Super Bowl ads rely on the force
By Claire Cudahy
There are two types of Super Bowl viewers: the football fans and the ones in it for the commercials. I fall into the latter category.
After watching the game — tuning in for the commercials — I began to wonder about the effectiveness of Super Bowl commercials. With an estimated 111 million people watching the Feb. 6 Super Bowl, there was a lot of pressure on companies to produce a commercial that would stick in the minds of viewers.
When the fans were not watching the Green Bay Packers take on the Pittsburgh Steelers, they were bombarded by more than 100 commercials for products ranging from beer to insurance. With 30 second ads costing around $3 million, a lot was riding on the entertainment value of these commercials.
Since 2005, the Retail Advertising and Marketing Association (RAMA) has commissioned an annual survey to calculate the consumerism of Americans related to the Super Bowl event.
Compared to a $5.6 billion "Total Super Bowl Related Spending Predicted" in 2005, the 2011 Super Bowl was forecasted to bring in around $10.1 billion in related spending.
With a larger audience than any other televised event in America, the Super Bowl incites a boost in the retail industry, while also providing long-term benefits for the advertised brands, as their (hopefully) memorable commercials become viral sensations.
Take for instance the Volkswagen commercial — arguably Sunday night's funniest — in which a young boy sporting full Darth Vader garb attempts to use the Force on just about everything. After the commercial aired, Twitter, Facebook and the blogosphere were abuzz with commentary and links regarding the ad. Monday morning, the 6 year-old actor, Max Page, and his mom appeared on "Today" for an interview.
That kind of media response is exactly what every advertiser in the Super Bowl dreams of.
One of the problems Richard Feinberg, a consumer psychologist at Purdue University, finds with Super Bowl advertising is that the $3 million only allows for one airing of the commercial.
"Since repetition is the foundation of consumer memory, companies just might be better off with ten $300,000 commercials than one $3 million commercial," he said in an interview with the Purdue Alumni Association.
Or, maybe just one extremely funny and catchy commercial would do; leave the rest up to social media. Volkswagen's ad is now one of the top circulating videos on YouTube and continues to get more hits as the hours pass.
So does this catchy entertainment factor lead to an increase in sales? It depends on who you ask.
In the book "Advertising and the Mind of the Consumer: What Works, What Doesn't, and Why," authors Max Sutherland and Alice C. Sylvester say that advertising is often so subtle that it does not feel like persuasion, but minor effects can tip the scale when multiple brands are essentially equal. With the added factor of repetition, this preference can grow.
Feinberg, however, remains wary of the Super Bowl commercial, saying it "doesn't guarantee that consumers will become more aware of a product or make a purchase more likely than if the money had been spent in a less expensive but still effective way."
And as for the rest of us? Interestingly enough, RAMA found that the vast majority — 74.9 percent to be exact — believe that the Super Bowl commercials are mainly about entertainment.
Who is to say that the next time you are out buying a car your subconscious won't recall the feeling of happiness you got from watching a pint-sized Darth Vader and steer you towards the shiny silver Passat?
Only time — or Volkswagen's sales — will tell.
Claire Cudahy is a junior english major.