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Study: Some Super Bowl advertisers 'missing the boat'

By Ed Oswald, BetaNews

February 4, 2008, 5:27 PM

Reprise Media released results of its fourth annual study on companies' use of search marketing to complement their Super Bowl advertising campaign.

With the cost of ads rapidly approaching $3 million per spot, one would figure that a company would want to make the best of that investment. However in many cases, research group Reprise found that these advertisers were failing to cash in.

Pepsi was named the survey's "most valuable player," a turnaround from the firm's first survey in 2005 where it finished near the bottom. However, it noted that Pepsi and other non-alcoholic beverages fail to include a URL or "call to action" in their spots. Only 6 percent of the ads had some kind of call to action, although 84 percent included some kind of URL in the ad.

Reprise also applauded CareerBuilder.com and GoDaddy.com for their spots' integration with search and social media, as well as Cars.com, T-Mobile, and Tide.

However, the firm had the opposite to say about Disney, Zantac, and Hershey's all of which failed, for the most part, to have any connection between their online presence and their ads.

It also criticized the entertainment industry, and said the group was still failing to purchase search ads on Super Bowl-related keywords, or use ad copy that would attract fans of either team.

"The buzz created by an audience that large can cause huge spikes in online behavior," Reprise managing partner Peter Hershberg said. "Marketers that overlook search and social media are potentially missing out on a huge opportunity to engage with interested consumers during the game."

A notable exception was Edmunds.com, who stole some of the Super Bowl thunder by using search ads to grab football fans. The company did not advertise on television, and saved itself millions in the process.

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By mjm01010101

posted Feb 5, 2008 - 5:37 AM

Gotta love the previews to movies that show a website address? Do you really think I'm going to remember what that address is or bother after a 2 hour movie?

Score: 0

By ingram091

posted Feb 4, 2008 - 9:46 PM

Its the economy stupid...

its the tried and true statement that boils everything down to its roots.

Look at last 2 years prior. The economy was Totally booming from FAKE credit. Result Huge ad revenue and major spots on Superbowl ads. Because the target audience had so much disposable income to waste.

This year. all that Fake credit finally caught up to the poor saps that took the bait and allowed the banks to take everything, and as such a typical consumer has very little disposable currency any longer. Result, Economy crashing, And things like 3-5 Million dollar ads for a Superbowl seems kinda unnecessary for many companies. Cause after all, Who are they attracting? people that can't buy anything anyway. So why waste the revenue on a flashy ad campaign for products people will buy anyway as they see fit.

Point is the reason we had such a lousy ad season for the Superbowl, seems to me to be directly related to a lack of any company willing to part with millions for a silly single spot ad. When they can just as easily pay the local stations a fraction to air regular ads in their place to fill their spots... Heck I saw more local ads then anything this year during the broadcast. And there is no way those went for any 3 million dollars.

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

edited Feb 5, 2008 - 9:09 AM

Many of them went for over 4 million.

Most were, I believe, around 4.6 mil.

That's this year.

The economy is still growing, it's merely slowed. I can hardly believe it mysel, but they actually *admitted* this on the local news last night (on WDFL, if ya can believe is). They still spun it, "People are concerned about the slowing growth of the economy and fear we are headed to an economic disaster." What a bunch of BS. These "people" are the same one's who broke their banks on ARM loans they couldn't afford. This is vastly different from, "crashing". That would be the terminology used by those wishing to create fear, a sense of Doom, and the feeling that we need to fix things before they get out of hand...

There have been minor corrections and there will continue to be (From the credit issues you mentioned and were actually correct about). The economy hasn't tanked, and most economists do not feel we're even headed for a recession.

//off-topic

Score: 0

By bourgeoisdude

posted Feb 5, 2008 - 3:54 PM

So many people equate slowing growth to recession. That bothers me too. Glad to know that there are still those of us who know the difference.

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Feb 6, 2008 - 12:38 AM

Some of us pay attention to detail, the rest ride the emotional bandwagon.

