Dr. Strangejourney or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bowl - A Strange Journey Sidebar

The leadup to each Super Bowl in recent memory has been rife with countless thought pieces—produced by advocates across the spectrum of the advertising industry—touting how much value could be created if advertisers would only invest in “my media” rather than ploughing vast chunks of dough into exorbitantly priced Super Bowl spots.

To my brothers and sisters in advertising—even within my own small corner of the media universe—I would like to express the fullest admiration and appreciation for your belief in the power of what we bring to the table.? And with the utmost respect, I have two words of encouragement:

Please. Stop.

It’s not that I don’t love the enthusiasm. In fact, I could not feel more strongly about the value, the impact, and the return on invested media dollars that OOH provides. But for a multitude of reasons, I’m not sure this particular brand of cheerleading hits the mark.

So, this year, instead of joining the chorus of “here’s what you’d get if you spent the budget for a Super Bowl spot on (fill in the blank) instead,” here's a top 5 countdown of the reasons we should consider dialing back this approach and what we can learn from the reasons why Super Bowl Ads are actually a fabulous investment:

Reason #5 – $233,333 per second is a relative bargain.

Advertising in the “big game” is expensive. We get it. Super Bowl 57 saw an average of $7MM for a 30-second spot, which is unquestionably a sizeable nut, even for the largest of brands. As an OOH media specialist, I frequently see entire budgets that wouldn’t cover the first 5 video frames of a Super Bowl ad, much less the opening second. But when 9 of the 10 most-watched broadcasts in television history have been Super Bowls, this platform certainly makes those dollars work a heck of a lot harder.?

In fact, this past year’s game saw an estimated 113.1MM average viewers, giving these spots a “modest” cpm of just over $60 – less than the $65 CPM proposed by Netflix in 2022.

Truly, that CPM figure is nominal. My experience with tremendous OOH campaigns like the Lane Bryant?Cacique line’s “I’m No Angel” campaign and Starz Network’s award-winning New Year’s Eve execution for their original program Spartacus clearly demonstrated that the earned impressions created by truly buzzworthy executions—on social media, in media outlets and by straight-up word-of-mouth—can effectively reduce the CPMs of ad campaigns to pennies on the dollar.

The Lesson: Big ideas drive discussion which in turn drives cost efficiencies. Don’t be afraid to engage in high-profile campaigns due to the sheer size of the price tag. The value derived from being a hot topic far exceeds the number on the media invoice.

Reason #4 – The advertising IS the destination.

Super Bowl ads are tantamount to an awards show red carpet. People care about what the big brands are wearing to the super Bowl this year and love to see the big splash that a small “celebrity” can make with its advertising, whether bold and brash or wholly elegant. Even the most conservative of studies show that 20% or more of Super Bowl viewers tune in to the broadcast expressly for the purpose of watching the ads. Try to think of any other 4-hour stretch in a given year when consumers actually look forward to sitting through commercials…can you? I know I can’t.

Because of this, agencies put forth their boldest, most imaginative work, often acting as the springboard to extended brand campaigns and creating lifelong memories for viewers. ?What Gen X kid didn’t flash right back their childhood in 2009 as Troy Polamalu brought a delightful twist to Mean Joe Greene’s heartwarming Coca-Cola commercial from 1979? The ETrade baby and the Old Spice “Man Your Man Could Smell Like” gave rise to years of entertaining ads, with the baby also resurfacing during the 2022 Super Bowl. And of course, there was the eternally brilliant and eminently quotable “When I Grow Up ” campaign by Monster.com —so beloved by the advertising industry itself, a spinoff version was made just for us.

The Lesson: These ads are forever anchored to one of the greatest annual spectacles on television. Just watching another Super Bowl can trigger memories and discussion of these gems, just as the game itself can trigger anticipation of great ads to come. (For more on these concepts, join me for the upcoming The Strange Journey Podcast on “anchoring”, where I’ll cover this and much, much more) The great news is that you don’t need the Super Bowl to be successful in this regard. You only need to consider that the OOH industry still refers to “Burma Shave” campaigns and audiences have continued to enjoy Chick-Fil-A cows on billboards, (even after 20 years) to know that the medium doesn’t just have to be a canvas; it can also be a stage. Seek inspiration in this.

Reason #3 – It’s the first step on the race to the bottom.

Many Goodwill stores have bins where clothing can be bought by the pound. This is not to say that hidden treasures can’t be found there, but it may be the last place that fashion-forward consumers go to deck themselves out.? And as evidenced by resale estimates for Louis Vuitton and Birkin handbags (and the price of Super Bowl spots), low cost is not the defining characteristic of value for discriminating buyers.

While maximizing media weight against advertising budget is a strength of many media channels, placing the focus on that messaging simply commoditizes our offerings and devalues the qualities of a medium that provide it with its own intrinsic value and core strengths. As I rephrase the argument “Do you know how many pairs of knock-off Crocs it would take to equal the cost of just one pair of Christian Louboutins,” it doesn’t have quite the same ring, does it?

?The Lesson: Focusing on the lowest common denominator puts your media into a framework of cheapness, not value. Who among us would consider trading a single fresh pair of red-soled beauties for even 200 pairs of rubber shoes? Unless your name is Barnum or Bailey, the odds are good you wouldn’t.

Reason #2 – Don’t Knock the Competition

This is Sales 101. While the reason for these pieces seems to be getting advertisers to “find better ways” of deploying their vast media budgets, they bring with them a perceptible implication that the value of a Super Bowl spot isn’t worth “what I can offer for the same investment.” This can very easily read as petty and jealous. And if they truly are aimed at folks who have those budgets to spend, (which they must be, because who else would you try to convince to buy something other than a Super Bowl spot?)…well, it’s just not a good look.? It takes the focus off the here and now, framing the competing opportunity as “aspirational” while positioning your media as something that can be simply settled for and scaled back if need be.

?The Lesson: Enthusiasm is contagious. In the words of the ancient sage, poet and visionary, Justin Bieber, “Cause if you like the way you look that much, oh baby you should go and love yourself.” While perhaps the spirit of the song intends something else, there is something valuable to consider in the letter of it. Love yourself! Love your media! Love what you do. Give it the old “Yasss, King” or “Slay, Queen” and make them understand the qualities YOUR media brings that can really deliver on an advertiser’s behalf. Super Bowl who?

Reason #1 – “To be the man, you gotta beat the man!”? – Ric Flair

I’ve seen thought-pieces such as these released from across the breadth of the media industry.? OOH, Digital, Social and others have, at some point, all united around Super Bowl ad spots as THE single point of comparison. This alone gives these them the standing of something other media can only aspire to be and, by extension, diminishes that of the whichever format is arguing against them in the first place.

?The Lesson: Intellectual arguments for the ethical virtues and value-for-the-dollar of “lab-grown” diamonds wither in the presence of a Tiffany-blue ring box. Instead of competing with Super Bowl advertising, why not go along for the ride. Let that rising tide lift your ship as well. For example, Carter’s, the wonderful children’s clothing brand, cleverly leveraged this principle across media platforms without having to spend a dime on the broadcast itself. Find exciting and memorable ways to become a part of the event…not apart from it.

?I know OOH media lives in a state of constant self-improvement and innovation. The level of creative excellence I see around me every day is absolutely inspirational. The same is probably true for your medium. And for that reason, perhaps the best comparison we can make is simply how much better we are now than we’ve ever been.

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