Advertising Super Bowl

It was the year of the amazing comeback. The Janet Jackson waredrobe malfunction of last year actually forced marketers to abandon the easy and tasteless bathroom humor of the past few years in favor of better, more powerful advertising messages that in some cases were genuinely funny. But just as Terrell Owens remarkable comeback on the field was not enough to win the big game, not all of the advertisers scored major points and many of their ads did fall terribly flat.

The MVP of the Advertising Super Bowl was most definitely Budweiser. Bud showed why they are the king of the Super Bowl and delivered beautifully. Out of the nine ads broadcast by Budweiser four stood out as entertaining while also delivering the brand message.

• Bud Light: Pilot jumps out of plane for six-pack after skydiver refuses. The ad delivered an unexpected twist which emphasized the love of the product. As the first commercial which aired during the game, it really got the advertising off to a good start and solidified Bud as the real winner of the day.

• Bud Light: Cedric’s island dream turned into nightmare by nagging beauties.

• Bud Light: Guy at game sees cellphone photo of his girlfriend at home with another guy and his beer.

• Anheuser-Busch: American troops get standing ovation as thank you at airport. As the biggest sponsor of the Super Bowl and an iconic American brand, it was heartwarming to see the troop tribute. It reinforced A-B’s commitment to the American spirit and dream.

However not all of Budweiser’s ads were winners. The biggest disappointment was the lack of airtime given to the Clydesdales. One ad featured them briefly, as an ostrich, giraffe and pigs try to audition to join the team. Why does A-B keep trying to bring in other animals into their commercials? They are much better sticking to the horses which so epitomize the brand, its heritage and its leadership. Forget the donkeys, frogs, pigs and kangaroos. Focus on the Clydesdales.

And why are they line-extending Budweiser again? It makes no sense to introduce Budweiser Select low-carb beer. A-B has a very successful low-carb beer called Michelob Ultra, the first beer in the category. Why confused people even more and take sales away from both Bud Light and Michelob Ultra with another line extension? It further undermines the power of Bud Light. Does Bud Light really have that many carbs? Do real guys really care about a couple of carbs anyway? While Bud had a great game, this ad and this brand is a total fumble.

The other winner of the day was Pepsi-Cola. It used its multiple spots to reinforce the cool, hip and even sexy nature of the brand. And showed why men need to be calorie consensus too. The best ad showed Cindy Crawford and other women eyeing a handsome Diet Pepsi drinker. The hysterical twist was when Queer Eye for the straight guy Carson Kressley is also caught looking at the hunky fellow.

Pepsi also teamed up with Apple for another iTunes cap promotion further cementing Pepsi as the “choice for a new generation.” A tagline which Pepsi should still be using.

And Pepsi's third commercial centered on P.Diddy and the power of celebrity endorsements. After he shows up to an award show driving a Diet Pepsi truck everybody wants one. It was funny, satirical and on target.

In terms of the advertising fumbles, there were a few:

• GoDaddy.com, please go away. A totally tasteless ad showing a girl with big boobs, a tight shirt and a malfunctioning strap. No brand message, a name that has nothing to do with the category (website registration) and a whole lot of money down the drain. ($2.4 million, to be exact.)

• Careerbuilder.com, another internet company with no name recognition and no brand credibility. A guy has to work with a bunch of monkeys that make copies of their bottoms on the Xerox machine. Not funny and not a career builder for the site.

• AmeriQuest delivered some funny ads portraying misunderstandings and why you shouldn’t judge a situation too quickly. But I don’t think the Super Bowl is the time you want to worry about your mortgage company rejecting you. It’s the same reason H&R Block selling tax services during the game wasn’t successful either.

• Cialis should have learned from all the negative PR it received last year. The Super Bowl is not the time one wants to be reminded of erectile dysfunction or the 4 hour potential side effects from its drug.

• FedEx delivered a humorous spoof of Super Bowl advertising with its list of keys to a great ad. But failed to follow its own advice and include a brand message. Why should I use FedEx and why do I need to go to Kinko’s now?

• Honda introduced its Ridgeline pickup truck with the tagline “Above all it’s a Honda.” The brand has no street credibility and above all the last reason any guy would buy a pickup truck is because it was made by Honda. This is the Super Bowl, where Bud-drinking, Ford-driving men watch football. I think Honda made a poor choice and wasted a lot of money on these spots.

• Silestone tried to sell countertops using Mike Ditka and Dennis Rodman in a bubble bath? The only excuse for this flagrant foul is that the company is from Spain and maybe something got lost in translation. But even in Spanish I doubt the ad could have been funny or have anything to do with selling countertops. Besides who thinks about putting in new countertops while watching football, guzzling beer and eating pizza anyway?

Comments

[Steven Streight aka Vaspers the Grate]

I agree with you Laura. An ad is not successful because it creates a "buzz" in sexually frustrated males.

