Super Bowl ads sell despite economy
Even in this recession, companies are shelling out millions for Super Bowl advertising. Kai Ryssdal speaks with journalist Rob Walker about why some brands are still spending such big bucks for so little time.
Screen shot from a Miller High Life promotional video for 1-second ad campaign. (Miller Brewing Co.)
More on Marketing - Advertising, Sports
Links
TEXT OF INTERVIEW
KAI RYSSDAL: The competition during the Super Bowl on Sunday is not going to be limited just to the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Arizona Cardinals. Marketing professionals will be gunning for the honor of running the best ad. They'll be paying as much as $3 million for 30 seconds of air time. It's a lot of money in boom times, let alone a recession.
Rob Walker is with us to talk about the merits, and the possible pitfalls, of advertising in the Super Bowl. He writes the Consumed column for The New York Times magazine.
Hey, Rob.
ROB WALKER: Thanks for having me, Kai.
RYSSDAL: So you would think, given the way the economy is, that the Super Bowl and its ad territory would not necessarily be the bazillion-dollar extravaganza it always is. But somehow, these spots are expensive again this year.
- Bridgestone's Super Bowl teaser ad
- (Bridgestone / YouTube)
WALKER: Yeah, once again breaking all previous records. And, you know, one of the explanations is, this is the last great forum like this. There is no other single event that the entire country gathers around. And that's still a valuable thing, no matter what the economy is.
RYSSDAL: But do you think those ads pay off?
WALKER: They can. I think that what's changed in how that is sort of measured isn't just the ad itself, but kind of the hype around the ad, both before and after. And I think the advertising agencies are very aware of this. And, you know, they put the spots on YouTube, sometimes in advance to run up the sort of total YouTube views and stuff like this so they can claim that their ad was a cultural phenomenon.
RYSSDAL: We will see once again this year, obviously, Budweiser complete with Clydesdales. But some companies that have never been in the Super Bowl are going to be there this year. One of them is Pedigree, the dog food company. And they've got this ad going this year that's got, I guess, hippopotamuses and rhinoceroses and ostriches. And the tagline is: Isn't it time to think about a dog? Let's roll a little bit of that tape.
[Audio from Pedigree ad]
- Pedigree dog food Super Bowl ad
- (Pedigree Brands)
WOMAN: C'mon, Rusty! C'mon, let's go for a walk! [Crashing sounds.] . . . Rusty!
MAILMAN: Morning, Mrs. Lawrence. [sound of ostrich escaping house] . . . Not again!
MRS. LAWRENCE: Bruno! Come back here! Bruno, you bad, bad bird.
ANNOUNCER: The Pedigree adoption drive. Help us help dogs.
Why would Pedigree get in the Super Bowl now? Is it a case of, do you think, that the place to take risks is when the economy is bad and maybe you might get the bigger payoff?
WALKER: Yeah, for companies that are in a position to do that, that's, I think, exactly what they're thinking. Is that, you know, they're looking around. They're seeing, "Well, if my competitors are too scared to do this then I'm gonna seize market share. People, you know . . . People still need to buy dog food. No one's spending really goes to zero in a bad economy. People are going to be out there spending money, and they want to get in front of you and make you think about them as one of the places that you'll spend your money.
RYSSDAL: Let me get you to what we might call the "anti-ads" here for a second. Budweiser I talked about. They'll be there with Clydesdales and all of that. Miller High Life, though, is going to run a one-second ad in some markets. It's poking fun at Budweiser for spending all that money on 30 seconds of ad time. They've put together a few preview one-second shots. Let's listen to a couple of those:
[Audio of Miller ads]
- Miller High Life promotional video: 1-second ads that didn't make the cut
- (Miller Brewing Co. / YouTube)
MILLER DELIVERY MAN: Miller Time! . . . Champagney of Beers! . . . Bean dip! . . . Bon jour, Milwaukee! . . . One, Mississippi!
So, we ran a couple of them together. That was five seconds-worth of one-second ads. What do you think about that strategy?
WALKER: I think it's actually incredibly clever. And in no small part because of what I was talking about earlier that it's not just about an ad that runs during the Super Bowl. It's about how much of the hype you can kind of get in on. All of the pre-Super Bowl advertising round-ups, and the post-Super Bowl round-ups. And Miller has inserted itself into that story.
