The Super Bowl

Super Bowl: The only day in America where TV viewers actually want to watch commercials. This year’s NFL championship, pitting the New York Giants against the New England Patriots, is in a sense a “rematch” of the 2008 edition of the big game. Due to this unfortunate match-up (blame Billy Cundiff and Kyle Williams for their failures), it’s possible that TV ratings could actually be lower than last year’s game. This would clearly be a total bummer for advertisers who spent $3.5 million for a 30-second spot. But, on the bright side, maybe people will be talking more about the ads than the actual game at the water cooler the next day, right?

Of course, the veritable “water cooler” has evolved in the digital age. The folks at Venables Bell & Partners have decided to provide a handy infographic that maps the who, where and how of post-game advertising conversation. Out of the bevy of stats they’ve given us, a few stand out. For example, “Almost one in five (19%) Americans searched for ads before the game in 2011, about double (11%) who did in 2010. Of that group, 48% searched for ads on Facebook, putting the site just ahead of popular video sharing site YouTube, brand sites, and media sources as the lead destination to find ads.” In other words, Facebook is becoming a more popular video search engine than YouTube, a fact than is no doubt pissing off the powers that be at Google.

Also, “Americans are almost as likely to ‘like’ a brand on Facebook that advertises during the Super Bowl (20%) as they are to ‘like’ a team (29%), with 23% of young adults likely to ‘like’ a brand.” Not a bad way to measure social media ROI compared to TV ROI, is it? Well, at least it’s somewhat “believable.” Check out a full-size image after the jump.

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Launch a social media campaign that will build your brand and deliver results in our online Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting June 7. Speakers include Abigail Cusick (Bravo Digital), Gregory Galant (Sawhorse Media), Alex Leo (Thomson Reuters Digital), Jim Tobin (Ignite Social Media), and many more. Read the reviews.

HUGE senior marketing strategist Josh Seifert returns for 2012, this time tackling, what else, the Super Bowl and the ad opportunities that come with it–specifically in the digital arena. Seifert looks at how some marketers have fared when it comes to digital advertising around the big game and how we’ve only just begun. Take it away, sir.

Reading last month that the Super Bowl would be streamed online for the first time, it struck me that digital advertising could start getting a whole lot more creative than expanding banner ads and pre-roll video. An online streaming Super Bowl will deliver a captive, real-time audience on a scale atypical for online. And with it, digital advertising opportunities never before possible. For sometime, Super Bowl advertisers have turned to digital to extend their TV efforts.

While the TV audience is massive, digital extensions create added buzz among the press and consumers, making spots even more effective. The Pepsi Refresh Project took this to an extreme in 2010, generating massive buzz and online traffic by not advertising in the Super Bowl. To overly simplify, digital at Super Bowl time has meant online contests to win a trip to the game (VISA’s You + 10 sweepstakes), create a commercial (Dorito’s Crash the Super Bowl Contest), or alternatively, digital has been a destination for branded content or e-commerce (GoDaddy.com Girls videos). While innovative use of online may have impacted the ads to a degree, the real excitement has always been about the TV spot, not about anything digital.

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A month after picking up a project for Samsung (the end result of which was this), it looks like L.A./Amsterdam’s 72andSunny made enough of an impression to merit more work from the South Korea-based electronics giant. Sources familiar with the matter are telling us that not only is 72andSunny working on a series of ads that follow in the Apple-baiting tone you saw over Thanksgiving, but the agency has landed the assignment to create the coveted Super Bowl spot for the brand (there was no pitch this time around, we hear). No word on how the Super Bowl ad will look or if it differs from the current campaign, but guess you’ll find out soon enough. We’ve reached out to the 72andSunny camp for comment but have yet to hear back (tis the holidays and all).

This one flew under our radar over the weekend, but seems noteworthy. Did you know Eminem was engaged in a legal battle with Audi over the latter’s use of a “Lose Yourself”-ish sounding song in a promotional video? As you can see below, the similarities between Audi’s clip for the 2012 Avant A6 (which didn’t air in the U.S.) and the W+K-created “Imported from Detroit” Super Bowl spot are rather eerie…so, we can’t really blame Marshall Mathers for taking this to court.

But anyhow, the Detroit Free Press reports that the two sides have reached an agreement (of which full terms were not disclosed) that calls for Audi to “support the revitalization of Detroit by contributing to selected social projects.” In a statement, the German automaker says, “Audi has tremendous respect for Eminem and his works and likewise for the Imported From Detroit campaign which was created by Chrysler. Certainly Audi would never wish to insult or harm those parties or their fans and customers.”

