Watching the Superbowls and I gotta say…
- Mon, February 02 2009
- Filed under: Marketing essentials
I’m underwhelmed. The game is way more exciting than the commercials. That said, I love the Hulu site featuring them to share (like here) and vote.
Here’s what you can learn from the millions and millions corporate American spent on the spectacle.
1. Pay attention to the national mood. In the midst of a crappy economy, we saw attempts to brighten things up. There were lots of job hunting sites (that tried to be funny) as well as let’s-be-happy ads (like the Coke one and SoBe one below).
2. Remember your audience. A lot of ads did NOT do this in my view (see below), but some hit the mark like the boring but very effective Hyundai assurance ads (lose your job, you can return the car, we’ll honor that contract with you) and the cars.com ad, which seemed to be based on market research showing people are intimidated by the car buying process.
3. Money doesn’t buy good marketing. There were some real duds. Like TeleFlora and GoDaddy. TeleFlora was awful - thanks guys for making me have totally negative associations with flowers! And who CARES if they are in a box or not?! AWFUL. As for Bud, I loved Conan but I’m totally undecided about all those darn Clydesdales. They are adorable, but I gotta tell you the people who loved the ads the most in my household were all under age 10. Future beer drinkers? Do regular or prospective Bud drinkers like this cutsie thing? I’m not convinced. If you like the horse ads, let me know if you’ll be drinking more Bud now, and I’ll be proved wrong.
Comments
4. Your non-American readers can’t see Hulu videos (and we get lame local commercials during the Bowl too). Double bummer!
Sorry Sue! And all international readers! I wish I had a way to share these with you.
Great point. As I see it Katya, the ads were old very much the same old. When things are as they are now—very different than ever before—there’s a huge gap between the that same old and our current reality. The bigger the gap, the less impact those ads (and other “same olds” have).
Hi Katya. I didn’t get a chance to see many of the commercials, but re: the Clydesdales. Cute commercial. However, the tagline at the end said “The Great American Lager.” Which, with the group I was with, actually made people alightly agitated considering Budwesier was bought by a Belgian comapny.
Thus, marketers need to be truthful and be transparent, and be sensitive to their audience’s reactions.
Hey Katya, your first sentence could not be more accurate, the game was much more exciting than the commercials. I think, given the economic climate, I too was expecting AMAZING commercials from the orgs who shelled out the big bucks to get the spots. I was pretty much all around disappointed. Thought the Coke commercial was cool, did NOT understand the teleflora ad or horse ads. From the dumb silence in my apt filled with about 15 twenty-somethings after each commercial, I think I can say I was not alone with those sentiments. Thanks for voicing what I think all of us were feeling 
Although the Hyundai ad concept may have been b-o-o-o-ring it worked. The January sales for Hyundai went up 14 percent while every other auto company had a decline.