An indelible part of mainstream popular culture and a mega event on all fronts, including advertising, the Super Bowl may loom even larger this year, casting a viewership and marketing shadow greater than the proverbial blimp that hovers above the football stadium. The prime catalyst behind the Super Bowl growing beyond its already larger than life stature is the ongoing strike by the Writers Guild of America (WGA) against TV and feature studios.
For one, in a TV program landscape where reruns figure to run rampant–except for reality programs–sports events have become all the more attractive to advertisers. Additionally audiences generally watch such live original programming as it’s happening rather than recording and later viewing the game sans commercials.
Furthermore, those advertisers and marketers looking to kick off the new year by sponsoring a major TV event in order to reach significant numbers of prospective consumers can no longer count on the Academy Award telecast next month (scheduled for Feb. 24 on ABC). Hence the Super Bowl becomes that much more attractive.
The Oscars, of course, have come to be regarded by many as a Super Bowl of sorts for women, delivering a huge audience, alluring demographics and heightened viewer attentiveness. But this year the WGA strike could result in a diminished Oscar ceremony. Without a settlement between the WGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers (AMPTP)–or an interim pact with the Academy Awards telecast producer–the WGA figures to picket the Oscar ceremony, and actors aren’t likely to cross the writers’ picket line. Indeed an Oscar night with no stars is an uninviting prospect that’s a real possibility, meaning that the Super Bowl might be the only game in town when it comes to a big-ticket TV event during the first quarter of 2008.
Thus it’s little wonder that the Super Bowl ad inventory sold out this time earlier than ever with Fox (which telecasts the Big Game on Feb. 3) fetching in excess of $2.7 million on average for 30 seconds of air time, an all-time high. And word is that the last :30 slots were gobbled up by advertisers for some $3 million apiece.
Still, there’s hope that the WGA strike can be settled, spurred in part by the three-year agreement reached last week between the AMPTP and the Directors Guild of America. It remains to be seen whether the success of the DGA negotiations translates into the AMPTP and WGA returning to the bargaining table and finding common ground.
Indeed even without the WGA strike dynamic, a TV event that can deliver a guaranteed mega audience has premium value for the advertising/marketing community in an age of audience fragmentation caused by so many outlets and media options. Add to that the fact that many viewers actually look forward to seeing Super Bowl commercials.
Plus there’s the opportunity for new media involvement and experimentation. Fox has offered advertisers the chance to place their commercials on MySpace (a sister company to Fox), and the network will broadcast on-air promos during the game that will urge viewers to check out the social networking website. Advertisers in turn will be able to offer bonuses–including coupons, extended content and links to related sites of interest–to those who watch the spots online. Extended movie trailers will be part of that MySpace mix, a factor which helped to draw more movie promo commercials into the Super Bowl advertisers’ circle this year. In that vein, word is that New Line will promote Will Ferrell’s sports comedy movie titled Semi Pro–with Ferrell also possibly appearing as his Semi Pro character in a Budweiser commercial on the Super Bowl.
MySpace also sports a “Forward to friend” button that can be used for relaying commercials, extending their broadcast reach.
The online impact of a Super Sunday TV commercial will also be measured as Nielsen BuzzMetrics data is mined. Nielsen intends to track assorted blogs, message boards, online communities, video sharing and sports fan sites–as well as ads viewed on MySpace–in order to get a handle on the online reach generated by a Super Bowl TV :30.
Both the small (computer) and big (HD TV set) screen will indeed play prominently in advertiser and agency thinking. On the latter score, the number of commercials being completed in HD for the Big Game telecast has steadily risen in recent years. The upcoming Super Bowl XLII–pitting the New England Patriots against the New York Giants–should see a continuation of that trend.
Lineup card
Per usual during this pre-pre-game juncture, many advertisers, agencies, production houses, post shops and other support services are reticent about their Super Bowl projects. In some cases, secrecy has been heightened as clients don’t want to tip their ad strategies to the competition. Nonetheless, through the industry grapevine and other circuitous routes, SHOOT garnered details and a number of credits for some of what may very well emerge during the Super Bowl telecast.
Anheuser-Busch again is the most prominent Super Bowl advertiser, this time with a reported 10 spots on tap, primarily from DDB Chicago, with the possibility of entries from Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco, Cannonball, St. Louis, and LatinWorks, Austin, Tex. The annual rite of Big Game advertising is Anheuser-Busch’s 11th hour decision as to what spots to run from a pool of commercials that have been produced for possible Super Bowl use promoting such brands as Budweiser, Bud Light and Bud Select.
Among work that’s in the running for air time is some Bud Light fare directed by Stacy Wall of bicoastal Epoch Films for DDB Chicago, as well as some Bud directed by Chris Koch of Konk Inc., New York, for LatinWorks.