- Miller High Life commercial: Delivery Man on 1-second ads
- (Miller Brewing Co. / YouTube)
RYSSDAL: What about opportunity cost here. That is, people who are usually in the Super Bowl but aren't this year. Good move / bad move?
WALKER: Well, the one that leaps to mind is GM. And, you know, I'm sure if they had their druthers, they would be doing it. And I don't even know if you can characterize it as a strategic decision. I mean, they're literally borrowing money from us right now. So they have to pinch whatever pennies they can. The one way you don't want to be part of the Super Bowl ad round-up stories is to be the company being mentioned as not being able to afford to be there.
RYSSDAL: Yeah, right. Good point.
Rob Walker writes the Consumed column for The New York Times Magazine. He's also an occasional commentator for this program. Rob, thanks a lot.
WALKER: Thank you.
Comments
Comment | Refresh
From edgware, AL, 04/18/2009
We, Telcoms Business Solution Ltd is a United Kingdom in England based and Canada Branch,International trading company established in 1999, which is specialized in export and wholesale of well known branded products. Here please check our latest offer for the Year we give discount to all our customers Telcoms Business Solution Ltd: NOTE : Minimum Order : 3 unit and get 1 free Shipping fees : free Shipping : FedEx, DHL or UPS Delivery Time : 2/3 days For any inquiries, please feel free to contact us at MSN:mobilecity160@hotmail.com mobilecity160@yahoo.com Call us on +447023059726 webiste:http://telcomsltd.weblodge.net Nokia 6500 Classic $224 Nokia 6500SLIDE $224 Nokia 6600FOLD $270 Nokia 6600SLIDE $270 Nokia 7210 $107 Nokia 7310 $133 Nokia E51 $216 Nokia E66 $238 Nokia E71 $319 Nokia E90 $315 Nokia N78 $205 Nokia N79 $305 Nokia N810 $203 Nokia N85 $300 Nokia N95 1GB $273 Nokia N95 8GB $303 Nokia N96 $368 Nokia 8800 SAPPHIRE $300 Nokia 8800 CARBON ARTE $310 HTC P3650 Cruise Black $446 HTC *P3700 Diamond (English Version) $308 HTC Touch Pro (English Version) $307 HTC Touch HD $350 HTC Google G1 (Locked) $314 HTC Google G1 (Unlocked) $300 Blackberry *Bold $314 Blackberry Storm 9530 $305 Samsung *F480 Gold Olympic / Ice Silver / Ice Silver olympic $278 Samsung *i900 16GB Black $342 Samsung *i8510H 16G (Eng Version) $345 Apple Iphone 3G 16GB....$300 Apple iphone 3G 8GB.....$250 Apple iphone 4GB.....$200 Apple iphone 3G.....$350 For any inquiries, please feel free to contact us at MSN:mobilecity160@hotmail.com mobilecity160@yahoo.com Call us on +447023059726 webiste:http://telcomsltd.weblodge.net
From Madison, WI, 01/28/2009
I think Miller pre-Superbowl campaign will backfire on them. In radio they are blasting others for spending money on the Superbowl given the current economic environment (who's got 3 mil. to spend on 30 sec.) and then they are going to run a ton of 1 sec spots and spend just as much money. I'll believe an authentic Clydesdale over a marketing hypocrite any day
From Arlington Heights, IL, 01/27/2009
At the end of the story, your guest implied that the worst publicity around Super Bowl ads is that a company can't afford to participate. I'd disagree. I think a far worse fate is to spend millions on an ineffective or disliked ad.
As advertising budgets are cut, I think companies should be careful to cut media spend before production spend. Few well-made ads are more impactful than a sea of poorly-made ones.
Post a Comment: Please be civil, brief and relevant.
Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments. All comments are moderated. Marketplace reserves the right to edit any comments on this site and to read them on the air if they are extra-interesting. Please read the Comment Guidelines before posting.
You must be 13 or over to submit information to American Public Media. The information entered into this form will not be used to send unsolicited email and will not be sold to a third party. For more information see Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.