You could hear it in the newscast...while they *said* "slowing growth", the emotional undertone was, "fear! Panic! crash! Doom!".

It's hard for a lot of folks to tune that out, and one of the main reasons I *rarely* watch the primetime news nowadays.

Score: 0

By Hollywood__

edited Feb 4, 2008 - 8:21 PM

Anyone who watches the Super Bowl and actually pays attention to the commercials have been roped in to the biggest scam of all time.

Years ago, a bunch of people sat in a board room and said, "let's make the Super Bowl commercials an event". Stupid Americans who have nothing better to do now anticipate this stupid ritual and talk about nothing else around the water coolers for a straight week.

In my opinion, any watchers who fell for this marketing ploy are complete retards with no life. If the ads in the Super Bowl are your main topic of conversation, that you are truly bored and have nothing important to do with your free time.

I never realized how bored people are with life lately. A bunch of half dead zombies going through thier daily routines pretty much sums up 97% of this country.

The rest of the time is spent watching You Tube videos and Jib Jab. I feel sorry for people who spend hours a day online and getting nothing accomplished.

The computer / internet has become the biggest source of time wasting to fill in the space until you die.

The mass public has been brainwashed once again, just like Sweetest Day and all of those other fake card and flower buying holidays. I bet the advertisers thank god every day that so many people are so stupid. This is viral marketing at it's worse.

You have to elevate yourself above anything common, people. I'm sure I'll catch a bunch of heat for this comment but if just one person realizes how stupid the "Super Bowl ad" phenomenon has become and refuses to watch or take part in discussions, I've done my job.

Quit being lowest common denominator and actually do something constructive with your free time, I'll bet half of you have unfinished projects around the house that take second place to crap like this.

Too bad most people go through life drifting like lumps of crap thinking things like this or video game consoles and movie formats are what matters. If people spent a couple hours a day talking or doing something with thier kids, this country wouldn't be such an armpit.

(end of speech)

p.s. Why is this even a story on BetaNews? It's a tech website, ...... filled with ads.

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

edited Feb 6, 2008 - 12:46 AM

Could not resist:

always have to be working on something constructive or figuring out my next project as opposed to wasting away in front of a television watching bad sitcoms and crappy lawyer and cop dramas.

...and yet you have the time to post this drivel and chase Joey Deacon (and all his incarnations) around these and many other Blu Ray forums around the world...

Hypocrisy much?

Seriously, some folks find the ads amusing, some folks are brainwashed by them, and some folks seem to think they exist on some higher plane "above" all of that nonsense.

Good luck with that...

And NCIS is an awesome show. :p So you can sit and spin, Mr. "I don't like crappy cop dramas". (Assumption that "crappy cop dramas" category includes "crappy naval cop dramas") :p Take that.

Score: 0

By mjm01010101

posted Feb 5, 2008 - 5:45 AM

The public is brainwashed: check. Anybody that relies on commercials for their entertainment is by definition brainwashed. If you need a corporate entity to tell you what to do/buy/think/feel then you have serious issues with self-control/confidence.

Score: 0

By Hollywood__

edited Feb 5, 2008 - 9:09 PM

A free thinker? I didn't think there were any of us left in the world.

mjm01010101 gets it.

You summed it up in the non-pompus, non-arrogant way, I felt I had to eloborate on general distaste for anything common.

Sheep need to be guided and told what to do, it makes them feel safe or something. I know of another mass gathering that happens on Sunday mornings where people chant in harmony and play Simon says (stand, kneel, stand, kneel, chant, stand) while a superior figure (a man in a dress) tells you how to live your life.

Then everyone goes home and does the exact opposite.

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Feb 5, 2008 - 3:18 PM

It is possible for 1+1 to equal something other than 2, at least as you are defining it here.

Just because one can enjoy the "simple" and "common" does not make them either simple *or* common.

"I felt I had to eloborate on gerneral distaste for anything common."

(Including the English language?)

