Now that the Green Bay Packers have won the 2011 Super Bowl, we can all get down to discussing the real purpose for the day – the commercials!
I know you have a myriad of pundits, forums, blogs, and websites to read regarding this really important matter, so I think it's only fair that I stick my Baldwin-family nose into the fray and give the real dirt on whether any of the game's advertisers got their $3 million worth.
I've read several reviews and most seem to agree that the VW Darth Vader was the best of the bunch. And depending on who you listen to, other good efforts were made by Doritos, E*Trade, and maybe Pepsi.
Excuse me? VW's Darth Vader? A kid dresses up like the Dark Lord, runs around the house trying to use the Force on a stationary bike, his dog, a washing machine, a doll, and a sandwich. None of them move, or die…I'm not clear on what exactly he's trying to do. He finally tries it out on Dad's new Passat. Dad secretly starts the car with his remote key. The kid is stunned.
And scene.
Oooookay. It's cute. Lots of women have commented how they love it. The kid is adorable.
But does it make me want to run out and buy a VW Passat? And isn't that what it's supposed to do? Think about the other "top-rated" ads. Have you opened a new account with E*Trade, or run down to a BMW, Mercedes, Hyundai, or Suzuki dealership? Did you switch to Bud Light, or get a craving for a Snickers?
If you've been following me for a while, you're probably figured out that I'm not big on building awareness to broad audiences. I've never cashed a check on awareness. Have you?
I believe awareness without persuasion is like prescription before diagnosis. It's malpractice. And spending $3 million PLUS production costs to build awareness in a Super Bowl commercial is as big an example of malpractice as there is.
As I'm sure many people are, I'm often puzzled by the thought processes of these advertisers. What exactly was the goal of the Best Buy/Ozzy Osbourne/Justin Bieber or TeleFlora mistakes? Personally, I think both of those and most of the rest were God's way of saying those companies have WAY too much money.
P.S. Somebody should also tell GoDaddy that the gimmick and original shock value are very 1998. And GroupOn should be banned from ever doing a TV commercial ever again.
Couldn’t agree more with the Groupon comment. Making light of real-life social issues? Really? The commercials made me want to cancel my Groupon membership.
I think you make a good point about the value of non-targeted advertising. However, the brands that spend money on these types of ads are quite large to begin with and have large markets. If you think about it, Coke could probably stop advertising altogether and people would buy their product to the end of time. However, they risk giving up market share to Pepsi and other competitors.
True, all were based only on awareness, none jumped out to make a prospect “call to action”, even AB could have done a better job.
Except for the VW Darth Vader ad, none of this year’s ads have gone big in a viral way. To my way of thinking, an ad line like “Where’s the beef?” or “What’sssssssssssss up?” that is first brought out as a Super Bowl ad and goes on to be remembered is a better way to go at spending that kind of ad money.
I can’t recall ever being motivated to do anything because of a TV commercial, but maybe that’s my cynical “I’m-in-Marketing-and-I-think-I-know-better” side.
I have to admit, I loved the VW commercial, but again, it will not make me buy one.
I think back to the Durakon bed liner ad that showed a load of bricks landing in a white PU Truck, one with a bedliner and one without. The picture said it all and then they asked which truckbed would you rather have. That was their entire marketing and sales budget for years. But it put bedliners and Truck Cap shops on the map! At the time I was selling Dura-Liners and everyone was asking for them in January , February. March and…………
Even Penda wa gald that they did the commercial, a rising tide lifted a lot of bedliners!
I don’t think the objective of a Super Bowl ad is to necessarily get people to buy their product, but more to get people to “talk about” their product – which all of those ads have done. My favorite is always the Career Builder commercials with the monkeys. Or I did like Eminem/Crysler – bring it back home to Detroit.
The best commercial I’ve seen lately in the Philadelphia area comes
from Verizon and Google.
It educates the general public on websites and small businesses.
The commercial shows a small business owner without a website and reasons why she is not on google. Many people don’t know that
google is feed thru websites. If you don’t have a website for your
business then you won’t be listed on google. So Simple but some
don’t know it.
It makes the small business owner understand it’s important to have a website to reach beyond your normal business clients.
As far as Super bowl commercials. So overrated just like some Professional Sporting events. Track and Field events are better.
I will never buy flowers again !!!
My teenage daughter (HS senior) introduced us to her boyfriend during the game. After a couple weeks of knowing each other, it was time for him to meet mom & dad. She picked all of us watching the the Super Bowl together to meet him.
I really didn’t like the commercial where the guy comments on his girlfriends “rack”. I know what’s going on in the kids heads without the commercial, but what an uncomfortable situation. The poor boy looked more uncomfortable than me.
Quite frankly I don’t know the name of the flower company that did the ad. I just remember flowers and I will never buy from any mail order place. Just the corner store.
87% increase in brand interest after the Chrysler ad. At least one advertisement got some attention:
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=145144