This morning we were kicking around Superbowl TV advertising and I raised the question: have you ever bought anything based upon a Superbowl ad? I haven’t. I’ve never gotten up from my chair and said: “That’s it, I’m done drinking this brand of beer, it’s time to switch to that brand because of that commercial.” Sure, I enjoy the tradition which has become the Superbowl commercials, but has this tradition, at least in my own case, resulted in any change in buying activity, whatsoever?

Nope.

For advertisers and their agencies, the Super Bowl is the biggest stage, where they vie for the title of most memorable or entertaining commercial. This year, TV network Fox sold 30-second spots for up to $2.4 million each.

2.4 million … that’s a lot of sales needed to recoup the expense. Our own minimum ROI for advertising is 5:1. So that means by spending two million we’d need to generate 10 million in business to be satisfied with the ad. I have to question whether most of (maybe any of these) advertisers are generating 5:1 ROI.

So, the next thing is the ultimate advertiser buzzword: “branding” — does Budweiser really need branding? I don’t think so. If people are already drinking Budweiser, then seeing them on the Superbowl or not, isn’t going to reinforce their confidence in the brand. Maybe I’m in the minority on this one, but I don’t see the value in most TV advertising at this pricing model. Now the ballgame will totally change when TV becomes more interactive. Various attempts have been made – and continue to be made – to better integrate TV with the internet or some other type of — buy it now — option. When that technology comes to fruition and grabs sufficient traction than TV advertising on the scale of the Superbowl will begin to make good business sense again. But until that time, it will continue to be what the game is on the field: the biggest of the biggest penis contests.

Did this post make you go hmm?

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