Toning Down $3 Million Super Bowl Commercials

Extravagant or Insensitive TV Spots Might Backfire on Advertisers

Jan 7, 2009

In a down economy, some Super Bowl advertisers may scale back the scope of their commercials in deference to financially troubled customers and unemployed workers.

It’s tough to spend $3 million for a 30-second commercial without seeming extravagant or even arrogantly rich when hundreds of thousands of workers are out of jobs and millions of families are struggling to make ends meet. That’s why experts say some advertisers may tone down their Super Bowl commercials during tough economic times.

According to Paul Thomasch and Ben Klayman of Reuters, some executives were warning Super Bowl advertisers "to avoid appearing over-the-top" in their 2009 commercials. They said consumers may be "easily offended by companies paying to run expensive commercials even as jobs disappear this year."

Robert Boland, professor of sports management at New York University, told Reuters "you'll see a little bit of change in tone" in most 2009 advertising as companies try to control prices.

Advertisers can’t hide the multi-million dollar Super Bowl time cost, but they can make commercials that appear reasonable to produce and, as Boland says, be "more understanding of people's problems."

Commercials Can be Good Investments

Advertisers can argue that the Super Bowl commercials are good investments even at $3 million for a 30-second spot. With the American bowl audiences estimated at 95 million, the cost comes down to less than 3.2 cents per viewer.

That compares to about 5.6 cents per viewer for a $1.8 million spot on the annual Academy Awards program. The Oscar audience is estimated at 32 million.

Advertisers can and do also point to the tremendous publicity and buzz that accompany the Super Bowl and its commercials. In addition, most people watch the game live, instead of recording it and then skipping past the commercials, as they do with many other television programs. In fact, some people will probably record it and play it back just to watch the commercials.

Others will scan the Internet to take repeat looks at the most highly rated commercials and participate in rating the best of them, all of which add value to the Super Bowl investment.

NBC Says Most Spots Sold

NBC reported early in 2009 that most of its Super Bowl spots had been sold and most of them had been sold at the well-publicized $3 million price tag. Sales have gone well in spite of General Motors and Federal Express dropping their bowl advertising for 2009.

The move was probably wise for General Motors. The company would have been hard pressed to justify spending millions on Super Bowl advertising when it was begging the federal government for billions to save it from bankruptcy.

According to Steve McClellan of AdWeek,com, the troubled economy prompted one agency to put together a package in which eight advertisers would share the cost of one 30-second commercial. However, NBC rejected any shared spots.

Pepsi and DreamWorks Animation

Despite the recession, Pepsi and DreamWorks Animation Inc. are pushing ahead with what DreamWorks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg says may be "the biggest media-advertising event in history." According to Michael Cidoni of the Associated Press, it will be the Super Bowl’s first 3-D commercial, a 90-second spot promoting the 3-D movie "Monsters vs. Aliens."

Pepsi will participate by distributing an estimated 150 million 3-D glasses at 28,000 retail outlets.

The copyright of the article Toning Down $3 Million Super Bowl Commercials in TV Advertising is owned by Carroll Trosclair. Permission to republish Toning Down $3 Million Super Bowl Commercials in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.