Is the Superbowl doing advertisers a favour?
It won’t have escaped your notice – possibly – that yesterday was ‘Superbowl Sunday’, an unofficial national holiday in the US, and not only the most watched broadcast of the year but also the second largest day for food consumption. On average, at in given moment during the game, more than 100 million people from the US alone are watching the event.
Not surprisingly, this generates considerable advertising excitement. Famous campaigns have included the 1984 introduction of Apple Mac’s computer, and other household names like Coca-Cola, Budweiser and Doritos – indeed a segment of the audience tune in solely to view the commercials. Such is the buzz, national surveys such as the USA Today Super Bowl Ad Meter judge which ad had the best viewer response, and since 2000 CBS has managed to cobble together yearly specials devoted to the ads alone. In 2015, Dish Network reversed the recording facility of their kit which normally allows the recording of programmes while skipping the ads to record only the ads – no football! – during the Superbowl. Match that level of interest, John Lewis.
Of course, this prestige comes at a price. During Superbowl 1 back in 1967, a 30 second slot came in at a modest $37,500. By 2015, the same slot cost a cool $4.5 million. Yes, that’s FOUR POINT FIVE MILLION DOLLARS for 30 seconds’ air time. (No wonder some companies admit being unable to recoup their costs from revenue).
What does this mean for the perception of UK advertising? Well unfortunately the eye-popping stats reinforce the message that TV Is Expensive and well beyond the reach of smaller brands. Emerging brands increasingly look to social media to gain product awareness even though 44% of Brits say they first notice new products when they appear on TV, far higher than social media (just 12%).
It’s everybody’s loss if they’re put off by what they perceive to be the need for unachievable budgets – and our loss if we’re denied the opportunity to design creative, inspiring ads for the cost of a stand at a trade show.
Atom Pictures is a BAFTA nominated Creative Agency dedicated to producing high quality, affordable creative solutions for both first-time and long-time advertisers.