In case you missed this, here’s a nice look at what transpired during the making of David&Goliath’s “One Epic Ride” Super Bowl spot for Kia,  which by the way didn’t even make the top 10 according to the BrandBowl poll (but managed a 6.15 rating on USA Today‘s Ad Meter).  Still, it’s pretty boss to see how a huge production such as this went down and the video goes into detail from the live action shoot to visual effects creation that brought this big-budget, big game entry to life.

Well, it would seem that Audi’s Super Bowl ad was uploaded to YouTube a couple of days early. So, before Audi notices the mistake and yanks the spot from the interwebs, we’d like to share with you this minute-long senior citizen prison break created by agency Venables Bell & Partners. Thanks to the anonymous tipster who directed us to the commercial, and we hope that no one over the age of 60 was harmed in the making of this ad, either by kicking out plate glass windows or having to endure Kenny G’s horrible music.

If you’ve never seen ESPN2′s amorphous blob of viral videos and sports commentary, SportsNation, you are in for one of the strangest shows the Walt Disney Company has ever turned out, That’s So Raven included.

Picture Comedy Central’s weekly funny internet video wrap-up Tosh.0 mixed with Fox Sports Net’s old silly sports free-for-all The Best Damn Sports Show Period sprinkled in with ESPN’s short-lived Today Show-esque morning show, Cold Pizza. Mix in radio show host Colin Cowherd and his co-host, sports reporter Michelle Beadle, and the above video makes complete sense to the regular SportsNation viewer. Seriously.

Attempting to take the focus away from actually discussing the Super Bowl and their show’s whole “will they or won’t they” vibe that diminishes whenever Beadle shuts down Cowherd’s nervous advances (sigh), the former puts herself through the famous Super Bowl Ad gauntlet. And, look at that, she can take a clothesline to a mud puddle as well as Betty White. If Beadle and Cowherd aren’t complimenting funny videos and comparing their value to professional sports feats, they are making funny videos and ignoring sports all together. Try to bribe them with soda for their jersey, and they’ll throw a glass bottle at your face.

Hoffman-York, my new favorite Chicago ad-agency, released a study today called “PURSEuation,” which pretty much says that Super Bowl advertisers speak straight to The Penis.

The report finds that “the commercials were not particularly influential to women,” “the overall theme could have been ‘take back your manhood,’”and that the Super Bowl commercials were “rather disappointing [considering] that more than likely 40 million women were watching, and so many of the spots failed to impress them.”

The study also quoted the 2010 Hanon McKendry poll that found women to be 2.5 times more likely to watch the Super Bowl for the advertisements than their male counterparts.

Tom Jordan, a man who is in touch with his Feminine Side, (and also the Chief Creative Director at Hoffman York), said “This is by far one of the best opportunities for advertisers to place their products squarely in the circle of conversation and consideration with the people who influence purchases-women. Yet, the Super Bowl has become the premier event that places enormous pressure on every advertiser to have ‘bragging rights’ and ‘talk value’ about their brand, whether it sells the product or not.”

I think what Tom is trying to say here, is that the Super Bowl is a Big Swinging Dick Contest. And to Tom, I must say: I think you’re on to something.

Via PRWeb

More: Super Bowl Ads To Women: Nothing To See Here

It probably comes as no surprise that as a lady, I enjoy the Super Bowl primarily for the commercials and queso dip. Plenty of studies in recent years have shown that, though lots of women enjoy football, most chicks watch the game for the ads. They’re entertaining and they make us giggle.

But, at least for me, that’s pretty much where it stops. Has a Super Bowl ad ever prompted me to buy a case of Bud Lite or fire up an E-trade account? Nope. The Super Bowl is a He-Man, beer-drinking, beef-eating, fart fest and the commercials prove it. It’s understandable, I just don’t see how it’s profitable.

And as the sole female voice of AgencySpy, I’d like to point out that women account for 85% of consumer spending, and are more than twice as likely as guys to watch the Super Bowl primarily for the commercials. So where are all the Revlon ads?

In a time when advertisers should be preeeetty concerned with their ROIs, it seems strange that they’d alienate almost half their viewing audience by gearing ads towards every guy’s inner frat boy. Ad agencies aren’t stupid. They know who responds to what, and I’m not the first person to raise this argument. Which is why I have to call this one as I see it. The Super Bowl is the proverbial Big-Dick contest of the advertising industry. Winner gets bragging rights in the locker room for the rest of the year-no girls allowed.

More: Draftfcb Has a Lot Riding on The Super Bowl, So They Took Their Pants Off

Draftfcb, the agency you love to hate, has three spots running on Super Bowl Sunday. Each campaign is for a client trying to get back into their respective game and from what we’ve seen so far, the agency has good reason to be gnawing their fingernails.

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