thedrifter
02-04-06, 09:14 AM
Super Bowl ads still hot, but Olympics are golden
By Frank Green
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
February 4, 2006
The Super Bowl lost yardage this year as TV's premier advertising showcase when several longtime sponsors decided to skip tomorrow's game in favor of buying commercials during the upcoming Winter Olympics.
McDonald's and Visa USA are among those passing on costly Super Bowl XL ads for what is expected to be 17 straight, high-rated evenings of Olympics competition. The Olympics in Turin, Italy, will begin five days after the gridiron clash in Detroit.
The defections have some marketing experts wondering anew if expensive, one-shot Super Bowl TV commercials are the most effective way to court consumers.
But it's hard to discount sheer numbers. About 133 million people tuned in to the game last year, and about the same number are expected to watch the Pittsburgh Steelers and Seattle Seahawks battle this year.
“If you want to attract attention for a new product, it makes sense” to book the Super Bowl, said Tim Calkins, clinical associate professor of marketing at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.
But he said the Olympics may be a better buy for companies like McDonald's that simply want to keep their familiar brands in the public eye.
While the Super Bowl still commands top ad dollars, it faces tougher competition this year from the Winter Olympics.
ABC is charging as much as $2.5 million for a 30-second Super Bowl spot – up $100,000 or so from last year – although some fourth-quarter placements may be had for as low as $1.7 million. Buying ad time during the game's final minutes can be a gamble because many viewers tune out if the score is lopsided.
By comparison, NBC's Olympics ad spots are priced at the relatively bargain-basement rate of $700,000 for 30 seconds.
ABC and NBC have sold nearly all their available ad spots, reaping an estimated $150 million and $900 million, respectively.
Visa USA said it opted to book ads only on the Olympics broadcasts because viewers will see the brand repeatedly on multiple evenings during one of the world's most-watched sporting events.
The 1994 Winter Olympics telecast from Lillehammer, Norway, – featuring the Nancy Kerrigan-Tonya Harding skating mini-drama – ranks as one of the most-viewed sports programs in history, according to Nielsen Media Research. CBS, which telecast those games, said about 204 million people tuned in.
This year's Winter Olympics in Turin are expected to surpass the lofty ratings of the 2002 contests in Salt Lake City, which attracted 187 million viewers. The women's figure skating finals alone drew nearly 80 million viewers.
“The Super Bowl is the most-watched single broadcast of the year, but when seen in terms of the Olympics, NBC will win every evening of primetime for 17 days,” said Mike Rolnick, a Visa USA spokesman.
McDonald's plans to blanket the Olympics, the World Cup and other sporting events with ads this year, but it has reportedly decided to forgo Super Bowl XL except for a commercial in the pre-game show.
Last year's ad – about a French fry that looks like Abraham Lincoln – flopped with TV critics and consumers.
McDonald's and Visa have aired memorable ads during previous Super Bowls. In 1993, basketball greats Michael Jordan and Larry Bird played a super-competitive game of H-O-R-S-E for a Big Mac, while last year's Visa ad used Marvel comics heroes.
McDonald's Olympics ads this year will include commercials featuring mascot Ronald McDonald preparing for athletic competition, while Visa will announce that it is changing its longtime “Everywhere you want to be” motto.
One of the Super Bowl's advantages for advertisers: 18 percent of male viewers and 38 percent of female viewers say they enjoy watching the ads more than the game, according to comScore Network's research division.
“Super Bowl viewers comprise the last remaining mass-market audience,” said Liz Goodgold, author of “Duh! Marketing: 99 Monstrous Missteps You Can Use to Learn, Laugh and Grow Your Business.” “People who watch the Olympics aren't tuning in to preview the ads.”
Super Bowl advertisers also are gaining extra yards through replays. After the commercials have aired, people can use their TiVo and DVR devices to rerun commercials, download ads from the Internet or from links at video.yahoo.com, NFL.com and video.google.com or watch the ads on their Sprint phones.
After the game, MTV's iFilm.com will have all the ads available on its site for viewing. It also has an archive containing game commercials from previous years.
More than two dozen corporate monoliths such as Anheuser-Busch – which has spent a record $230 million at the Super Bowl in the last 20 years – have signed on to showcase products and unveil marketing campaigns during the Seahawks-Steelers game, including:
Burger King, which stepped into the huddle after McDonald's dropped out. It will air a 60-second segment featuring 92 “Whopperettes” dressed as singing and dancing patties, tomatoes, lettuce and other burger trimmings.
