Get To The Grapes

What makes a good Superbowl ad?  Well, besides, the obvious selling points: Sex, humor and (what I like to call) heartstrings (you know, those ads that tug at them), what makes a good ad is tapping into the three M’s.  First, the ad must be memorable.  If you’re going to spend $100,000 per second (yes, per second), you’d better hope that everyone in the room remembers your ad. 

The ad must also move the audience, either emotionally or literally.  The audience should be moved to pick up the phone, visit the website or change brands.  If it’s a branding campaign, then you’d better hope the needle moves in your direction with regard to awareness.  If a company is spending that kind of dough, something better move…

The last ‘M’ is meaningful.  Make the message meaningful to the brand.  For example, last year’s CareerBuilder.com ad staring none other than a heart that leaps out of a woman’s chest, was well, disturbing at best. In fact, better yet, it was gross, uncomfortable and made me think twice about finishing the bowl of chili I had been enjoying up until that very moment.  An ad must speak to the brand promise and reinforce it in some way.  There needs to be some connection between the brand and its message. 

So, which commercials actually met the ‘M’ criteria?  Here are a few of my picks. 

1. Bridgestone: “Screaming Squirrel (hilarious and tied directly back to the product)

2. E*Trade: Kids and animals are always a safe bet for commercials.  E-Trade put such an unexpected spin on the ‘kid’ thing and did it brilliantly.  It tied into the brand in that E-Trade is easy and anyone can do it.  And, they gave us a good laugh along the way.  The creepy clown comment…. priceless (and oh so true).

3. Budweiser: Hank the Clydesdale and the Dalmatian lived up to the Bud promise.  Although we LOVE the funny Bud Light commercials, we need something that makes us feel good.  Oh yeah, they tugged the ‘heartstrings’ hard – and we all loved it!

To get you warmed up for Super Bowl XLIII, here is a link to last year’s creative Top 10 lineup: Super Bowl XLII: Top 10 Ads

It’s that time of year when everyone tunes in to see one of the largest sporting events, or in my case, to watch the commercials. The Super Bowl is a marketers dream. In the age of DVR, it is the one time that consumers actually watch the commercials. We get to sit back, watch and most importantly, analyze. Was it creative? Did it capture my attention? Was it effective? Do I even know what the advertisement was for? And they paid how much for that 30 second spot?

This year, the recession is affecting the Super Bowl, just like it is affecting every other area of American life. NBC had trouble filling the available ad space during the Pittsburgh-Arizona game because most companies are too cash-poor to pay for the multi-million-dollar-per-minute fee. General Motors, FedEx, and several other companies have pulled their scheduled ads this year because they do not have the money to justify buying such expensive ad space.

Despite the economy, Doritos, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Monster.com, among others, will have advertisements during this year’s Super Bowl.

Case study after case study shows that brands that invest in marketing and advertising during recessionary times gain marketshare and grow exponentially once the market turns around (which it eventually will). With less noise in the marketplace, those that advertise gain share of voice and in turn, share of mind.

We’ll just have to tune in and see if Monster.com’s millions of dollars for 30 seconds is worth every penny.

In celebration of Macintosh’s 25th anniversary, here is their commercial that ran during the 1984 Super Bowl:

In addition to being the world’s largest retailer, Wal-Mart now tops the list as the ‘largest’ brand in retailing.  The recently released report indicates that Wal-Mart’s brand is now valued at $129.8 billion.  Its closest competitor, Best Buy, comes in at a ‘measly’ $22 billion.  Others in the list of 50 included Home Depot at $20.8 billion, Target Corp. at $17.1 billion and CVS Caremark Corp. at $12.6 billion.

So who cares, right? As marketers we do. A brand, although intangible is incredibly valuable.  I have said this numerous times, but it’s worth repeating.  Consumers don’t buy products, they  buy brands.  Why else do we want a Tiffany & Co. bracelet, when we can get a bracelet anywhere.  Given the current economic environment, it is more important than ever before to focus on building your brand, because after all, it’s  what consumers are going to buy.

As if marketers weren’t already frustrated by the ever-expanding technology that allows consumers to choose what they see and when they see it, Google recently introduced a new SearchWiki.  Now Google users can log in and customize their searches according to their own preferences.  Consumers can even delete search results they find annoying, useless or otherwise.  Check it out for yourself.