Superbowl Ads: Getting Worse? Let’s Look at Some Results
In anticipation of our February AMA luncheon panel that will be critiquing this year’s Super Bowl ads, we ask the question, “are the ads getting better or getting worse?”
Surely, more money is being spent on them each year. Surely, ad execs and creatives have more data and better understanding of what drives consumers. So, in theory, with all the attention and effort that is poured into them they should be getting better- right?
This year’s Super Bowl attracted more viewers than nearly any other program in the history of television (only getting beat by the last episode of MASH- that pesky bugger refuses to go away). On top of that, there’s no other program that people tune in specifically with high interest in the ads- even if they have no interest in football at all!
All those captive eyeballs are a precious treat for advertisers, anxious to set their services or products before them. It’s no surprise, then, that there has evolved a standard that viewers expect; we don’t just want to see your ad, we want to be entertained. People tune in to be surprised, to be drawn in & to see ads that reach a level not usually seen during regular programming.
It’s not just on TV that the war is waged either. Two major trends have pushed the attention to the internet as well: 1. Companies now use the TV spots to generate web traffic and 2. Internet video has become incredibly easy to create and access. Super Bowl commercials see longer lifespans as they are reposted on the internet- something that countless companies attempted to harness this year. Youtube even gave the ads their own page.
So what was the result?
Well, there were certainly more people watching the Super Bowl this year, but their habits may show a general dissatisfaction with what they saw. Many have claimed that the commercials aren’t what they used to be. CBS’s Sunday Morning blames the internet:
Every year, we expect miracles — and every year, to be honest, many of them disappoint. This year is no different, though the culprit might surprise you - that vast new advertising frontier we call “the Internet.” Yes, the great equalizer has leveled the playing field; now bad is the new good.
Even web traffic from the ads wasn’t what was expected. According to Akamai Techologies (the folks who track this sort of stuff), the ads this year didn’t drive significant traffic to the advertisers websites. While ad execs and marketing VPs attempt to figure out why, the question remains “could it be the ads themselves aren’t living up?”
One exception, though, was the Godaddy spot. While many others failed to drive the expected traffic, Godaddy won big by having their original ad banned by Fox, and be replaced by another they produced in order to sent viewers online to watch the original. I’m pretty certain the ban was part of Godaddy’s strategy, but nevertheless it succeeded. I’ll post the aired ad below- you can decide if it’s enticing enough to follow it to the original. See you all at the Luncheon!
