Super Bowl Ads: Wake Me When Madison Avenue Gets a Clue

Madison Ave actually gets the Super Bowl...and gets it really well.

I don't think any of the ads last night were outstanding...however if you think those ads are created for 'branding' you don't know much about marketing.

The Super Bowl, and the ads that surround it are pure entertainment...and the advertisers know it. Anheuser-Busch (who actually negotiates a discounted rate) knows that those ads don't sell any more beer...they simply make everyone smile, and when I say everyone, i mean EVERYONE.

that's because EVERYONE is watching the Super Bowl. and while I'm sure there was a small throng of people surfing, blogging and bitching during the game last night...every sausage eating, beer drinking average joe consumer was actually just ENJOYING THE GAME.

we spend all day every day responding to phone calls, emails and requests from our bosses and spouses...the super bowl is one of those rare times in life where the public wants to simply sit back and be entertained.

"Ask the public what they thought?" why would brands waste time with that when every windbag (including me) will spend 50% of their day taking, emailing, reviewing, re-reviewing and emailing again about the ads.

the fact is, those broadcasts become viral the moment they hit the air...you just have to see beyond your bias.

cheers.

yeah, that's it. I don't know much about marketing. especially interactive marketing. thanks for pointing that out.
:>)
lemme guess: you work for an ad agency.

I have to agree that people who watch the Super Bowl expect to be entertained, but everyone realizes that the game itself is usually ineptly played. Hence, the ads are the entertainment and everybody knows it. Unfortunately, everybody watches with such a high expectation level, disappointment comes easy. The only good thing about this year's crop is that none of them was quite as poor as the Herding Cats spot of a few years ago -- which was very high on entertainment, extraordinarily low on product i.d. Hard as I try, I can't recall anything about the advertiser except that its logo was composed of three alphabetic characters and the message was "we control the hard-to-control" whatever. The FedEx spot was the best in a weak field. The Clydsesdale colt spot was cute, but the situation was the most contrived I've ever seen.

So Budweiser spent $25 million to make people feel good? Damned skippy of them.

IMHO, one guy got it. Read here to see how:

http://www.acleareye.com/sandbox_wisdom/2006/01/bob_parsons_on_.html

BL -
I agree. The FedEx spot was the best, unfortunately early in the broadcast.
The Hallmark moments of the A-B spot rang true, but the "streaker" left me cold. Obvious.

But, as you said, "Where the follow-through"?
Imagine if Apple had done "1984" this past weekend...
with all the tools available now! Yikes.

Whopperettes? Busby Berkely? Have you seen the cheesy "cheesy" Angus thingy yet? As bad as the Old Navy "campy" spots.

Onward. Great stuff as usual.

Jeff

Thinkfast.
Execute.
Advertising | Marketing | Strategy.
Concepts | Content | Consulting.
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And the occasional thumbnail.

I left a post about this yesterday on BMA, but GoDaddy.com's traffic, according to Alexa, actually FELL on Sunday.

Not a good return on a 5 million dollar investment.