year. But this strategy would not work for everyone else.

Maybe It makes sense

Some brands are very big and do not really bother about ROI from a single ad. So unless the brand has done something so huge and wants to announce to the whole country, there is no significant reason for such an investment. Or maybe the brand wants to associate itself with NFL or sports to gain a following. Some brands may be making a significant investment in the ad for news coverage, social media, and talk shows. It makes sense for them to spend on a Super Bowl ad.

Winners and Losers

With an astronomical price tag, It’s the TV channel making real money. When prices of super Bowl spots go up, the prices of the products advertised also go up. It is the consumers who suffer due to the price of such ads folded into the product price. In the end, It is the consumer paying for the commercial. It is something to think about next time we get emotional or laugh watching a TV spot.

Brands are taking away the fun

Keep the mystery

People are expecting special kinds of ads in Super Bowl that entertain. It is human nature that we may not laugh at the same joke again but will cry for the same sorrow again and again. By leaking the ads in advance or showing already on-air ads, brands take away the fun. When the mystery is gone, brands reduce the desired effect and fun of watching the ads during the big event is lost.

Maintain brand values

Unfortunately, some Super Bowl ads do try hard to make us laugh, cry, take notice, but sometimes they take this so far away from the brand that they fail at actually sell the product.

Traditional Vs. Digital

I started my career in advertising doing TV and print, but with time I have grown out of it. The opportunity today is investing in digital because everything is digital and digital is everything. Views are no longer helpful anyways for brands. Brands are looking for engagement and conversion that digital experiences can offer. Digital is not just viewing but uses more than one sense and is user action oriented.

Choosing digital

The advocates of Super Bowl ad spending compare the ROI of a Super Bowl ad with any other TV spot on any other day and time during regular programming. In the digital age, this is an incorrect comparison. Additionally, many people use DVRs today and do not watch TV spots. People typically go online on destinations like Netflix or various social channels for entertainment. The same money spent on a Super Bowl ad can be better spent on a campaign across several digital channels wisely to get better engagement and stay beyond a mere 30 seconds on the user’s screen. Digital is so much more profitable, and creatively fulfilling when we use our ideas to innovate new products, experiences, and experiment with emerging technologies.

Traditional media is too expensive and does not have the same robust metrics one can get through digital. Digital offers creative possibilities like changing the content on the fly and longer shelf life for a fraction of the traditional media cost. Brands should be spending more on digital than TV, outdoor, radio etc.

It’s better to watch online

Some people watch Super Bowl just for commercials. But today, due to our busy schedules, people do not need to watch the entire game just to watch ads. Many people save time and watch the ‘Best of Super Bowl ads’ the next day on YouTube. The number of people going online to watch the commercials instead of watching live on TV has been increasing each year. https://unruly.co/news/article/2015/09/10/more-than-half-of-viewers-watched-super-bowl-ads-online-not-on-tv/

Explore other options

In today’s digital world, we have so many options within digital media to drive awareness and engagement. More than reach and awareness, the digital media gives us an opportunity for audience development, and create shares and views.

• Why should brands be investing more in the big screen, when clearly today customers use all kinds of screens and more so the small screens.
• Facebook, for example, has millions of users each day, allows for better targeting of content compared to ads in a Super Bowl, allows multiple content types other than just a video, has better tools for engagement compared to cable TV, like shares, likes, comments etc.
• Building brand loyalty and reputation takes time, patience, commitment, and a long term vision. Brands should have a plan for the other 354 days of the year and the years thereafter. For 5M one can do a large marketing program for the entire year.
• Super Bowl is only once a year. Online gaming is 2.5 times the size of the Super Bowl audience, is more targeted and is rapidly growing. This is a much larger advertising opportunity.
• Brands should be exploring other ways to become a part of the popular culture. They should focus on meaningful user experiences that go beyond the purchase cycle. Understanding user experience can help brands build a personality, bring customers closer, and reach customers brand has not been able to through traditional media.
• Since the chances of failure are very high, agencies tend to focus on trending topics and create entertainment value in the ads. However many other issues and topics lose a chance for coverage on such a large national stage. This is a great stage for brands to appeal to the conscience within viewers and champion a cause. If the company is big and already known, the money can be used for a better and higher purpose through the ad. Helping a cause, or supporting a non-profit via a blockbuster ad will result in a better ROI measurement for the non-profit as well as the brands.

Finally

If the ad is created only to make a big brand statement that the advertiser is part of the big league of brands, it may surely lead to some conversations. But if the brand cannot support these conversations across channels over a period of time, it will negatively affect the brand.

Super Bowl ads are a great opportunity for creatives to do something outside the box and win lots of awards. But maybe time is ripe for brands to say no to Super Bowl ads. Maybe that is one way for them to get attention and then stretch the ad. budget wisely and creatively. Advertising should translate into results, and unfortunately, in my opinion, Super Bowl ads have only been reduced to just entertainment.

I would be interested to hear from people who have worked on Super Bowl commercials tell us their experience on how much they succeeded in meeting their short term and long term goals and what were the metrics like.

About the Author:

Himanshu Bharadwaj is a digital creative director in New York and Connecticut area, with expertise in crafting UX/UI designs. You can view his work at Epitomecreative.com. Himanshu’s mailbox is always open if you would like to work together, or just have something interesting to say.