What Makes a Super Bowl Ad Effective?

Since choosing my collegiate path as a marketing major, advertising strategy, branding, and consumer behavior have all piqued my interest. I was thrilled when the time came for me to finally take SUNY Oswego’s marketing capstone, Integrated Marketing Communications (previously named Advertising & Promotions). It was in this class that I was able to learn all about the intricacies of advertising for the first time.

One common idea that I have been learning about in many classes is the notion that traditional forms of advertising are beginning to lose some of their effectiveness, and newer ways of advertising are proving to be ultra effective. This is an obvious observation of a changing world. Younger generations and older generations alike are giving their time and attention to different media outlets. Some of these trends can be observed by thinking about today’s culture:

• Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, and other streaming services are replacing television
• Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, Podcasting is replacing radio
• Mobile phones are replacing everything

Our world is becoming digital, and this is not a new concept. Digital marketing firms have realized this for years. Content marketing, social media marketing, SEM, and SEO are the newest ways to get in front of your audience.

After surrounding myself with relevant articles, and after taking several classes to become certified in these areas, I have almost allowed myself to become closed-minded to one of the most important avenues of marketing; knowing your audience. While it is true that these methods of reaching potential customers are highly effective, it is important to never lose sight of recognizing new trends and ways to innovate. I am about to state an extremely obvious and well-known fact. Where is my audience? My audience is online, yes. Where else is my audience? Watching Super Bowl LII.

Television advertisements can still be effective to certain segments of the market. These advertisements were expected to make up about 35.8% of all media spending in 2017, or about $72 billion. In contrast, digital marketing was estimated to reach just over $77 billion in 2017, making up 38.4% of media spending. Another consideration, eMarketer is forecasting that television advertising will make up less than 33% of total media spending by 2020.

A few other facts to consider:

• 60% of people prefer online video platforms to live TV
• YouTube boosts advertising reach for broadcast TV by almost 60%
• Millennials watch nearly 50% less TV than adults over age 35
• By 2025, 50% of viewers younger than 32 will not subscribe to a paid TV service

Television is declining. This is becoming a well-known fact, and as time advances, more studies are done that continue to give evidence to this. Advertising agencies know this and implement new strategies, but many stubborn businesses are ignorant to change. It is important to know where your audience is giving its attention to and where they are spending their time.

When it comes to the Super Bowl, the narrative is different, and a little more complex.

Despite the NFL’s drop in ratings lately, and even the drop in ratings for the Super Bowl this year; 111.3 million in 2017 down to 103.4 million this year, it remains television’s biggest yearly event. Between the star-packed halftime show, viewing parties across the nation, entertaining advertisements, and one of the best sporting events of the year, the cultural stigma of the Super Bowl captures the American public.

Because over 100 million people are tuning in to watch the Super Bowl, and because it’s the biggest television event of the year, advertisers spend big money and produce quality commercials to air during the game, year after year. Super Bowl advertisements are known to be entertaining and some people tune in to watch the Super Bowl only to watch the commercials.

This is what makes this audience extremely valuable. In a rare combination of events on television, people want to see your ads!

This year, the price of a standard 30 second spot was $5 million. The price of the spot including production costs, pre-game promotion, and other variables can equal to an advertiser spending upwards of $10 million just to deliver their message.

Advertisers and students of marketing, like myself, should be paying close attention to see which commercials achieve the most success and capture the most attention from viewers. This special night in February is comparable to an all-star lineup. These are the best of the best of advertisements, and trends that begin here will usually catch on if they prove to be effective.

So here are nine advertisements from this year that I would like to discuss.

1.Doritos Blaze vs. Mountain Dew Ice

This was one of the advertisements that stood out to me, not because of its use of celebrities (although it was quite enjoyable) but because of the two brands teaming up to create a unique experience. The blend of celebrities used captured a wide audience as well.

Rating: A- 

2. Toyota: Good Odds

This advertisement stood out to me more than any other one. The emotional story of Paralympic gold medalist Lauren Woolstencroft was inspiring and heartwarming. It was interesting to see her hard work and all that she had to overcome to achieve her goals. I was surprised afterward to see that the ad was for Toyota. I thought to myself, “this seems like an odd way to promote the selling of vehicles.” But, it turned out to be very successful. According to Unruly, the spot scored high on brand metrics, including an 82% on credibility and a brand recall of 70%. This was also tied to Toyota’s upcoming Olympic sponsorship (clever).