Toyota, which will launch a new campaign for its popular Camry hybrid with a commercial featuring a Hispanic father and son driving their new car. Toyota said 7 percent of Super Bowl viewers are Hispanic, and 25 percent of Hispanics 18 and older watch the game.
Unilever's Dove soap, which, in an unusual ad placement for the game, will air a 45-second spot challenging stereotypes about beauty and encouraging girls to feel more confident. Dove said it chose the “nontraditional marketing venue for its powerful potential to bring widespread attention to the issue of self-esteem.”
Analysts estimated that companies advertising during the Super Bowl can spend $4 million or more on each ad by the time the commercial is produced and the network paid. With that much money at stake, plus the risk involved in showing a new TV commercial in front of much of the world, companies often take months to decide on an ad's theme and presentation.
Sprint, returning to the Super Bowl this year after a 12-year hiatus, said it started looking for ideas four months ago by reviewing about 30 of the all-time most popular Super Bowl spots.
The company's two ads will show a man with “a Slavic accent” hyping its new TV and music-downloading phone services. Sprint also is co-sponsoring the game's halftime show featuring the Rolling Stones.
In recent years, Sprint “had a mindset about the cost and price” of being spotlighted during the Super Bowl broadcast, spokeswoman Angela Read said. “But this year, it made sense because of the trifecta of being the NFL's official wireless phone company and participating in the halftime show.”
At least one company is happily back between the goal posts for the second consecutive year. Stockton-based Diamond Foods said sales of its Emerald Nuts brand soared 56 percent in the days following its Super Bowl ad last year and have continued to sizzle ever since.
The company's message was a hit not only with consumers, but also with retailers, said Tim Cannon, director of marketing.
“We were able to leverage our upcoming ad to gain better in-store placements, such as secondary displays ... which appear at the end of the aisles,” Cannon said.
Diamond said it hopes to stand out among this year's heavy competition with an extended word game featuring offbeat characters such as a druid and machete-wielding men.
Cannon said the Emerald logo will show up on the Super Bowl and Olympics telecasts this year.
“The Super Bowl provides reach that is vital for brand building, while the Olympics provide frequency that is ideal for brand maintenance,” he said.
Frank Green: (619) 293-1233; frank.green@uniontrib.com
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060204/images/burgerking.jpg
Associated Press
A Burger King Super Bowl ad features “Whopperettes” dressed as buns, pickles and other trimmings.
Ellie
By Frank Green
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
February 4, 2006
The Super Bowl lost yardage this year as TV's premier advertising showcase when several longtime sponsors decided to skip tomorrow's game in favor of buying commercials during the upcoming Winter Olympics.
McDonald's and Visa USA are among those passing on costly Super Bowl XL ads for what is expected to be 17 straight, high-rated evenings of Olympics competition. The Olympics in Turin, Italy, will begin five days after the gridiron clash in Detroit.
The defections have some marketing experts wondering anew if expensive, one-shot Super Bowl TV commercials are the most effective way to court consumers.
But it's hard to discount sheer numbers. About 133 million people tuned in to the game last year, and about the same number are expected to watch the Pittsburgh Steelers and Seattle Seahawks battle this year.
“If you want to attract attention for a new product, it makes sense” to book the Super Bowl, said Tim Calkins, clinical associate professor of marketing at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.
But he said the Olympics may be a better buy for companies like McDonald's that simply want to keep their familiar brands in the public eye.
While the Super Bowl still commands top ad dollars, it faces tougher competition this year from the Winter Olympics.
ABC is charging as much as $2.5 million for a 30-second Super Bowl spot – up $100,000 or so from last year – although some fourth-quarter placements may be had for as low as $1.7 million. Buying ad time during the game's final minutes can be a gamble because many viewers tune out if the score is lopsided.
By comparison, NBC's Olympics ad spots are priced at the relatively bargain-basement rate of $700,000 for 30 seconds.
ABC and NBC have sold nearly all their available ad spots, reaping an estimated $150 million and $900 million, respectively.
Visa USA said it opted to book ads only on the Olympics broadcasts because viewers will see the brand repeatedly on multiple evenings during one of the world's most-watched sporting events.
The 1994 Winter Olympics telecast from Lillehammer, Norway, – featuring the Nancy Kerrigan-Tonya Harding skating mini-drama – ranks as one of the most-viewed sports programs in history, according to Nielsen Media Research. CBS, which telecast those games, said about 204 million people tuned in.
This year's Winter Olympics in Turin are expected to surpass the lofty ratings of the 2002 contests in Salt Lake City, which attracted 187 million viewers. The women's figure skating finals alone drew nearly 80 million viewers.
