Superbowl Silly Season.
It was interesting to see how much people were tweeting the Superbowl ads as they aired. It's become a self-fulfilling prophecy. The richest ad space on the planet ($2.7 million per 30 seconds) becomes an event. But I'm wondering if it's only an event for those in the industry.
Sorry to tell you folks, but the huge audience is there for the football game and maybe the half-time show. The ads are as interruptive as ever and seemingly more ignored than ever before.
You might think that Fedex had a better spot than cars.com or Tide but I'm not sure regular people were watching.
Added Link: Courtesy of Marcus, a time-lapse video of people watching the game (in the breaks between eating). Sadly, ad-breaks aren't highlighted.
posted by john dodds @ 5:47 PM
12 Comments:
The only people who really care about adland are the people whose livlihoods [or ego] depend on it ... and those who try and claim their 'output' shines brighter than events they are appearing in [ie: Superbowl] are delusional to the extreme.
I wrote about adlands obsession with itself when I was [ironically] at Cannes and said ...
"Sure adland should be able to celebrate great advertising … sure they should be able to let their hair down and have a good time … but for it to last a week … in Cannes … right after the Film Festival?
If we asked Freud what he thought it all meant, I am sure he would say it was representative of advertising’s desperate bid to feel superior and important within the social hierarchy … or in short … there’s a bunch of delusional fuckers in adland."
Say's it all really!
Hi John!
While I agree with you mostly, I and many of my offline friends are an exception to your premise (male and female alike).
I am not in advertising, sales, or marketing and I always watch the superbowl ads - as do many of my non-marketing or ad-related friends, colleagues and even my family!
But then again, my friends and I are often considered freaks - so you may be right!
Ann
PS - I missed Tide (I'll have to go online to see it) but my vote was for FedEx. Career Builder ads were just freaky - especially that horrible one "follow your heart".
Rob - quoting your own blog - what next hypertext links in the comments? Damn you'll begin to look like a real blogger soon.
Ann - your freakiness is why I like you.
Yes, this is a ridiculous navel gazing industry. But still, a hell of a lot of people watched the game.
http://www.adrants.com/2008/02/super-bowl-xlii-most-viewed-game-ever.php
Even if only a few percent watched one or more ads, t'would be quite nice.
If only they were better quality...
The Tide ad is one of favourite ads of all time, but the rest left me feeling quite jaded...
PS. Where the fuck are you?! Where is that office?!
I'm in Australia, and even I have been compelled to YouTube the Super Bowl ads to see what all the hype is about. They must be doing something right.
Incidentally, I don't give a toss about the Super Bowl itself...
I'll go check
Hi Deb
Good to have new australian commenters - welcome but the question still remains, do the ads make a difference on purchase decisions or even intentions?
Thank you it's good to be here :) If it helps the argument I'd buy that Tide stain pen for sure, but unfortunately they're not available down under!
I'm no advertising expert, nor a marketing one for that matter so forgive any naivety on my part, but on a smaller scale, when the company I work for runs an ad (small IT company in Adelaide) we don't expect the phones to run red hot afterwards, we do think however that our investment increases the profile of the company, and makes us a bit more salient in the market, and if it does that then the investment is a good one.
Even if the majority of regular people watching the Super Bowl weren't watching all of the ads all of the time, some of you were, and now we're all talking about it (check the YouTube forums for confirmation of that!), so as far as raising profile goes, isn't it money well spent?
The sad truth is that the ads have gotten progressively worse every year. But some might argue that's a problem with the industry as a whole.
The only thing that piqued my interest was the Tide ad. The rest of the time I was laughing at Tom Brady and the Pats offense. Had to get that in.
I had a similar though re: online banner ads. The 0.2% or whatever that click or rollover are mostly other digital agencies checking out what their competition are doing.
no real punters to speak of.
Eaon - nicely sceptical sir - I have truly never understood the banner ad - if they weren't so cheap realtively speaking I doubt they'd exist. I've certainly never clicked on one and the research suggests that only low income users do so.
Brilliant. $2.7m per 20 secs or whatever and you get an old bloke and a cat - even the cat goes out for a fag.
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