All the skinny
on Super Bowl TV spots
Hint: This year look for men in their underwear
By Diego Vasquez
Feb 4, 2010
The Super Bowl isn't until Sunday, but if you haven't already watched at least two or three Super Bowl commercials, you're behind. Whereas years ago brands wouldn't even confirm if they were going to advertise in the big game, these days many begin hyping their ads weeks before the game is played. Case in point: First-year advertiser HomeAway.com, a vacations rental site, lured "National Lampoon's Vacation" stars Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo into appearing in a spot, and it's been running promotions for that ad on its site with the tagline "Hotel Hell Vacation: The Griswolds are back. February 7th, 2010." After a 30-second spot in the game, viewers will be directed online to see the full 15-minute mini-movie. Other ads receiving buzz this year include McDonald's rumored remaking of the 1993 Michael Jordan-Larry Bird "HORSE" game, Anheuser-Busch's usual batch of humorous ads, and Focus on the Family's first-ever Super Bowl commercial, reported to be a pro-life ad. One spot that won't be airing in the Super Bowl, but is available online, is ManCrunch.com's male makeout session, rejected by CBS censors late last week. Mark Richwine, executive creative director at Pavone, the Pennsylvania advertising agency behind SpotBowl.com, a site dedicated to Super Bowl advertising, talks to Media Life about what spots have the buzz, why ManCrunch got the boot, and why it's so critical to have an online presence.
What percentage of the ads are available online before the game? Does this help or hurt the companies' buzz?
The internet has definitely redefined the way companies approach Super Bowl advertising. When SpotBowl began seven years ago, you could barely find out who was going to be in the game, much less view the ads online beforehand. This year, companies like Bridgestone, GoDaddy and CareerBuilder are offering sneak peeks of their Super Bowl ads before the game. Some offer the entire spot, while others release a “teaser” ad.
Some brands are very tight-lipped about their ad plans, but as more companies begin to understand the power of the internet and social media, releasing ads early online has become more common.
Years ago ads didn't receive nearly the advance buzz they do now. How important is it these days to hype your ad before the game even airs?
Pre-game marketing is extremely important, especially considering the financial investment. But it can backfire, too. If the ad doesn’t live up to the hype, the public will let you know.
But what a lot of companies are realizing is that it’s about more than just eyeballs during the game. The smart advertisers can recoup their investment in PR value even before the game starts.
Postgame marketing is important to.
These days, companies have to build entire campaigns around their Super Bowl ads, using them as a launching pad for larger marketing campaigns and supporting them with other forms of marketing throughout the year.
Which commercials are getting the biggest buzz this year?
A lot of the buzz isn’t about who’s in the game, but about who’s not.
For the first time in 23 years, Pepsi will not be advertising in the Super Bowl. Other big brands like FedEx and General Motors are also sitting out this year. It’s likely a sign of the economic times, but it doesn’t mean these companies are struggling. It just means they’ve decided to spend their marketing dollars in other areas.
Of those that are in the game, Budweiser is getting some buzz, mainly because their iconic Clydesdale horses won’t be featured in any commercials, though that could change based on some recent developments. [Anheuser-Busch is letting fans vote on the Clydesdales' return on Facebook.]
The consumer-generated Doritos spots are available online and have been getting mixed reviews, but we here at SpotBowl think the ads will do very well this year.
HomeAway.com is a rookie in this year’s game, but their ad with Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo (as Clark and Ellen Griswold from the “National Lampoon’s Vacation” films) looks promising, especially because it’s backed by a very smart social media campaign.
Of course, Focus on the Family is getting a lot of attention for their pro-life ad. The real test will be how an ad from an advocacy group does in a poll like SpotBowl.
Do you think CBS will approve the ad for ManCrunch.com? Why or why not? If so, what sort of doors will that open for future advertisers?
There’s as much of a chance of CBS airing that ad as there is for Brett Favre coming back for another season. In other words, it doesn’t look promising right now, but that all could change in a flash right before game time. We personally hope the ad runs because it would be very interesting to see how it would do in a national opinion poll like SpotBowl.
If CBS does air the spot (which features two men kissing to promote a gay dating web site), it would certainly usher in a new era of what is and isn’t socially acceptable in a Super Bowl ad. We’re just not sure if CBS wants to be the one to kick off that era.
Which Anheuser-Busch ads look most promising?
Not much is known about Budweiser’s specific plans this year, other than the news that the Clydesdales may or may not be making an appearance. Anheuser-Busch doesn’t usually release a lot of information about their specific spots, but they really don’t need to either.
They typically follow a formula of slapstick humor for their Bud Light ads and some sort of sentimental angle for the Budweiser spots. It’s a formula that works well for them, too, because they’ve won three of the first six SpotBowl showdowns.
Do you see any themes in this year's advertising aside from the usual humor stuff?
Interestingly enough, people in their underwear is a common theme.
A Dockers spot will feature men in their underwear, and one of the CareerBuilder finalists shows an office full of employees in their underwear on casual Friday. Bud Light also has a similar theme, but it won’t air during the game.
It’s nice to see the industry has finally rebounded from the Janet Jackson controversy – let’s just hope they don’t overdo it.
Why do you think McDonald's is revisiting the old Larry Bird and Michael Jordan ad?
There’s a lot of equity in nostalgia, especially in a down economy. We saw that approach last year when Coke remade its famous Mean Joe Greene ad, and McDonald’s is doing the same thing here.
We know that they’ve taped the ad with Larry Bird, LeBron James and Dwight Howard, but it hasn’t been confirmed that the ad will run during the Super Bowl. We hope it does, but it’ll be hard to top the appeal of the Bird/Jordan shootout in ’93.
Which companies consistently deliver the best creative (if not always the most popular) for the Super Bowl?
Anheuser-Busch is a perennial contender, mainly because they have a brand that allows them to create very entertaining ads. And not only do they entertain, but they also do a good job of incorporating the product into the story line.
That’s a critical component of a successful Super Bowl ad. If you make people laugh, but they don’t remember your product, you probably just wasted $3 million.
Which deliver the worst?
The Super Bowl is a tough game to compete in. We see proof of that every year in the SpotBowl.com standings. Everyone is bringing their most creative ideas to the table, which can make an ad that might be very good at other times of the year appear weak by comparison.
A lot of times, it’s not the ad itself that’s bad, it’s the decision to purchase a Super Bowl ad in the first place. Not every company is right for the Super Bowl, and when you try to force a product into a place where it doesn’t fit, it can backfire.
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