Super Bowl XLII: 56 Ads - 3 Questions

Sunday night: Super Bowl XLII. Some watch for the love of the game... some for social reasons... some for the ads.

Monday morning: I sat down at a local coffee shop and happened to catch a glimpse of a fellow customer's computer screen. He was browsing Cars.com.

"They did well last night" I thought to myself (as if they were a team playing).

I continued to sneak-a-peek when it hit me: "Do you think he's on their site BECAUSE of the Super Bowl ads?"

Sunday night's ad collection was much like any other year:

Some were funny (E*Trade, Budweiser, Pepsi, and cars.com)...
Some tried to be funny (Ice Breakers, Bridgestone, Garmin)...
Some were almost meaningful (Dell, Anti-Drug)...
Some were borderline offensive (SalesGenie.com)...
Some were creative (Tide)...
Some were classic (Coke, Anheuser-Busch)...
Some just weird (UnderArmour, CareerBuilder, Amp, and Doritos II)...
One likely changed "a" life (Doritos I)...
Zero political ads.

The viewership for Super Bowl XLII was the highest in Super Bowl history with 97.5 million viewers - peeking at 105 million in the 4^th quarter. The only television event in U.S. history that had more viewers was in 1983 when 106 million people tuned in for the final episode of M-A-S-H. 105 million! In case the numbers seem somewhat arbitrary, it might be helpful to be reminded that there are an estimated 303 million people in the United States. You can do the math.

In other words, FOX is banking. How much bank? Well, FOX charged 2.7 million for each 30 second commercial. I counted 58 (2 shown twice). This means FOX pulled in an estimated 156 million in advertising dollars (minus any “volume discounts”) and more importantly this means that roughly 156 million dollars spent on YOU during the game.

Well… more like $1.50 was spent on you (assuming you tuned in).

QUESTION #1: How will the collective $1.50 investment in you… change you?

As you ponder whether or not you’re worth $1.50… let’s relive two ads that deserve further conversation:

AD #1: DELL’S (PRODUCT) RED AD. Ad Recap. Guy walks down the street with Dell laptop in hand. Guy gets awkwardly touched, praised, and kissed. Guy opens laptop. Screen says “BUY DELL… SAVE LIVES.”

QUESTION #2: Why am I buying a (Product) RED Dell?

Before you answer, it might be worth knowing that purchasing a “RED” computer is a good $150-$300 more than the “boring” colors. Dell donates $50 for a laptop. $80 for a desktop. Again... the math. Though some are calling foul, it seems to be a bit more complicated than a numbers game or even product advertisement. (See David’s post on the “buy more/buy less” debate for further discussion.) Maybe a better question would be: What is being sold? A laptop? Coolness? Change?

AD #2: GODADDY’S “EXPOSURE” AD. History. GoDaddy’s initial 2007 ad gets banned. This year, Submission “A” gets rejected from FOX forcing  (not likely) Plan B. Ad Recap. Group of friends gather for Super Bowl. Some anti-sports-computer-dude invites everyone to the conveniently placed desktop for the complete Danica Patrick’s “exposure” ad. The viewers at home are left with the teaser and invited to GoDaddy.com for “the rest of the story.”

QUESTION #3: Did you visit GoDaddy.com?

Well…whether you did or didn’t, the domain/hosting site witnessed a 400% increase in traffic on Sunday. What seems to be even more interesting, Monday had a similar boost – peaking at over half a million visitors soon after reports that the NFL forced FOX to pull a second proposed commercial from the website.

Though there were a select few other commercials that would have been classified “sexual” in nature (Victoria’s Secret and “maybe” Ice Breakers), GoDaddy’s ad seemed to be the lone representative of the genre. (Seriously, what else is Victoria’s Secret going to do?) So, what does this mean? Are we in post-sexual era? (in the relative sense) Did people go to the site because of a “teaser”? Or is this simply a play on human curiosity? Why the spike after the report of another banned commercial?

There is no doubt that the mother of all advertising days communicates “something”. Something about corporate America. Something about humanity. Something about…

Something about me? Isn’t this what DELL is suggesting? Many people. One you. Buy a DELL for “me”. Help others. A pseudo both/and. You will be a part of change (the many), but don’t forget “you will be cool” and “you will be loved.”

If this sounds like finger pointing, let’s not kid ourselves. Companies don’t spend that kind of money if it doesn’t work. How do I know? It’s me. I love advertising. I’ve bought company stock solely on advertising creativity. I am typing this on a DELL XPS. I own (Product) RED gear. I purchased my latest vehicle via Cars.com. And I own at least 5 domains on GoDaddy.com. In other words, I’m in.

And maybe that’s why Monday morning’s encounter caused me to pause.