Jaffe Juice: Stupid bowl reflections

January 28, 2008

Stupid bowl reflections

Let me just say off the bat that I don't begrudge brands from participating in Advertising's Spectacular Spectacular. It's one of a handful (literally one hand = 5 fingers...count 'em) of mass reach opportunities left (even American Idol is starting to suffer cold-water shrinkage)

This year, it would appear that advertisers are working harder (as they should) to "amplify, extend and enhance" their efforts (read: do whatever the hell they can to justify their investment), including a robust mobile promotion from Anheuser-Busch and a cacophony of consumer-generated/participatory efforts.

That said, it still got me to thinking (thanks to an interview I conducted over the weekend) about the real high stakes environment of "The Big Game"

For starters, the fact we rely on YouTube (which wasn't even around 2 years ago as a Super Bowl Hail Mary) as much as we do is in of itself an indicator that advertising in the game isn't enough (anymore)
...which validates the point that Super Bowl advertising is all about the P.R. (Today Show Donny Deutsch mentions etc).
Which is all well and good, except for the fact that unless you're in the top 5, you've pretty much flushed your money down the toilet. That sounds like a twisted game of Russian Roulette to me. Remember CareerBuilder and Cramer-Krasselt?
Bonus impressions aside, let's talk about actually breaking through the clutter through the message i.e. creativity. Why is that so many advertisers no doubt will run repurposed creative as opposed to putting their entire hearts and souls into something compelling?
...and speaking of breaking through the clutter, there's the medium part. With half the audience divided between males and females, there's almost always 50% wastage built into the value proposition (there's your answer Mr Wanamaker).
...but it gets worse. Have you ever watched a Super Bowl yourselves? Of course you have and most likely you're at a party, where the noise of the crowd, coupled with the sound turned down essentially means that audio is not a factor in the package...
...and clearly neither is having one's full faculty in tact. It's called ALCOHOL people and most of us are inebriated enough not to remember where to purchase widget x the next day (save the efforts of 10+ commercials from Budweiser reminding us to keep on drinking throughout the game of course)

I can't help but wonder where the research is that proves the Super Bowl actually drives product i.e. sales. I don't have the time to do the analysis (if you'd like to do it, just post your findings in the comment section or e-mail me and I'll repost), but one type of litmus test is to look at the advertisers that are returning versus the newbies as an indicator of efficacy.

The last case study that existed was the dot com example, where companies ploughed up to 50% of their budgets into 1 or 2 Super Bowl commercials and to thank them for their efforts, they went out of business.

Anyway, just thought I'd provide some sobering thoughts to balance out all the pre-game viral buzz.

Again, I don't begrudge any brand from giving it a shot. It's a great platform and opportunity to hit it out the park, with emphasis on "hitting it out the park" as a necessary prerequisite.

Go Giants!

Posted at 11:09 AM in Medium - neither rare nor well done | Permalink

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That said, it still got me to thinking (thanks to an interview I conducted over the weekend) about the real high stakes environment of "The Big Game"

For starters, the fact we rely on YouTube (which wasn't even around 2 years ago as a Super Bowl Hail Mary) as much as we do is in of itself an indicator that advertising in the game isn't enough (anymore)
...which validates the point that Super Bowl advertising is all about the P.R. (Today Show Donny Deutsch mentions etc).
Which is all well and good, except for the fact that unless you're in the top 5, you've pretty much flushed your money down the toilet. That sounds like a twisted game of Russian Roulette to me. Remember CareerBuilder and Cramer-Krasselt?
Bonus impressions aside, let's talk about actually breaking through the clutter through the message i.e. creativity. Why is that so many advertisers no doubt will run repurposed creative as opposed to putting their entire hearts and souls into something compelling?
...and speaking of breaking through the clutter, there's the medium part. With half the audience divided between males and females, there's almost always 50% wastage built into the value proposition (there's your answer Mr Wanamaker).
...but it gets worse. Have you ever watched a Super Bowl yourselves? Of course you have and most likely you're at a party, where the noise of the crowd, coupled with the sound turned down essentially means that audio is not a factor in the package...
...and clearly neither is having one's full faculty in tact. It's called ALCOHOL people and most of us are inebriated enough not to remember where to purchase widget x the next day (save the efforts of 10+ commercials from Budweiser reminding us to keep on drinking throughout the game of course)

Anyway, just thought I'd provide some sobering thoughts to balance out all the pre-game viral buzz.

Again, I don't begrudge any brand from giving it a shot. It's a great platform and opportunity to hit it out the park, with emphasis on "hitting it out the park" as a necessary prerequisite.

Go Giants!