The blog for A2 Media Studies at Great Barr School; Editor Barry Rainsford
media studies
Monday 9 February 2015
Monday 2 February 2015
SUPERBOWL ADVERTS 2015
It's that time of year again - Superbowl. And that means only one thing. Superbowl adverts!
Around the world, an estimated one billion people watched last year's Super Bowl.
Around the world, an estimated one billion people watched last year's Super Bowl.
Research suggests that up to half of viewers in the USA tune-in specifically for the adverts, which are the most expensive in global television.
A 30 second slot during the event sells for around $4.5 million (£3.0 million).
The average price of Super Bowl ads have risen more than 50 per cent in the last 10 years, defying economic downturns.
The game could easily generate over a quarter of a billion dollars in ad sales.
The importance of the event as a media product is shown by the way American TV stations devote whole programmes and large features on regular news programmes to examining and analyzing the adverts as if they are works of art to be reviewed. Certainly, given the scope of the audience and the fact that 60% say they watch whilst using social media to post/discuss the adverts shows that the trends these adverts represent are indicative of the state of the [USA] advertising market.
Experts call it fragmentation. TV shows no longer attract big audience that once made mass marketing possible, so advertisers lost faith in making big budget emotional spectaculars to move the general public.
How often do you watch media products with your parents or wider family?
What kinds of programmes?
Why/why not?
Critics called Breaking Bad the greatest show of all time, but fewer than 3% of Americans actually watched it.
More than a hundred million Americans come together to watch the game. And a hundred million viewers glued to their TVs for four hours is a big deal for advertisers.
The airtime alone costs $4.5 million for 30 seconds. Many advertisers budget a further $4-6m to preview their spots on YouTube and promote them on Twitter. They have staffed social media command centers with sitcom writers to talk their way into the online conversation and spin it the way of the advertisers and their client. Add the cost of shooting special effects and hiring the star name or director [usually in the region of $1 million] and the fifty advertisers who appear in the Super Bowl have staked half a billion dollars on a night’s popularity.
Some struck early. The 2014 game was the first Super Bowl where the ads were already in the public domain weeks in advance of the event and in that year Budweiser racked up close to 20m YouTube views of their Super Bowl spots before game time.
We might consider how this impacts on our understanding of the AQA MEST3 examination, specifically Section B and the Impact of Technology task.
[1] When did Superbowl move from being a programme about the sports to one in which over 50% of the audience admitted that they watched it as much for the adverts as the football? The fact that the audience can utilise social media to discuss in real time the adverts suggests that the impact of social media platforms is a key issue. We might usefully employ Blumler and Katz here - social identity - as a reason underlying audiences use of this media product.
[2] The preview of adverts phenomenon across TV stations and internet indicates that broadcasters themselves now comprehend the value of the advert as social media product. There is as much written about the adverts in the run up to Superbowl as to the game. the fact that the companies themselves use You tube to preview their products for Superbowl indicates their understanding that audiences now actively seek out adverts - a marketing dream!
[3] The spend on adverts [$4.5 million for 30 seconds, $1 million for production of the advert; some $4 million for You Tube and web promotion] suggests that these slots are seen as being special in their appeal in a way that no other adverts usually are. That the adverts are designed to evoke a social media response [ Controversial - the Go-Daddy and Carl Jr adverts from past finals; Emotional appeal - Clint Eastwood Halftime for America from 2014]; Humorous - the Geico adverts; Family Values - the Dove Mencare adverts; McDonalds advert 2015; Warmth - Budweiser puppy adverts] is good example of Blumler and Katz as well as Hall's Encoding/Decoding response or the Perception theory of Morley etc.
[4] That the adverts are designed to create and set agendas for the product - McComb's agenda setting theory - such as the BMW clean fuel advert or the McDonalds 2015 advert.
[5] The employment of social media intervention strategists working live in real time to steer conversations on line suggests the power of 2-Step Flow as well as agenda setting and directing. That social media is a form of audience approval [or not] highlights the impact of new technology on advertising campaigns and audience interpretations of their messages.
Maybe the Samsung advert from 2013 gives an insight into the whole process.
Below are some examples from 2015 and some that explore continuing issues.
BUD LIGHT:
TRYING TO IMPROVE BRAND IMAGE
Some companies had a lot to prove — and it showed in their ads.
McDonald's returned to the Super Bowl with an ad for its latest promotion, which will let randomly selected customers pay for their orders with acts of love, like a high-five, fist bump or a call to a relative. The promotion starts Monday and runs through Feb. 14
The McDonald's ad was an extension of the company's recently launched campaign seeking to associate its brand with the positive emotion of loving as it fights to hold onto customers amid intensifying competition.
According to the contest rules posted online, McDonald's says each participating restaurant will select 100 winners over the course of the contest.
Meanwhile, Carnival Cruise Lines' ad included a voiceover by John F. Kennedy speaking about the sea. The world's largest cruise company was trying to boost the image of cruises with its first ever Super Bowl ad after several years of bad publicity from illnesses on ships and the Costa Concordia wreck in 2012.
And Coca-Cola's ad called for positivity in the face of online negativity.
The company's "Make It Happy" ad was an update on its long-running strategy of getting people to associate its soft drinks with happiness at a time when people increasingly see them as unhealthy
The importance of the event as a media product is shown by the way American TV stations devote whole programmes and large features on regular news programmes to examining and analyzing the adverts as if they are works of art to be reviewed. Certainly, given the scope of the audience and the fact that 60% say they watch whilst using social media to post/discuss the adverts shows that the trends these adverts represent are indicative of the state of the [USA] advertising market.
Experts call it fragmentation. TV shows no longer attract big audience that once made mass marketing possible, so advertisers lost faith in making big budget emotional spectaculars to move the general public.