Almost everyone uses keyboards, they're pretty common, yet you seem to use them perhaps a bit too much...I can already see your distaste for the common spell-checker. ;)

Score: 0

By Hollywood__

edited Feb 5, 2008 - 9:25 PM

I'm too lazy to proof reed my potss. sOrrY.

I've always agreed with most of your posts here PC. It seems like most people are comfortable going with the crowd and don't want to appear "different".

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Feb 6, 2008 - 12:19 AM

Not wanting to appear "different" is fine. It's s symptom of modesty. You should probably try it sometime.

Score: 0

By Hollywood__

posted Feb 6, 2008 - 12:22 AM

No dice. Modesty is not my thing but thanks for the advice.

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

edited Feb 6, 2008 - 12:44 AM

Hadn't noticed... ;)

Really, I think it's a issue that is deeper than the ads. A lot of people are suckered in by bright lights, pretty colors, and emotional rhetoric. I am *almost* sure you were talking about *those* folks in your OP...

Unfortunately, it came across as applying to *anyone* who watched the ads.

Some of us can watch them and *not* run out the next day and buy them. And yes, while we may talk about some of them the next day, we probably still won't run out and buy them.

Example: I thought the "Magic Fridge" commercial (last year?) was brilliant. Note; I have not touched American Beer since college. Funny how I was able to enjoy that ad, enjoy discussing it with friends (even yesterday), and *still* not run out and buy whatever beer that fridge happened to be stocked with.... (although I do now own a mini fridge at work, but I really doubt the two are related...)

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Feb 4, 2008 - 8:33 PM

Wow.

That had to be one of the most arrogant, self-possessed, and grossly insulting posts I've read in quite some time. Congratulations on making yourself look like a complete snob.

Some of us can actually watch a commercial without running out to the stores...it's called self-control. Some of us can also find enjoyment in things that do not require rapt attention or deep thought.

I appreciate humor in many forms, as do many others. I am sorry you seem to feel the ads in the SuperBowl are apparently too low brow or "stupid" for your taste. (I must admit, this year's were rather uninspired, but such things are bound to happen)

BTW: Taste has nothing to do with intelligence, neither does how one spends their free time. You are making a judgment of people's intelligence based solely on personal tastes.

The fact you somehow think they correlate says more about *your* intelligence than anyone who watches the Super Bowl, or the commercials.

Had to work this weekend, or what?

Score: 0

By Hollywood__

posted Feb 5, 2008 - 12:36 AM

PC,

You are absolutely correct. I have no problem with the way I am.

It's called lowest common denominator viral marketing and it's aimed at the least intellegent people imaginable. I can't fathom how people could sit around and watch 2 hour programs dedicated to the "best super bowl commercials of all time", and of course there are more commercials to watch in between segments.

I feel the same way about people who sit around and watch the same episodes of M*A*S*H or some other show over and over just because there is nothing better to do.

I always have to be working on something constructive or figuring out my next project as opposed to wasting away in front of a television watching bad sitcoms and crappy lawyer and cop dramas.

My only weakness is football and I DVR those too just to avoid commercials. Corporations have found so many ways to cram ads down your throat and nobody seems to complain, they have made it seem like you aren't "normal" unless you are discussing the ads for a week after the game.

Sorry man, it's below me.

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

edited Feb 5, 2008 - 10:16 AM

So because *you* have ADHD, everyone else is an idiot?

Your perception is ****ed, man.

There are a lot of folks who are compulsive and simply *cannot* sit back and enjoy life. Most of them, fortunately, realize the problem is theirs, not everyone else's.

Sorry man, the "I know I'm an arrogant prick" excuse just doesn't excuse it like you might think.

Score: 0

By wreckedchevy

posted Feb 5, 2008 - 5:49 PM

i have a bad case of adhd that's why i keep myself busy during the game and only tuned into the commercials to get a good chuckle..

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Feb 6, 2008 - 12:28 AM

SuperBowl is perfect for it. Long breaks in between commercials to do other things while the game gets shuffled into 'background noise".