Like someone said, those lonely loser males probably went to the GoDaddy site and were very disappointed that it was not selling Girls Gone Wild videos.

Sex does not sell anything but sexual products, mostly porn films.

Would any of these unfulfilled males buy a brand of car just because a naked or sexy woman was advertising it?

When they say they "liked" the commercial of GoDaddy, all they mean is the like porn.

Period.

Buzz? Nah. Just a trifle bump in awareness, but not long term brand building.

[alan]

I have to disagree with Laura -- I think GoDaddy.com was the most memorable ad of the SuperBowl. I am not alone in this opinion, talk radio stations were a-buzz with this one ad the following week and most of the discussion I heard harmonized that the majority of adds were boring and flat save this one.

I had no trouble remembering the ad or product after having been exposed to it just this once. And I promptly visited their website that week. The ad was the perfect blend of entertainment and brand exposure, and the only ad that had "testicles".

Perhaps the ad was unappealing to women or to an ultra-uptight moral minority. But to the vast majority of SuperBowl watchers, it was entertaining and memorable, and even more so for those of us that do business on the web.

I believe GoDaddy hit their target market on the head. As to whether their company can afford the price for this kind of brand exposure, and as to whether or not sufficient sales will follow such an ad, I'll leave that to their accountants.

[Jason Carruthers]

Hi Laura

I know that many companies have benefited or become successful by following the marketing laws of Ries & Ries. But I would like to know if there are other companies out there that, like mine, were designed and founded ENTIRELY on the basis of the Ries philosophies. If so, which ones?

ie:

"Set up a new category you can be first in"
LadyEyes, the world's first women's eyeglass store.

"Narrow the focus"
High fashion, prescription eyeglasses for women only. No contact lenses, safety frames, men's/childrens, or non Rx sunglasses.

"Stock in depth"
5 sections of women's styles, compared to 1 each for men, women, children, safety, sunglasses, etc.

"Own a word"
Beauty. As in look beautiful in glasses.

"Use PR"
Appeared in local print and broadcast media, and trade publications.

[Laura]

Wow! Lots of discussion about godaddy.com. I don't think it deserves the attention, but I'm happy to add my thoughts into the mix.

Sex doesn't necessarily sell, but it does get our attention. In this case, the ad angered some because of its tastlessness and titlated others.

But the real question that remains is whether or not it was good or made sense for the brand. I don't see anything sexy about web registration. The ad got the attention of some, but did little to put a message in the mind and had nothing to do with the product.

I have read about the surge in web traffic right after the ad, but I imagine many young men were dissapointed by what godaddy was actually selling. And I doubt young men are the real demographic for registering websites anyway. My feeling is that the target customer is much older.

Bud I believe made the right choice in staying away from the waredrobe malfunction.

Although the Bud ad was really much funnier than godaddy's. And the gag actually played into the brand. My husband is always looking for something to twist off his Bud Light caps.

But the web was the right place to put the ad so as to avoid the publicity on the Jackson controversy and focus on the beer messages in the other ads.

[Anonymous Coward]

I disagree with the negative godaddy comments. Despite personal feelings of what is morally ok or not, it has created a significant amount of FREE BUZZ (case in point, we're discussing it) which more than justifies its existance.

In regards to the name "godaddy" as a bad brand name: a company's name does not matter!! There are many examples of companies with seemingly poor names that are great companies. That's not to say naming a company is unimportant, it's just not vital to the success of a company.

Being part of the American male demographic SEX DOES SELL. Maybe not to mature women but it does to my demographic, which leads to the obvious problem facing superbowl advertisers. How do you keep a mass audience happy while still staying innovative and thus keeping the attention of the audience?

And one way godaddy decided to do it is to not care if you upset a subset of the audience so long as you stike gold with your target market. Being that most of the ads were bland at best it was refreshing to see a company willing to push the envelope.

Also, let's not forget the A-B was going to air a provactive ad but didn't. Instead they made a brilliant move and posted it on their Web site thus getting free buzz and targeted viewers without paying $2.36 million.

[jeff]

I.E. - GoDaddy.com commercial..
I suppose for an unknown brand maybe they feel that any exposure is better than none. Though many may not agree that
a bad start is better than a no-start.

I personally don't like the oversexed nature of some advertising, especially since I'm involved in creative development. I wouldnt even consider the "shock value" of this as big-busty women in advertising have become cliché.

Godaddy is actually a pretty good hosting company. I've been using them for many years. But they'd really benefit by a more structured and focused marketing approach than just "sex sells".

[Steven Streight aka Vaspers the Grate]

The GoDaddy commercial was demeaning to women, sexist, pornographic, ugly, stupid, Idiot Marketing, what I would expect from a 15 junior high school student who stared at the bras in Sears catalogues or bare chested ladies in National Geographic.

