In this first ever MarketStar viewpoints article, two of our more opinionated bloggers go head to head over the value of Super Bowl advertising. We encourage readers to weigh both sides and then post whose side of the argument you agree with. Winner gets ultimate in-office bragging rights and who knows, maybe we'll treat them to a free garden gnome or something to remember their victory by.
Viewpoint 1:
Super Bowl Ads
– Where’s the Beef?
Like everyone else, I love Super Bowl commercials. It’s one of the few times when I’m able to watch a sporting event without using a DVR and still manage to retain my sanity. Super Bowl ads draw out the inner creative director in all of us. My 2011 favorites were: Doritos’ “Healing Chips” and Bridgestone’s “Reply To All”. My misses: Snickers’ “Lumberjacks” and Chrysler’s “Eminem Detroit”. The spots are always well done and fun to watch. They are fun to talk about too. And in many cases that’s about all they are good for: entertainment value.
It is no secret that marketing organizations often fail to do adequate ROI due diligence in understanding the costs and benefits of their spend. Nowhere is that more apparent than in Super Bowl ads. “Entertainment” is not always marketing and “buzz” does not always equal incremental sales or measurable ROI. Let’s break down my personal ROI from the hits and misses above.
Doritos: I love Doritos, I buy them all the time. My love of this ad will not change that, nor will I change my spending pattern one bit. (ROI = no incremental sales or change in brand perception)
Bridgestone: There is a 0 percent chance I will purchase any Bridgestone tires in the foreseeable future (I’m a cut rate tire guy … ride ’em until they are bald) and there is nothing this ad could have done to change that. (ROI = no incremental sales or change in brand perception)
Snickers: I love Snickers as well. I ate approximately 50 mini-Snickers while watching UFC on Saturday evening. (ROI = no incremental sales or change in brand perception unless my brain somehow equates Roseanne with Snickers, then slight negative change)
Chrysler: I like Eminem, and the ad made me like him more – his hometown pride and all – but my immediate reaction was to wonder how many Chrysler jobs could have been saved in lieu of this ad and if any of my tax dollars funded it. (ROI = no incremental sales, negative change in brand perception)
Not great results, even if I am just one (cheap) person. It could be argued the purpose of Super Bowl ads is to drive brand awareness. If true, heavy expenditures in brand awareness advertising only work for certain companies and products. Monster and Go Daddy have gained incredible brand awareness in recent years from broad-based advertising, all beginning with well-placed Super Bowl ads. But it is hard to imagine anyone in America who hasn’t heard of a Snickers bar.
At the very least, marketing managers need to be able to justify the spend on its own merits, without relying on those selling them the advertising. Some discussion questions:
- Will it result in incremental sales? Using Doritos as an example, how many incremental bags of chips would they need to sell to create a positive ROI from the reported $6M they spent on their two spots? Assuming an ASP of $2 with a 30 percent margin = 10 million incremental bags of chips. That’s a lot of magic chips.
- Would I rather have people or ad spend? A company could have hired 15 MBAs at $100K a year for TWO FULL YEARS for the cost of each ad! While some may argue MBAs are not worth much (FedEx for example), the impact of people should never be overlooked.
- What about a negative response? Talk brand awareness all you want, but what if people don’t like the ad. What if the ad brings up unpleasant memories (e.g. dead grandparents) or the spokesperson offends people (e.g. Eminem). How about adult ad content offending conservative viewers? Is all publicity good publicity? No way.
- How do I attach sales to ads/campaigns? When evaluating sales, with a complex marketing and distribution model, how will these companies be able to attach incremental sales to this spot? To put it nicely, it’s murky.
For the most part, the companies advertising during the Super Bowl are incredibly successful with outstanding marketing models and they likely have the data to support their decision and justify the rather large checks they just wrote. However, the point remains: the ROI / impact of marketing spend must be looked at from all angles and I’ve always believed you are better off spending those advertising dollars elsewhere.
Viewpoint 2:
Influence is Beefier
Than You Think
By Tracy Thayne - Director of Marketing
It’s a dangerous proposition – trying to get into the head of a marketer. Understanding the method to our madness is more difficult than you think. As consumers, we’re forced to interpret the intentions of an advertisement without the benefit of knowing the logic behind its execution. And every year during the Super Bowl, we consumers are promoted to critics and enjoy the world’s greatest mass media spectacle.
My wife considers me the ultimate marketing geek, because as a Marketer / Super Bowl Ad Critic, I watch with the intent of cracking the “influence” code, i.e. who the ad is targeting and how it will ultimately play out. Exhilarating! As a commercial ends and the game spins back up, I launch into my typical, theoretic marketing speak, while she finds an excuse to refill the Doritos bowl. I usually have to catch up with her in another room to resume watching the game.
So Joe, not that it will make any sense to someone steeped in business analytics, but let me give you a marketer’s perspective on ROI:
Doritos: If you are a parent, you think Doritos targeted you with the ad, and justifiably so. Clearly you are the center of your household universe. You work hard, control the budget and even do the grocery shopping. The problem is Doritos aren’t as healthy as rice cakes, and as a health-conscious parent you choose to buy foods with high nutritional value. The true influencer in a Doritos purchase are your children, and young adults who haven’t realized that unhealthy eating habits will eventually catch up with them. Over the years, many global studies have been done to understand the role children play in household decisions. They all conclude the same thing – children have a significant influence on purchases.
Bridgestone: In the Bridgestone case, I can’t think of a better mass media placement opportunity. Tires are consumables, and with millions of American drivers on the road, what better way of getting consumers to stop and take notice of a great brand than a Super Bowl ad. Elevating brand awareness is important, even when targeting a cut-rate buyer. Next time your balding tire blows out and the $50 options are: A) Bridgestone Insignia or B) Kumho, which one will you choose?
Snickers: This pretty much follows the same theme as Doritos. Health-conscious people who eat the mini-Snickers bars (low-cal or lighter on the conscience?) are probably not the intended market. Young people who average 2 hours on YouTube per week to watch the antics of stunt junkies were probably closer to their target. The next time they’re faced with a candy bar decision, they will remember Rosanne being leveled by 3,000 lbs. of raw lumber.
Chrysler: The Chrysler ad was very well done. Target: America. I can’t see how any red-blooded American didn’t get influenced by that commercial. I can assure you that for anyone who saw this ad, in the market for a new car, and proud of their citizenship are much more likely to buy American, and will probably even consider Chrysler in the process.
There is nothing more complex than the human psyche, and that is what marketers have been tasked to understand. We strive to compel buyers by mapping value to their needs, and for each individual we compel, countless others only shifted in behavior or attitude. Don’t confuse marketing with science, because it’s just not that easy to measure the factors in true ROI. If understanding influence could be as simple as a mathematical formula, the only thing we would be watching on Super Bowl Sunday is the game.