Hell, I didn't even know who was playing until Friday. :p

Score: 0

By Straspey

edited Feb 6, 2008 - 10:55 AM

Allow me to simply offer a different perspective:

I am a long-time NY Giants fan and enjoy watching football games on TV in general. For me, it's about the game.

Sadly, one of my closest friends, and my best football buddy passed away last year. Had he still been around, we would have certainly watched the game together in our usual manner:

We would have learned that the kickoff was scheduled for 6:17pm and planned for him to arrive at my place around 6:15, at which point I would have turned on the TV for the first time that day. If the kickoff was delayed (as it usually is by some unfinished pre-game nonsense and hoopla) I would have immediately pressed the mute button and we would have just enjoyed chatting with each other until the game began.

During the game, any stoppage in play for commercials were always met with the mute button, not because we wanted to avoid being suckered by any clever marketing strategy...but rather because they were simply irrelevant to the game.

The 30-minute halftime show would give us a great opportunity for us to listen to some music...often a new recording of a Bach cantata or other renaissance music which I'd recently purchased.

Keeping our eye on the TV, we would return to that game at the moment of kickoff to watch the 2nd half much as we had the 1st half. After the game, we might occasionally stick around for a few minutes of post-game interviews, but just for a couple of minutes until the next commercial break, at which point we'd be done.

This year, with my old friend gone and I having to play a Sunday-afternoon symphony concert, I did not arrive home until the end of the 1st quarter and ended up watching the remainder of the game on my small TV in the kitchen.

I took advantage of the 30-minute halftime to clean out the cat's litter box and take out the trash.

In the end, I had the TV on from the minute I arrived home and could not talk to you about one single commercial or non-football event. The only difference for me in this case was I stayed to watch all the post-game stuff to revel and bask in the joy of the Giants' wonderful victory.

For me, whenever I hear one of the announcers talk about a real-time poll that allow viewers to vote for whom they think is the "MVP" and invite them to "text" their votes on their cell phones, I always think to myself "Do people actually, really do those things?"

I'm a Giants fan and I enjoy watching football. To me, everything else about the show is irrelevant.

Then again...there are people who attend classical music performances and get bored, so they read the program notes during the concert and go to the bar during intermission....

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Feb 6, 2008 - 12:08 PM

You mean different people find entertainment in different things????

You don't say!

Skip the Bach and throw on some traditional Irish drinkin' music. :p

Score: 0

By preinterpost

posted Feb 5, 2008 - 9:00 AM

So with all this time spent on creative projects... Is it referring to all those game consoles and (home) theatre systems you claim to have installed in every room in your house?

Score: 0

By Hollywood__

edited Feb 5, 2008 - 9:08 PM

Lately there hasnt been time for that crap except the family movie nights on the weekends. I haven't played any video games or anything like that in almost a month.

The difference between people like Dave and myself is I don't care if you believe me. I would be surprised if anyone did. The web is the best place for people to pretend to be something they aren't.

I know that only a handful of people think like I do and pretty much no one agrees with my "different" way of thinking.

Score: 0

By preinterpost

posted Feb 4, 2008 - 6:52 PM

Gosh, how could Pepsi have missed to include the URL www.pepsi.com? NOBODY will EVER find it!!!

Score: 0

By daq

posted Feb 4, 2008 - 10:41 PM

It's not about people not being able to find a website if they were looking for it, its about giving people a reason to look for it. Letting people know that website even exists and has something valuable enough to visit.

Score: 0

By preinterpost

edited Feb 5, 2008 - 8:37 AM

Dude(tte?) - I've been building sites since the concept exists. But not to waste time and bandwidth with dancing cola cans (no idea - I didn't look at the above site...) but to enable business and collaboration - or if nothing else helps to crush your enemies, drive them before you, and hear the lamentation of the women...

Score: 0

By gregmlr

posted Feb 4, 2008 - 8:39 PM

Hehe, yeah really. I hate when ads tell you nothing and you have to go to a website to figure out what they're talking about. I don't visit the website just for spite!

Score: 0

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