As Super Bowl Sunday approaches, we’re gearing up for another year of hyped-up, budget-busting commercials – as any good marketing agency should do. We were inspired by this 2007 article recently found in our archives. The best part? Even though it’s eight years later, it still holds true today. Although we don’t expect to see Blockbuster this year…
This year I stayed home, caught up on some work, and watched the big game with one eye. I didn’t expect much in the game, the outcome was predictable. But the commercials couldn’t be missed. After all, every good advertising pro must be ready to weigh-in with opinion, none-of-which really matter in the larger scheme of things.
I never realized before that if you’re watching the game, anticipating commercials and writing copy on your laptop, you really don’t leave much opportunity for important breaks to refuel.
Who won the creative battle? Don’t know. Don’t care. Collective opinions on the cute, creative, extreme and over the top were fairly consistent. I personally liked the Blockbuster spot where the live mouse was used to portray a computer mouse. I like clever ads but it doesn’t change the fact that Blockbuster has bigger issues than whether or not they slam dunk during the Super Bowl.
And what did you expect from Go Daddy? This is the same company whose first ad submission to the NFL was given a big thumbs-down. Puh-lease, you really can’t shock us anymore. What I want to know is what their sales numbers are as a result of their shabby Super Bowl commercial. My bet, they demonstrate more lift in sales than Bud or Doritos might. If their ROI was good, then they win.
The same holds true for Salesgenie.com. What a creatively painful bomb, but who cares. Rather than betting the over/under on the length of the National Anthem, I’d like to bet on who had the larger sales growth as a result of their Super Bowl buy. I suspect Salesgenie.com was in the top three. And you’ve got to love a strategy that integrates well. Even though the ad was critically trashed, it’s alive and well on the Salesgenie website.
Strategically, Toyota was a big winner in my book. It was subtle and strategic. For the first time that I can remember, Toyota spots were interchangeable with those of their American counterparts. For a whole new generation of Americans the tough-truck brand might actually apply to Toyota, a position they could not hold in the past.
Creativity for creativity’s sake is fine. I don’t watch for the strategic concepting and how much sales are impacted. I’m still betting on whether or not Prince blows a fuse in the purple rain of Miami. But in the end, $2.5 million plus production to effectively promote your brand on the world’s largest stage is still a good buy. And the winner isn’t always the ad that makes us laugh.