An American tradition
A long held American tradition that attracts more television viewers than the Super Bowl game is Super Bowl commercial watchers, as brands spend big dollars to make a big impression on the biggest advertising day of the year. Everyone becomes a critic and evaluates their favorite television ads, some preferring the creative, others the beautiful, yet others the comedic ads.
Who is spending the big dollars this year, where can you go to rate and discuss the ads? According to AdAge.com, you will see the following companies’ television ad spots during the Super Bowl:
- 2nd Story Software (TaxACT) – 30 seconds in the 1st quarter
- Honda’s CR-V- 60 seconds at the end of the 3rd quarter
- Acura – 60 seconds in the 3rd quarter
- Anheuser-Busch – 4.5 minutes across all quarters
- Audi – 60 seconds, time unknown
- Best Buy – 30 seconds in the 1st quarter
- Bridgestone – 30 seconds at halftime, 30 seconds in the 3rd quarter
- CareerBuilder – 30 seconds, time unknown
- Cars.com – 30 seconds in the 3rd quarter
- Century 21 – 30 seconds in the 3rd quarter
- Chrysler – one two-minute ad, time unknown
- Coca-Cola – 120 seconds across all quarters
- Dannon Yogurt – 30 seconds in the 3rd quarter
- E-Trade – 30 seconds, time uknown
- General Electric – two spots, time uknown
- General Motors – five spots across all quarters
- GoDaddy.com – 30 seconds in first half, 30 seconds in second half
- H&M – 30 seconds in the 2nd quarter
- History Channel – 30 seconds in the 4th quarter
- Hulu – 30 seconds, time uknown
- Hyundai – 30 seconds in 1st quarter, 30 seconds in 4th quarter
- Kia Motor – 60 second spot in the 4th quarter
- Mars (M&Ms) – 30 seconds in the 1st quarter
- Met Life – 30 seconds in the 4th quarter
- NFL – 60 seconds at the end of the 3rd quarter
- Paramount Pictures – two 30 second ads, time uknown
- PepsiCo (Doritos) – at least two 30 second ads, time uknown
- Pepsi – 60 seconds for Pepsi, 45 seconds for Pepsi Max, time uknown
- Relativity Media (Act of Valor)- 30 seconds, 4th quarter
- Samsung Electronics – 90 second ad in 4th quarter
- Skechers – 30 seconds in 2nd quarter
- Teleflora – 30 seconds, time uknown
- Toyota – two 30 second spots, time uknown
- Toyota (Lexus) – 30 seconds at the end of the 1st quarter
- Universal Pictures – time uknown
- Volkswagen – 60 seconds in 2nd quarter
- Walt Disney Pictures – time uknown
Watch the ads now
Now that you know which ads to look out for, you can actually watch most of the ads and rate them against each other in USA Today and Facebook’s “Super Bowl admeter.” You can watch them and impress people with your psychic powers “I sense that as this first quarter ends, there will be a Lexus commercial that will tease us about the next generation of cars.”
The more advantageous move is for business professionals to take advantage of the millions of dollars all of these major brands have invested in consumer studies, focus groups and positioning as their final product is rolled out. Look for trends in approach, messages, length of ad, which colors are commonly used, which celebrities are “in” this year, and what the overall feel is (light versus serious). Remember that Super Bowl ads are extreme and using nearly nude models may not work in your own campaigns, but it certainly serves as a source of inspiration.
Monday morning quarterbacking
Google is partnering with NBC to run a Google+ Hangout, led by Darren Rovell to Monday morning quarterback the Super Bowl ads “The day after the Super Bowl is when people head back to their office water coolers to discuss what they loved and what they didn’t,” Rovell said in a press release. “Our conversation is about taking all those water cooler conversations and bringing it to a national, digital stage.”
Moreover, for businesses, it is a way to take the pulse on how the ads performed and what consumers thought before they forget, and without the results being positioned by a public relations firm – think of it as a free focus group. Pay attention to the ads for inspiration and listen to consumers afterward to get a grasp on 2012 advertising trends that could influence your own advertising campaigns – the marketing world will be taking advantage of these opportunities, so why not join in?
