USING TELEVISION TO REACH HOLIDAY SHOPPERS
This article was written by E.J. Schultz in Ad Age published November 4, 2013.
Is Super Bowl Worth $4 Million?
When Butterfinger Brand Manager Jeremy Vandervoet wanted to make a splash for the biggest product debut in the candy bar’s 90-year history — Butterfinger Peanut Butter Cups — he knew exactly where to go: the Super Bowl.
“We went to the CEO and management team for incremental advertising dollars to fund it and — literally — they approved it within five minutes,” he said. “We wanted to buy an ad [in the game] to have credibility, to show that we really believe in [the product] and to generate big and broad awareness.”
As brands finalize plans for the Feb. 2 game on Fox — which is expected to fetch about $4 million for a 30-second spot — Ad Age caught up with rookie and veteran Super Bowl advertisers to learn how they decide whether to go for it at the game or punt.
Making a statement
The game has proved to be a great venue for smaller brands. SodaStream, which sells home soda-making machines, credits its 2013 ad with helping grow distribution to about 16,000 stores from roughly 10,000, said Daniel Birnbaum, the company’s CEO. “It’s really a statement that we are playing serious. It has opened up doors for us,” he said. The marketer, which will be back in 2014, even got a PR boost in global markets blacked out of the game after the company said CBS rejected its original ad because it was a direct hit at Coke and Pepsi, two other Super Bowl advertisers, said Mr. Birnbaum.
Wonderful Pistachios is also returning in 2014 after making its Super Bowl debut this year. Because the brand ran limited TV ads in the winter period, it was able to directly link an 18% sales gain to the in-game ad, said Marc Segiun, VP-marketing for Paramount Farms, which produces Wonderful Pistachios and is part of Roll Global. The brand, which featured South Korean rapper Psy in the ad, is rumored to be considering Miley Cyrus for next year’s spot, according to tabloid reports. “The truth is we really just don’t know yet what it is going to be,” Mr. Segiun said.
Instant awareness
Marketers are increasingly justifying the expense by using their Super Bowl ads to tout news like product launches. Nestlé, which is taking on Reese’s with its peanut-butter-cup launch, projects that consumer awareness on the product will jump from almost nothing to upward of 50% to 80% on the back of its Super Bowl spot and related PR and digital buzz, Mr. Vandervoet said.
Mars, a regular Super Bowl advertiser, is also planning to make news, said Roy Benin, chief consumer officer for Mars Chocolate North America. He wouldn’t disclose details beyond confirming that the marketer will feature Snickers or M&M’s.
Anheuser-Busch InBev in 2012 used the first in-game ad (position 1A) to launch Bud Light Platinum and repeated the strategy this year to debut Budweiser Black Crown. Because people watch the game for the ads, “you have a built-in tailwind in launching something and getting people’s attention,” said Paul Chibe, the brewer’s VP for U.S. marketing. A-B InBev also benefits from being the game’s exclusive advertiser in the beer category. Mr. Chibe pointed to other categories, such as cars, that don’t have exclusivity: “You have a hard time remembering whose ad you saw for what.”
FWM
Local Spots on WZDX FOX54:The game is one thing, but there are opportunities for businesses to engage potential customers throughout the day- Do you watch the commercials before the game?
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