Super Bowl Marketing: Closing Customers in 30 Seconds Flat

Advertisements and the strategy that goes into their creation has always been impressive to me. One of the most impressive shows of advertising prowess can be seen in the multi-million dollar version that we will see in this year’s Super Bowl. For 30 or 60 seconds businesses put their brand on the line and many times dish up commercials that folks will be talking about for the whole year and years to come. Some work for the companies and some do not.

Many would think that a struggling economy would lead to a hesitant marketing plan, but the opposite is true for the LVIII Super Bowl. For a mere $6.5-7 million for 30 seconds of our attention companies have scarfed up CBS air-time in record time.

Today we want to look at the past, present, and future of sponsorships for the big game and why they are merit such a high price tag.

Popular Super Bowl Commercials

We all have our favorite Super Bowl commercial that we remember from years gone by, mine have always been the Budweiser Clydesdale commercialshttps://youtu.be/eJucRz8kYo0 because of their heartfelt stories and beautiful horses and scenery. What are some that you remember?

Entertainment Weekly has their favorites and have broken down the 20 best Super Bowl commercials of all-time. Check out their full list. For now, let’s take a look at a few from the list.

1. No one can forget the nostalgic Coca-Cola commercial with ‘Mean’ Joe Greene and a young fan. They exchange in a heartfelt conversation that swept the County by storm back during the 1980 Super Bowl with the words, “Hey Kid, Catch.” The relatability of the feeling that the kid must have when a football great shares a special moment with him seems to draw folks in every time.
2. Another of my favorites is also from Bud-WEIS-er. When they brought us those quirky frogs. These frogs are quick witted and fun loving with good story lines making viewers long for more.
3. You may also remember the E-Trade baby who talked to us about current stock trends. There is something about a baby that draws folks in and since this one talked to us we are intrigued by how creators made him do that.

I could go through all of the commercials that you know and love from time gone by, but I wanted to talk to you a little more about this year’s commercial line up.

Outlook for Super Bowl LVIII

With pricing for commercials staying around the same price as last year’s big game advertisers are still investing to get in front of the captive audience. More than 115 million viewers watched the previous Super Bowl. An audience like this is fixated on the commercials for their cost and for many of them, their creativity and audiences are just drawn to each commercial, making this a sound investment for companies who can afford the price tag.

Marketing Dive has the breakdown on some of the companies who have scarfed up one of the commercials spots. To give a preview, Volkswagen will be celebrating their 75th anniversary in America. M&M, Kia and Oreo are some others that will make their way back to the big game. Interesting to see what M&M has in store after their commercial from the 2023 Super Bowl that mentioned that their iconic M&M spokes people would be taking an “indefinite pause” in their representation due to controversy.

Why Marketers Invest in the Super Bowl

So what could possibly possess a marketer to fork over more than $6 million for 30 seconds of viewers time? Stats. The PR Newswire compiled a summary of are report taken by Verylinx that showed that there really was a positive impact that companies had on influencing consumers from the 2023 Super Bowl. When marketers see results they will spend any amount of money to repeat the same result for their company.

Our companies may not make as much as these, but we can still use their data to create campaigns that are equally as beneficial for our companies, even if it is on a different scale. The main take away from Super Bowl investments, go where the people are. Ads for the Super Bowl not only get in front of a lot of viewers ready to watch the big game, but also want to get in front of viewers who are actually there because they are interested in the COMMERCIALS for a change. That is a rare opportunity that companies who can, do. We can also look into how to recreate that in our respective markets. Where will our possible consumers be and be engaged by our message? When we figure that out we can surely capitalize on our efforts no matter the size of our company.

Future of Super Bowl Ads

The market for Super Bowl advertising is alive and well. My hunch is that the interest will be there for as long as the game is going to be played. Advertisers will need to get more and more creating in expressing the message of their business and to peak the interest of Gen Z who are generally less interested in any ad. Reaching these audiences will be the key in this and future Super Bowls, but the sky is the limit and those companies who can figure this out will certain benefit the most.