“The Super Bowl is the most-watched single broadcast of the year, but when seen in terms of the Olympics, NBC will win every evening of primetime for 17 days,” said Mike Rolnick, a Visa USA spokesman.
McDonald's plans to blanket the Olympics, the World Cup and other sporting events with ads this year, but it has reportedly decided to forgo Super Bowl XL except for a commercial in the pre-game show.
Last year's ad – about a French fry that looks like Abraham Lincoln – flopped with TV critics and consumers.
McDonald's and Visa have aired memorable ads during previous Super Bowls. In 1993, basketball greats Michael Jordan and Larry Bird played a super-competitive game of H-O-R-S-E for a Big Mac, while last year's Visa ad used Marvel comics heroes.
McDonald's Olympics ads this year will include commercials featuring mascot Ronald McDonald preparing for athletic competition, while Visa will announce that it is changing its longtime “Everywhere you want to be” motto.
One of the Super Bowl's advantages for advertisers: 18 percent of male viewers and 38 percent of female viewers say they enjoy watching the ads more than the game, according to comScore Network's research division.
“Super Bowl viewers comprise the last remaining mass-market audience,” said Liz Goodgold, author of “Duh! Marketing: 99 Monstrous Missteps You Can Use to Learn, Laugh and Grow Your Business.” “People who watch the Olympics aren't tuning in to preview the ads.”
Super Bowl advertisers also are gaining extra yards through replays. After the commercials have aired, people can use their TiVo and DVR devices to rerun commercials, download ads from the Internet or from links at video.yahoo.com, NFL.com and video.google.com or watch the ads on their Sprint phones.
After the game, MTV's iFilm.com will have all the ads available on its site for viewing. It also has an archive containing game commercials from previous years.
More than two dozen corporate monoliths such as Anheuser-Busch – which has spent a record $230 million at the Super Bowl in the last 20 years – have signed on to showcase products and unveil marketing campaigns during the Seahawks-Steelers game, including:
Burger King, which stepped into the huddle after McDonald's dropped out. It will air a 60-second segment featuring 92 “Whopperettes” dressed as singing and dancing patties, tomatoes, lettuce and other burger trimmings.
Toyota, which will launch a new campaign for its popular Camry hybrid with a commercial featuring a Hispanic father and son driving their new car. Toyota said 7 percent of Super Bowl viewers are Hispanic, and 25 percent of Hispanics 18 and older watch the game.
Unilever's Dove soap, which, in an unusual ad placement for the game, will air a 45-second spot challenging stereotypes about beauty and encouraging girls to feel more confident. Dove said it chose the “nontraditional marketing venue for its powerful potential to bring widespread attention to the issue of self-esteem.”
Analysts estimated that companies advertising during the Super Bowl can spend $4 million or more on each ad by the time the commercial is produced and the network paid. With that much money at stake, plus the risk involved in showing a new TV commercial in front of much of the world, companies often take months to decide on an ad's theme and presentation.
Sprint, returning to the Super Bowl this year after a 12-year hiatus, said it started looking for ideas four months ago by reviewing about 30 of the all-time most popular Super Bowl spots.
The company's two ads will show a man with “a Slavic accent” hyping its new TV and music-downloading phone services. Sprint also is co-sponsoring the game's halftime show featuring the Rolling Stones.
In recent years, Sprint “had a mindset about the cost and price” of being spotlighted during the Super Bowl broadcast, spokeswoman Angela Read said. “But this year, it made sense because of the trifecta of being the NFL's official wireless phone company and participating in the halftime show.”
At least one company is happily back between the goal posts for the second consecutive year. Stockton-based Diamond Foods said sales of its Emerald Nuts brand soared 56 percent in the days following its Super Bowl ad last year and have continued to sizzle ever since.
The company's message was a hit not only with consumers, but also with retailers, said Tim Cannon, director of marketing.
“We were able to leverage our upcoming ad to gain better in-store placements, such as secondary displays ... which appear at the end of the aisles,” Cannon said.
Diamond said it hopes to stand out among this year's heavy competition with an extended word game featuring offbeat characters such as a druid and machete-wielding men.
Cannon said the Emerald logo will show up on the Super Bowl and Olympics telecasts this year.
“The Super Bowl provides reach that is vital for brand building, while the Olympics provide frequency that is ideal for brand maintenance,” he said.
Frank Green: (619) 293-1233; frank.green@uniontrib.com
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060204/images/burgerking.jpg
Associated Press
A Burger King Super Bowl ad features “Whopperettes” dressed as buns, pickles and other trimmings.
Ellie