A Super Sunday mainstay, Joe Pytka of Venice, Calif.-based PYTKA, has directed a Budweiser spot for DDB Chicago which figures to make the cut. (Pytka has also helmed an ad for McDonald’s via DDB Chicago and a client-direct National Football League spot slated to debut during the Big Game telecast.)
Fast becoming a Super Bowl fixture is director Bryan Buckley of bicoastal/international Hungry Man who helmed a Bud Light spot for DDB Chicago. Buckley also directed a :30 for Planters nuts out of DraftFCB, New York. This will mark Planter’s first Super Bowl appearance and Kraft’s first ad in the game in about 10 years.
Another perennial Big Game player is BBDO New York, which has spots for such clients as FedEx and Pepsi slated this year. Included in the Pepsi mix is “Magnetic Attraction,” a stunt-filled commercial starring Justin Timberlake and directed by Craig Gillespie of bicoastal/international MJZ. Another Super Sunday candidate, this one for Pepsi AMP, was directed by Epoch Films’ Wall. Director Simon McQuoid of bicoastal Go Film is also believed to be linked to some Big Game action for BBDO New York.
Toyota is again in the Super Bowl via Saatchi & Saatchi LA, Torrance, Calif., this time with two spots–one directed by Jesse Peretz of bicoastal/international RSA, the other by Lance Acord of Park Pictures, New York.
For the fourth consecutive year CareerBuilder.com will be on the Big Game, but this time via Wieden+Kennedy (W+K), Portland, Ore. (The first three years the agency was Kramer Crasselt, Chicago.) Word on the grapevine is that director Suthon Petchsuwan via TWC, Santa Monica, wrapped one of the CareerBuilder commercials for W+K. Also up for consideration is some CareerBuilder work directed by Mike Mills of The Directors Bureau, Hollywood.
W+K also has spotwork for Coca-Cola slated for the Big Game. Meanwhile Goodby, Silverstein & Partners will be putting on its Super Sunday best for Hyundai as well as for Frito-Lay Doritos’ “Crash The Super Bowl” contest. Audi is also scheduled to make its first Super Bowl appearance since ’91, this time via Venables Bell & Partners, San Francisco.
Gatorade is set to strut its Big Game stuff via Element 79, Chicago. Look for some possible Chevy fare directed by Joseph Kosinski of bicoastal Anonymous Content for Campbell Ewald, Detroit. Cadillac could surface with a spot helmed by Joe Carnahan via RSA for Modernista!, Boston. Reportedly submitting storyboards to Fox for clearance is GoDaddy.com. Hershey’s may appear with a spot featuring Carmen Electra. Victoria’s Secret is returning to the Super Bowl for the first time since ’99 with a :30 directed by Michael Bernard via cYclops productions, New York.
Coming back to the Big Game is the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) via DraftFCB. Word is that Rennie Maslow directed via bicoastal Smuggler. And TBWAChiatDay, Los Angeles, will have spot buys for an ’09 Nissan Murano ad directed by Bram van Riet of Caviar LA.
There are some first-time Super Bowl advertisers entering the stadium this year, including Procter & Gamble’s Tide from Saatchi New York; Unilever’s Sunsilk via BrandThinkTank and Desgrippes Gobe, Paris; Cars.com via DDB Chicago, which could entail work directed by Matt Aselton of Epoch Films; Dell Computers from Mother, New York, with a piece directed by Samuel Bayer of bicoastal/international HSI Productions; Bridgestone with work believed to be directed by Kinka Usher from House of Usher, Santa Monica, for The Richards Group, Dallas; and client-direct fare for Under Armour. Word is that the latter was directed by Ericson Core of Backyard Productions, Venice, Calif.
Assorted industry houses spanning visual effects, postproduction, music and audio post contributed to this year’s body of Super Bowl work. Rhinofx, New York, is linked to possible Cadillac fare, for example, while Asylum was involved in effects for Under Armour. A52, Santa Monica, was involved in effects for some of the prospective Careerbuilder.com work (which were helmed by Mills). Sound Lounge, New York, contributed to possible Big Game projects for such clients as FedEx, ONDCP and Gatorade. Arthur Kendall of Moondog Edit, New York, cut the Victoria’s Secret spot, with Nick Ericson handling graphics and effects via Moondog Design. John Dingfield of Cutters‘ L.A. office edited the Bud spot candidate from Latin Works for the Super Bowl while Beacon Street Studios, Venice, Calif., and Wojahn Bros. Music, Santa Monica, were involved in the music for separate Bridgestone commercials in contention for Super Sunday exposure. Bicoastal Company 3 was also believed to have contributed to assorted spots.
