Dr. Guarino shares his point of view with SHOOT on the Tebow ad and advertising on the Super Bowl. Why this ad? Basically, they (Focus on the Family) figured out that featuring a nationally-known college football player who won the Heisman Trophy two years ago (and will be a Big Time pro) was a great strategy to get on the air! Hey! They were spot on with that strategy. This ad would be nothing if it didn’t focus on a sports figure in the sport of the game that was being televised. What’s more, CBS changed their clearance policy to justify airing the spot!
Some have asked “will people expect more advocacy commercials in this type of event”? You betcha’. We got the Olympics coming up in a couple of weeks and March Madness to follow. Will we see this spot again on those events? Stay tuned.
People didn’t expect to see an advocacy commercial in a Super Bowl game. But, given the fact the game has become an iconic mainstream media event, viewers have been open to seeing everything from gerbils shot from a cannon to 1984’s lemmings going over the cliff. I think the audience was ripe for this kind of spot, especially in the way it was not heavy-handed.
The power of a Super Bowl commercial can be enormous…one way or the other. Companies have folded for presenting bad spots (they call them the “dot.gones”) and others have been enormously successful in building their brands like E*Trade, CareerBuilders.com, Monster.com and several more (like GoDaddy.com). Think about the success of Denny’s last year and the fact that they are repeating the free breakfast offer and you have to conclude that an ad in the Super Bowl is unlike anything else in the world of marketing.
The research on the audience of the game is astounding. Nielsen did a new study that shows 67% of the people remember their favorite commercial and only 39% remember the score of the game. 51% of the people watch the game to see the commercials! There are cottage industries being developed to provide guidelines on how to create a successful commercial for a Super Bowl game. Amazing..but true.
In short, there is nothing like the Super Bowl in my business. It is an American Celebration beyond anything imaginable. Women watch the commercials and men watch the game (for the most part). Women like kids and animals and men like slapstick. It really comes down to the biggest family and friends celebration that we have. Now, it may become a “political forum” for advocates. If it does, the glimmer will fade. So, I doubt it.
Dr. Walter Guarino is Professor, Advertising at Seton Hall University and President & Managing Partner of SGW, an integrated marketing communications company based in Montville, New Jersey. www.sgw.com.
