Note: I’ve discussed some commercials, which I then added to this content. I had seen them earlier today and added them to this post after writing my impressions, so they won’t be skewed.
Note: I’ve just noticed most of these commercials are from 2008 (Thanks Hulu.com for the confusion), but I firmly believe that my point it is still understandable. Sorry If I’ve caused any confusions.
Yesterday was the Superbowl. . . woo-hoo! However, I’m not here to talk about the Superbowl. I’m here to talk about how in our current economic climate Public Relations (PR) trumps advertising.
As I’ve said before, we are all trying to be thrifty and conscious before making any purchases or decisions where a high price will come with it, as much as we the little people are doing it, so are big giant corporations. The reasons for both individuals and corporations are a bit different, but in the end both are for survival.
So it surprises me to see this year’s cost for a 30 second Superbowl ad, can you say 3 million dollars? Granted, the superbowl has a massive audience. Only last year 97,448,000 people tuned in to watch the New York Giants beat the New England Patriots, the results for this year are not out (yet) but it’s obvious to say that this year’s audience was massive as well.
When considering that if 97,448,000 people are watching the Superbowl, all of them will see your Superbowl made ad. When you do some calculation you can tell that for one thousand people to see your ad, it will only cost the company 30.78$. This is taking into account the Cost-per-Thousand formula, that advertisers love to use. Advertisers do this however, to inform their clients how many people will see their ad, this does not imply in any shape, way or form what reaction will this ad prompt (buying, selling, ignoring, etc…)
This years Supebowl ads were sold by September, before you know the burst of the Wall St bubble, so that means companies by then had no idea the pickle we were about to get into, so this is forgiven, but in times of economic crisis it is sad to say we have to forget a bit about advertising and use it’s sister PR.
Yes, sometimes PR can be expensive, but right now PR is one of the most effective ways to get your message out and people to listen. Of course, having an “event” or “scene” halfway through the Superbowl would have been expensive, but giving some cool seats to bloggers to go see the Superbowl would’ve been as effective. Sending announcers some refreshments would have been effective. Putting a gift card underneath each seat (or some seats at the stadium) would’ve been effective (costly, but effective). Why? All of these actions get people talking, when these people talk others will listen, so you have to make sure they try product or service you offer, even if it is for a limited amount of time.
These users or tests if you will, will tell others about their experience. This “free” advertising is the best, people will remember. Even though Superbowl ads will hit at least 80 million americans, how many of them will actually remember the ad? Or how many will remember the ad, but will have no idea what the product was about? I saw a few ads this morning before writing this blog and without having my hand in some chip-and-dip, or getting up to go to the bathroom, or having a beer with my buddies while talking about that last play; I can barely remember a few by their ad and their product.
There was one – a funny one, (SuperBowl 2008)where a guy is driving a car, he sees a dear in the headlights, he drives by, he sees someone else drives past by, then he sees Richard Simmons he accelerates almost to run him over and then drives by? Is this ad for:
a) Auto-insurance company
b) A Car, or car company
c) Public Service Announcement
d) Something else
I’m pretty sure it wasn’t “c,” but if it was something else altogether I don’t remember.
There was another one (this one is from SuperBowl 2008) with Will Ferrell acting as Jackie Moon from the movie Semi-Pro, he was promoting a beverage. Can’t remember if it was a beer, a soda, water or a sports drink.
Then there were two stupid ads that I do remember, one (from Superbowl 2008) with Carmen Electra where she was taking pictures and signing autographs for a bunch of weirdos, while her bodyguards keep a close eye. One of the weirdos gives here an “Icebreaker” she says “wow” (which was the codeword if she was in trouble) and both bodyguards jump on the guy, taking him down. Stupid, silly commercial, but I do remember what happened and what product it was advertising.
The other one is a short guy, hey! he looks french and is dressed like Napoleon; is driving a car until some woods, when he gets there there are a bunch of guys in french uniforms, on top of their horses and one of them brings Napoleon a small horse (pony maybe?). The ad was for the Napoleon GPS, I don’t even remember what brand if this for, but I remember the product name, If I go to Best Buy in need of a GPS I will probably come that in my mind.
Last but not least, there was an ad, which I remember only half the product :p. Is where you can get apparently an enhanced website and the ad showed a lot of enhanced women (and almost showed A LOT of an enhanced women). The product is something like daddy.com, godaddy.com, mydaddy.com or something else with daddy dot com.
As you can see some people spent 3 million dollars wisely, other’s well… not so much. Companies and organizations will be wise to wise up (no pun intended) and learn more about Public Relations. PR is about making news and getting your name out there, which will not get you a one page ad in the New York Times, but it will give your company credibility.