Rating: A

3. Dodge RAM: Built to Serve

Dodge’s efforts to touch a sentimental emotion backfired with this advertisement, as many people I have spoken with agree that this was the worst ad of the Super Bowl. An industry professional I spoke with stated that it pandered to an audience that it did not know about. It came off as desperate and failed to accomplish what it had set out to. Using the audio from a speech given by Martin Luther King Jr. 50 years ago to sell trucks was pandering.

Rating: F

4. Amazon: Alexa Loses Her Voice

Most everyone I spoke with enjoyed this commercial and recalled it immediately. Excellent celebrity usage that fit in with several different demographics, a comedic storyline, and the actual functionality of their product, Alexa, made this a great advertisement.

“They were able to mix all of the important elements into one ad; celebrities, humor, and actually describing/showing what the product could do.” - industry professional

Rating: A+

5. Febreze: The Only Man Whose Bleep Don’t Stink

Personally, I enjoyed this commercial because of the humor factor. Oddly enough, the group of people I was with didn’t seem to understand the irony. Overall, the advertisement described the product’s function and did so in a clever, funny way.

Rating: B+

6. Tourism Australia: Croc Dundee

I actually thought this was a movie trailer, especially because there seemed to be so many this year. I was thinking to myself that I would definitely want to go to this movie and then I was honestly disappointed when it wasn’t real! This was a clever way to capture attention and show off Australia’s features and hot-spots for tourism.

Rating: B

7. Toyota: One Team

This advertisement was another one of the emotional, feel-good messages this Super Bowl. The combination of people from each different major religious group coming together to enjoy a football game tells a timeless story of inclusion and coexistence. These advertisements that appeal to emotion were a common theme and Toyota seemed to do it better than most this year.

Rating: A-

8. Tide: It’s Another Tide Ad

Considered by many, Tide won the Super Bowl advertisements this year. With four spots all parodying other brands, it was unclear when any commercial began, if it would end up being a Tide ad. This is a win because consumers not only recalled the four actual Tide ads with David Harbour (Stranger Things), but they were thinking of Tide throughout the other advertisements wondering, “will this be another Tide ad in disguise?”

Tide needed to get into some positive light after several weeks of negative public relations due to the viral “Tide Pod Challenge.”

Rating: A+

9. Wendy’s: Iceberg

Wendy’s has been building a sassy social media persona as of late. They have been known to roast Twitter trolls and are beginning to aggressively target McDonald’s by pushing the “fresh/never frozen beef” campaign slogan on them. They’ve even used McDonald’s arches in this year’s Super Bowl advertisement; savagery.

Rating: B-

Another successful year of Super Bowl advertising is now in the books. There were many more ads that were not mentioned that were also highly memorable and effective.

• What do you think is more effective, humorous ads or emotional ads?
• Do you pay close attention to Super Bowl commercials?
• What were some of your favorite/least favorite advertisements this year?
• What visible strategies can be seen from this year?

Let me know what you think in the comments and share this if you found it interesting!

Sources:

AdWeek. (2018, February 08). Toyotas Good Odds Is Called the Most Effective Super Bowl Ad on Key Brand Metrics. Retrieved February 14, 2018, from https://www.adweek.com/creativity/toyotas-good-odds-is-called-the-most-effective-super-bowl-ad-on-key-brand-metrics/

Answers in Action [Audio blog review]. (2018, February 5). Retrieved February 5, 2018, from https://www.ama.org/multimedia/Podcasts/Pages/default.aspx

CBS News. (2018, February 05). Super Bowl LII: Ratings for football's biggest game lowest since 2009. Retrieved February 14, 2018, from https://www.cbsnews.com/news/super-bowl-lii-tv-ratings/

EMarketer. (2016). Digital Ad Spending to Surpass TV Next Year. Retrieved February 8, 2018, from https://www.emarketer.com/Article/Digital-Ad-Spending-Surpass-TV-Next-Year/1013671

Kotler, P., Kartajaya, H., & Setiawan, I. (2017). Marketing 4.0 moving from traditional to digital. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Martyswant. (2018, February 04). Every Ad Is a Tide Ad: Inside Saatchi and P&G's Clever Super Bowl Takeover Starring David Harbour. Retrieved February 14, 2018, from https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/every-ad-is-a-tide-ad-inside-saatchi-and-pgs-clever-super-bowl-takeover-starring-david-harbour/

Stenovec, T. (2015, August 20). Traditional TV just got bashed by an influential expert. Retrieved February 14, 2018, from https://www.businessinsider.com/traditional-tv-is-in-decline-2015-8

The 10 TV Advertising Statistics Illustrating Its Decline. (2017, August 16). Retrieved February 14, 2018, from https://mediakix.com/2016/10/top-10-tv-advertising-statistics-showing-decline/#gs.dcppweg