$6.5M for 30 seconds of advertising....crazy or smart?

I was discussing with @michaelleigh of @themanagementfirm (Los Angels based entrepreneur, advertising strategist and cyber security guru) about the 'crazy' budgets for #superbowl2022. On average a 30 second commercial being played during the Superbowl this weekend will cost $6.5M.

By any standards… that is a lot. Some may say obscene. This has gone up some $1M from 2021.

(For UK readers I thought I'd stick to the $ currency for ease of examples). This is the Superbowl after all).

So why do brands still fight for this prestigious air time? Take Budweiser for example. (Brand of choice for this example). Are they really looking to get their money back on increased beer sales of 3.82M units? (Based on ￡1.70 per bottle) I think not.

Clearly there are benefits and the main reason is for brand awareness, and generally creating a buzz around the brand and the creative direction of the advert itself leading to viral exposure across multiple channels and demographics from the ‘hot’ TikTok to the older Facebook audiences.

Brand awareness… that is some investment just to help a brand be front of mind. But can a 30 second commercial really hold the attention of an audience beyond the Superbowl into the next day when the dust settles when everyone gets on with their every day lives come Monday morning?

Who am I to challenge brand owners and those that hold the purse strings. But I will. I am sure if I was given a $6.5M budget, I would come up with something on a mega scale that would last for weeks/months to engage and offer real brand awareness and therefore value.

Specialising in the promotional marketing sector, this is what I do.... try to find the best spend for a brands investment. So let’s use this blog as a posting board for what could've been.

In the promotions world we give something back. ‘What’s in it for us’ (the customer) is always front of mind.

We collect consumer data, receive answers to surveys, ask customers to trial new products and generally ask for their loyalty by continuously buying our products... and as a thank you, we offer them chances to win prizes and make them feel special.?

With this in mind, how does a huge global promotion sound where prizes are off the scale? Something never seen before in quantity as opposed to a single high value prize? How about money can’t buy prizes? Tens of thousands of high value prizes. In the predominantly food and drinks industry that I work in, many customers would be happy to receive a $30 bluetooth speaker, purely because they have won ‘something’ and it is a product they can used on a daily basis. It may not be the best speaker in the world at $30, but a branded device sitting in say 1000 homes has have several benefit.

Multiply this to 100,000 speakers which we can do for Superbowl budgets we are talking about and we have the following:

1.????Pure delight that a prize was won

2.????Budweiser (or equivalent) branding in 100,000 homes

3.???Huge social sharing opportunities. People love shouting about prize wins on social media. If everyone shared with 1 other person, then that 100,000 interactions become 200,000.

If you are doing the maths… that’s $3M spent on prizes.?

But that is just the start.....Now for the big prizes!

How about 500x $20,000 ‘holidays of a lifetime’ or season tickets to your favourite sports team. This could be any sport, any nation. Just imagine the publicity. It will be like Charlie and The Chocolate Factory all over again. Everyone looking out for the golden tickets! It could be one of the biggest prize giveaways ever!!!

You may have done the maths again and you are right in your thinking. That is $13M I have just spent on behalf of Budweiser. Iff a brand is so happy to invest half that on a 30 second commercial, don't you think a smart brand could invest a few $M more for the pure benefit of their customers.

For me, the tens of thousands of people who win decent prizes in a mega promotion will benefit any brand with social sharing and ongoing loyalty. Brands will change their buying behaviours and they will be more willing to participate in NPD (New Product Development launches and trials). This is in comparison to a mere 30 second commercial that although it?will be viewed by millions globally, for the majority, it will be a short lived social discussion.

No one likes a clever advert more than me. I will watch and enjoy the commercials very much but I’d rather be on a yacht in the Caribbean having won an amazing prize!?