I'm not even sure who's in the Super Bowl this year. That's right, this Southern gal loves football, but I must confess that I haven't been keeping up with professional football lately. However, I'll be tuned in on February 5 to find out...err, to watch the commercials!
The only thing I know about pro football this year is that the media (or some social media group) has quickly turned a quarterback's name into a verb, and we see images of this down-on-one-knee-to-give-thanks phenomenon happening everywhere!
So, now that we are past the relevance of football in the Super Bowl, let's talk about how the Super Bowl affects advertising and your advertising dollars. The Super Bowl is a big industry. Let's say you wanted to advertise your company's latest and greatest commodity on every television affiliate in the United States that carries the Super Bowl, and not just your particular market.
In 2001, you would have spent $2.2 million dollars for a 30-second commercial during the Super Bowl, according to Ad Week research. Ad Week also reports that this cost has increased almost 40%, making a 30-second commercial over $3 million in 2011. I'll let you do the math...last year's Super Bowl averaged over 47 minutes of commercials and network promotional announcements. Like I said, Super Bowl is more than just football and potato chips!
But you might wonder how important the Super Bowl is to your local market and your marketing goals and objectives. The affiliate carrying the show that particular year is given X number of slots that they can sell to local advertisers. This year, NBC is carrying the game, so it will be on WYFF-TV locally in the Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson-Asheville market. Stations can be hush-hush about the number of local commercials they have to sell in the Super Bowl, but I would say 15-20. If you want to get into the Super Bowl madness on the local level, be prepared to fork over $20k-$30k for a package deal (typically commercials during pre-game and game).
But a strong caution before you jump in....your company (and/or your marketing agency) needs to determine that advertising during the Super Bowl will help meet your marketing goals and objectives for the year and also that you have an appropriate and relevant message to share with viewers that are in your target market. If you don't have both, you are throwing your money down the drain with no hopes of a return on your investment.
No doubt I'll be watching Super Bowl LXVI on February 5. Because I like to watch, with no interruptions, there will be no going out to parties or having guests over. So, it's the commercials and the Half Time Show this year for me, and both tend to bring surprises every year! What famous stars will be in the commercials? And more importantly, which companies are missing during this year's game, that are ALWAYS in Super Bowl?
What's your favorite or most memorable Super Bowl commercial? A few of my favorites include: the E*TRADE's talking baby (milk-a-what??), Monster.com's "When I Grow Up", and who could forget when the Budweiser Clydesdales bowed in honor of the victims of 9/11. See, even horses can Tebow!
So tune in for, not only the Super Bowl, but also the Pre-Game Show and the post-game hit "The Voice" on WYFF-TV (or the NBC affiliate in your market). And you and I will be one of the estimated 111 million viewers!
And be on the lookout for a follow-up blog post-Super Bowl for a recap of ratings...and commercials!