Superbowl Advertising Goes Online Also

Most of the attention when it comes to Superbowl advertising is focused on the television -- and for good reason.  More than a billion people worldwide will plop down on the couch Sunday to watch the big game and dozens of advertisers will spend $2.6 million per 30 second spot in hopes of catching some of those eyeyballs.  Unlike most TV-watchers these days, many viewers will stick around to watch the non-football action because the ads have become almost as a big a spectacle as the game itself.  But for many marketers, more is needed.

The evolution of new media and the alternative channels for pushing information to consumers has created all sorts of opportunities to expand on TV advertising (generally, but particularly for this coming Sunday's game) and marketers are taking advantage.  Stuart Elliot in the New York Times breaks down the 'new math':

Here is a lesson in new math, Madison Avenue style: The most expensive advertising buy of the year may turn out to be something of a bargain.

That buy is, of course, a television commercial during the Super Bowl, typically the most-watched program of any year. And while the cost this year sets a record, at an estimated average of $2.6 million for each 30-second spot, more than two dozen marketers believe it makes sense to spend that much money despite the many cheaper alternatives.

This counterintuitive belief is predicated on a big if — if the Super Bowl is not the end of a marketing game plan but the beginning, the premium cost is economical. The spot needs to be buttressed by a panoply of complementary extensions into new media like Web sites, video clips, cellphone text messaging, blogs and short films.

In other words, one of the most traditional ways to peddle products, the 3o-second TV spot, is being made relevant again by the explosion in nontraditional media choices.

The New York Times offers a few examples, including these: Nationwide Insurance kicked things off earlier this week posting its much maligned ad featuring the former Mr. Britney Spears, Kevin Federline (aka 'K-Fed' now "Fed-Ex'), on its website (www.nationwide.com).  Career Builder, the job search service, created a humorous "Age-O-Matic (at www.ageomatic.com) system to give users an opportunity to calculate how much premature aging a 'soul sucking job' will cause them.  And Anhueser Busch is using Super Bowl Sunday to formally introduce its new web-network, Bud.tv, to the world.

We all know that typical television viewers are prone to multi-tasking while watching TV.   Whether they will do that during a television event as big and dynamic as the Superbowl -- with frequent bathroom breaks brought on by beer consumption, friends sitting around debating the merits of the two-point conversion all around them, and informal, completely legal wagering on everything from the coin toss to the direction of the wind at the end of the first quarter (seriously, I do it every year) -- competing for attention remains to be seen.  What is clear already is that marketers have expanded the already over-sized stage of the Superbowl advertising field in all directions, leveraging new technology and the power of social networks to do it, and consumers are in for a full-advertising experience like they have never seen before.

Comments

[Artie Advert]

I read about Career Builder changing their marketing strategy. The 'soul sucking' concept is kind of interesting, humorous, but a bit TOO depressing and close to the bone (to quote Spinal Tap when they stood at Elvis' grave, "This puts things in perspective...too much f***ing perspective!!")

They look like they'll run along similar lines of Monster's ads of the kids' 'clawing my way up to middle management', but probably without the impact.

My biggest question for Career Builder is, 'Where the hell are the monkeys?!' Those ads really were and are great. I'm all for new campaigns, but there's something to be said for 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it'.

[Loyal Reader]

Not sure that's money well spent for Nationwide. Besides the fact that it pains me to see Federline's 15 minutes of fame extended, who is their intended audience? I find it hard to believe that the viewers most likely to recognize this "celebrity" are interested in purchasing insurance to help them achieve long-term goals.

Bring back MC Hammer.

[steve meyers]

It would be interesting to look back at all the new products that were launched with Super Bowl ads that never made it.

[Matt]

This Super Bowl has the potential to be less interesting that it's commercials, but that is neither here nor there. Let us not forget the importance of the DVR (Tivo to the rest of you). I think this tool can help advertisers who place their website information cleverly. The TV show Hereos did this recently when they lingered on a business card a bit longer than normal. Zap back a bit, go to the website and voila! Viral marketing that makes you feel like you figured out a secret. That gets the consumer more involved in the product.

[A. Chilton]

Is the Super Bowl truly the best place to spend advertising dollars? It seems that if an ad is not one of the most talked about ads fo the night, it gets lost in the shuffle and therefore much of the value of a Super Bowl ad is derived from "water cooler" talk after the game, generating free word of mouth. The odds of being one of the most talked about ads are slim, so the premium for a Super Bowl ad may not be worth it.