How often do you watch media products with your parents or wider family?
What kinds of programmes?
Why/why not?
Critics called Breaking Bad the greatest show of all time, but fewer than 3% of Americans actually watched it.
More than a hundred million Americans come together to watch the game. And a hundred million viewers glued to their TVs for four hours is a big deal for advertisers.
The airtime alone costs $4.5 million for 30 seconds. Many advertisers budget a further $4-6m to preview their spots on YouTube and promote them on Twitter. They have staffed social media command centers with sitcom writers to talk their way into the online conversation and spin it the way of the advertisers and their client. Add the cost of shooting special effects and hiring the star name or director [usually in the region of $1 million] and the fifty advertisers who appear in the Super Bowl have staked half a billion dollars on a night’s popularity.
Some struck early. The 2014 game was the first Super Bowl where the ads were already in the public domain weeks in advance of the event and in that year Budweiser racked up close to 20m YouTube views of their Super Bowl spots before game time.
We might consider how this impacts on our understanding of the AQA MEST3 examination, specifically Section B and the Impact of Technology task.
[1] When did Superbowl move from being a programme about the sports to one in which over 50% of the audience admitted that they watched it as much for the adverts as the football? The fact that the audience can utilise social media to discuss in real time the adverts suggests that the impact of social media platforms is a key issue. We might usefully employ Blumler and Katz here - social identity - as a reason underlying audiences use of this media product.
[2] The preview of adverts phenomenon across TV stations and internet indicates that broadcasters themselves now comprehend the value of the advert as social media product. There is as much written about the adverts in the run up to Superbowl as to the game. the fact that the companies themselves use You tube to preview their products for Superbowl indicates their understanding that audiences now actively seek out adverts - a marketing dream!
[3] The spend on adverts [$4.5 million for 30 seconds, $1 million for production of the advert; some $4 million for You Tube and web promotion] suggests that these slots are seen as being special in their appeal in a way that no other adverts usually are. That the adverts are designed to evoke a social media response [ Controversial - the Go-Daddy and Carl Jr adverts from past finals; Emotional appeal - Clint Eastwood Halftime for America from 2014]; Humorous - the Geico adverts; Family Values - the Dove Mencare adverts; McDonalds advert 2015; Warmth - Budweiser puppy adverts] is good example of Blumler and Katz as well as Hall's Encoding/Decoding response or the Perception theory of Morley etc.
[4] That the adverts are designed to create and set agendas for the product - McComb's agenda setting theory - such as the BMW clean fuel advert or the McDonalds 2015 advert.
[5] The employment of social media intervention strategists working live in real time to steer conversations on line suggests the power of 2-Step Flow as well as agenda setting and directing. That social media is a form of audience approval [or not] highlights the impact of new technology on advertising campaigns and audience interpretations of their messages.
Maybe the Samsung advert from 2013 gives an insight into the whole process.
SUPERBOWL 2015 ADVERTS AND CAMPAIGNS
Below are some examples from 2015 and some that explore continuing issues.
BUD LIGHT:
DORITOS
Doritos ran a lengthy 'home-made' advert contest with the winner to appear in the final. A neat way of avoiding the production cost whilst generating massive audience interest. A good example of products that ride a wave of Superbowl interest for many months ahead of the event. Last year the use of audience to vote for which Beckham advert was shown ['naked' or 'clothed'] took on similar approach. Again, we might apply our theory to the campaign and also to impact of social media - the control debate.
DOVE MENCARE
MCDONALDS
Some companies had a lot to prove — and it showed in their ads.
McDonald's returned to the Super Bowl with an ad for its latest promotion, which will let randomly selected customers pay for their orders with acts of love, like a high-five, fist bump or a call to a relative. The promotion starts Monday and runs through Feb. 14
The McDonald's ad was an extension of the company's recently launched campaign seeking to associate its brand with the positive emotion of loving as it fights to hold onto customers amid intensifying competition.
According to the contest rules posted online, McDonald's says each participating restaurant will select 100 winners over the course of the contest.
Meanwhile, Carnival Cruise Lines' ad included a voiceover by John F. Kennedy speaking about the sea. The world's largest cruise company was trying to boost the image of cruises with its first ever Super Bowl ad after several years of bad publicity from illnesses on ships and the Costa Concordia wreck in 2012.
And Coca-Cola's ad called for positivity in the face of online negativity.
The company's "Make It Happy" ad was an update on its long-running strategy of getting people to associate its soft drinks with happiness at a time when people increasingly see them as unhealthy
SKITTLES AND SNICKERS
In the battle of candy-coated sugar pebbles, Skittles pulls ahead of M&Ms for at least one night. The fruit chews will feature their first-ever Super Bowl ad this year while Mars chose to push Snickers instead of the chocolate candies. Here are teasers for each of the coming ads. Danny Trejo as a member of "The Brady Bunch" is priceless. And former NFL quarterback Kurt Warner stars in the Skittles spot.
VICTORIA SECRET
GEICO
MERCEDES-BENZ
'BANNED' SUPERBOWL ADVERT
There's always one - last year Soda Stream were forced to withdraw or re-edit a spot that featured Samantha Morton pitying Coke and Pepsi because soda stream was going to destroy their market [Pepsi and Coke are major sponsors of Superbowl and the TV channel that shows it]. Smantha Morton was also forced to resign a United Nations role she held because of her links to Soda Stream who had built a factory on disputed land in the Gaza Strip.
This year it was Go-Daddy. Not because of a continuation of what many had seen as previous Superbowl sexually offensive adverts but because they used a puppy! A preview showing of the advert on a major TV channel lead to such a hostile social media campaign that they withdrew the advert.
Not all advertisers play safe. the Nationwide insurance company opted for quite a controversial offering
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