Game On!

With just days to go until the 2015 Super Bowl Game, advertisers and audiences alike are gearing up for some of the greatest television of the year. The Super Bowl is often the most watched television program annually with an average audience of 111 million viewers. And it only happens once a year! Even if you’re not a football fan you probably watch it for the ads. Several studies have proven that 50% of the Super Bowl audience tunes in just to watch the ads.

In addition to the cost of airing a Super Bowl ad, a whopping $4 million for a 30-second spot and up to $8 million for a 60-second spot, don’t forget about the cost to produce the ad. The average Super Bowl spot has a production cost just north of $1million. This price could double or even triple depending on how extravagant the concept is. With such high prices and no real guarantee of success, why do advertisers do it?

No matter the public reviews, you can be sure of one thing. Your ad will be seen by millions. And then it will be talked about; at the water cooler, among marketing professionals and on every social media platform. A brand or product can certainly expect to be talked about for weeks leading up to the event, during the event, and for weeks, months and even years after the event, according to Rob Siltanen, founder and chief creative officer of Siltanen & Partners, a Los Angeles-based advertising agency. He goes on to say that the PR value and “replay value” of a great Super Bowl spot alone can be worth the game’s high media cost.

In a Forbes article about the 2014 Super Bowl, Mr. Siltanen says he believes that yes, an ad in the Super Bowl is worth the money. He does admit however, that the Super Bowl is not for everyone. A lot of it depends on what kind of message you’re trying to get out. A serious message may not be best delivered to an audience in a party mode. Plus a serious ad requires at least a one-minute spot because it takes a good thirty seconds to put the audience in the proper mood. Remember the “God made a farmer” Dodge truck spot? It was two minutes. In addition, if you’re not up for the public scrutiny the Super Bowl probably isn’t the place to be.

It’s likely too late to purchase an ad in Super Bowl XLIX, but start thinking about next year. Let us know your favorite, or least favorite, on our Facebook page, or send us a tweet. We’ll do a little “informal” research of our own to see how this year’s advertisers fared.

Bullets

• 65% of U.S. smartphone users check their phones within 15 minutes of rising and 64% check their phones within 15 minutes of going to bed.
  heidicohen.com

• 87% of millennials always have their smartphone at their side, day and night. 78% of millennials spend over 2 hours a day using their smartphones. 68% of millennials consider their smartphone to be a personal device.
  heidicohen.com

• Tweets with images receive 18% more clicks, 89% more favorites and 150% more retweets.
  media.fb.com

• B2C marketers are more likely to use original videos (63% B2C vs. 56% B2B) and original visual assets (63% B2C vs. 56% B2B).
  socialmediaexaminer.com

• 70% of marketers plan to increase their use of original visual assets in 2015.
  socialmediaexaminer.com