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The after-effect of a brand’s appearance during the Super Bowl is considerable as well. Super Bowl advertising is covered ad nauseum by the media—so much so that it is the advertising, not the game, that becomes the biggest single topic of office conversation on the Monday after the game. This year, the impact will last even longer: For the first time, MySpace will host the Super Bowl ads in partnership with Fox, the network broadcasting the game.
All of this creates a high risk-high reward scenario for an advertiser who chooses to expose, or cultivate, its brand in the crucible of Super Bowl scrutiny. There’s nowhere to hide if an ad or attempt to position a brand goes poorly. And that could be bad news for a brand’s image. Over the years there have been smashing successes and stunning failures.
On the positive side, a memorable Super Bowl ad can turn a brand into an icon. Consider “1984,” an ad that Apple ran just once, during the 1984 Super Bowl. It depicted an eerie scenario of a runner hurling a sledgehammer at a “Big Brother” type image on a screen—a scenario representing upstart Apple attacking establishment IBM, maker of the PC. The ad, still discussed today, is credited with positioning Apple’s Macintosh brand as the counter-culture computer.
But controversy arising from a Super Bowl ad can significantly damage a brand. Last year, Masterfoods ran an ad for its Snickers brand candy bar that created such a furor the company pulled the commercial after the Super Bowl. The ad depicted two men who accidentally kiss and then commit violence against themselves. Reportedly, the Human Rights Campaign and the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation complained that the commercial was homophobic.
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On the other hand, some brands thrive on controversy. GoDaddy.com, a firm that registers domain names and sells Internet services, got brand exposure well beyond its Super Bowl ad buy when its ad was initially rejected by the network last year. The publicity surrounding the incident drove additional interest in the ad when it finally ran. According to GoDaddy.com, its market share went from 32 percent to 38 percent right after the 2007 Super Bowl.
And then there are brands that reinvent themselves at the Super Bowl. Dove, which some consumers might have regarded as a sleepy soap brand, captured attention and received accolades after its ad ran during the 2006 Super Bowl. The Dove ad, which talked about self-esteem in young girls, was widely praised, creating a new, socially-conscious brand image. It was the beginning of an entirely new promotional direction for Dove.
This year, America’s leading detergent brand and one of the oldest, Tide, will make its first appearance on the Super Bowl. Brand owner Procter & Gamble (P&G), arguably the greatest consumer brands company in the world, has been noticeably absent at Super Bowls, appearing only twice before. That’s largely because P&G’s target audience is female. But over the past two years, the percentage of US women watching the Super Bowl has increased substantially. Last year about half of all viewers were women. That makes this year’s Super Bowl an ad buy P&G can’t overlook.
Super Bowl XLII advertisers will include such brands as Anheuser-Busch’s Bud and Bud Light, Pepsi-Cola, and General Motors’ Chevrolet, all regular advertisers. Victoria’s Secret, absent from the Super Bowl for nine years, is coming back in an effort to revive its flagging retail business. Cars.com will launch a branding campaign and introduce a new tagline. And yes, GoDaddy.com will be back, after creating yet another flap about its ad.
The Super Bowl is a media phenomenon unlike any other, with the power to enhance a brand’s image or hurt it, depending on how the advertising is perceived. Keep your eye out for post-Super Bowl advertising analyses to see if the Super Bowl will help propel any super brands in 2008.
[28-Jan-2008]
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Barry Silverstein has been a frequent brandchannel contributor since 2007. He has thirty years of advertising and marketing experience and is currently a freelance writer and marketing consultant. He founded and ran his own direct marketing agency and held executive positions with Epsilon, a leading database marketing firm and Arnold, a major ad agency. Silverstein is the author of three marketing books, including the McGraw-Hill book, The Breakaway Brand, which he co-authored with Arnold CEO Fran Kelly.
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