If you sexually frustrated and romantically disabled dudes crave porn, get it where it's at, don't applaud its invasion of a family television show, the Super Bowl.

This shows how stupid, crass, and decadent much of America has become. The way the GoDaddy girl squeezed her mammary gland (I checked out the unedited version) was repulsive. I watched it to see how offensive it was, and expressed my opinion on the onsite poll.

I guess if a person is vulgar, they applaud vulgarity wherever they find it.

But sex does NOT sell anything other than porn films, dirty magazines, and related items, maybe Viagra type crap.

I can't remember buying anything in my life due to a "hot chick" being in the ads.

Fools.

[John Beohm]

Hi Laura,

I'd be interested to hear what you thought of the Volvo ad featuring Richard Branson, its not often that one company would pay the head of another to be in their commercial.

Do you think associating the two brands helped? Or is Richard Branson still not that well known in the states?

Thanks
John Beohm

[John Fries]

Laura,

Great recap!

One to add--I liked the spot that teased the new Ford Mustang.

John

[Alan 'Brand' Williamson]

"Anheuser-Busch: American troops get standing ovation as thank you at airport. As the biggest sponsor of the Super Bowl and an iconic American brand, it was heartwarming to see the troop tribute. It reinforced A-B’s commitment to the American spirit and dream."

Didn't see the Super Bowl ads in England where Coors were the main sponsor for the UK programming. But I agree with your comments about A-B. This is the way forward for iconic brands and those who aspire to become iconic. Become a megaphone for the national (or even international) cultural, political or social issues of the day.

But what about the 3 destination brand 'advertisers' - Jacksonville, New England and Philadelphia?

From a European perspective with limited pre and post-game coverage, I thought Jacksonville did a pretty good branding job. The city seems to have uncovered a big brand idea (inspired by its famous son: Ray Charles) which I describe as: The Jax Advantage: Where every dis-advantage is an advantage! The half-time show featuring the cute kids ensemble validated the concept.

The big brand questions for the future:
Should Jax take advantage of its big brand idea?
Can Philadelphia soar as the champion of the world-wide AIDS epidemic story made famous by the Hollywood blockbuster starring Tom Hanks?
Will New England co-brand with 'Old' England and bridge the 'gap' between Brand America and Brand Europe?

Alan 'Brand' Williamson

[Dave Elliott]

kris -

Regarding your comments:

"I had never heard of them before, but domain registration is a commoditized market and...I’m sure I’ll remember godaddy.com next time it comes to register a domain."

Yeah, but I thought it was a commercial for a "Girls Gone Wild" type website (not a web registration site) and I just signed up for a new web address and year's worth of hosting over at CheapDomians.com this morning. I wish I knew GoDaddy.com was the place to go! I would have loved to support their funny and creative ad.

Dave Elliott

[Dave Elliott]

Laura,

Loved your analysis of the super bowl ads. Regarding GoDaddy.com, I couldn't agree more.

Everyone in the room was laughing, but I thought it was a website to see "Girls Gone Wild" type content on the net -- targeting Howard Stern fans.

You mean it is a "website registration" site? Wow, I learned more than I expected today from your review.

Dave Elliott

[Laura]

Thanks for your thoughts Kris!

In terms of the godaddy name, I agree that a generic name would not be the way to go. I love shocking, unique brand names especially for the internet. Names like Google, Yahoo, Amazon and Ebay are wonderful. But I think with a name like godaddy some explaination of the name would help to fix it in the mind.

In terms of the ad, it did get attention, but scored miserably in most polls that I read. I just think they could have done something else with their :30 seconds instead of going for the cheap boob joke. The ad lack a message and I think many people lost the fact that it was for internet domain registration.

What godaddy really needs to do in order to build the brand is some PR. Remember is it PR and being first in a new category that made brands like Google, Yahoo and Ebay successful. Unless they can sustain the PR, I don't hold out too much hope for their survival.

[kris]

Hi Laura. Great post reviewing the super bowl ads. It was the only part I was very interested in honestly. :P Your post very enlightening and I agree with almost all your conclusions.

The one thing I think you may be wrong on is godaddy.com. Their ads were memorable, and lots of folks are talking about them. I had never heard of them before, but domain registration is a commoditized market and just a couple weeks ago I emailed friend and asked him who he's been using. I’m sure I’ll remember godaddy.com next time it comes to register a domain.

It may have offended your personal sensibilities... I can see why, it was definitely pushing the edge and not the type of ad you are used to seeing on network TV, but as far as i can tell it was super effective establishing themselves as a player in that space and distinguishing their brand from a stodgy competitor like network solutions.

I actually think that your advice that their name should be a more literal reference the business might not be right in this case. There are tons of other companies in this space with descriptive names and they would probably be foolish to spend ad dollars on branding a name like DomainRegGuys.com or something.

Wow, this comment got long. You definitely know more about all this than I do, but there's my 2 pennies. Thx again for the post!