Do Super Bowl Ads Actually Give Companies A Good Return On Investment?

Forbes

Robert Kolt, an advertising professor at Michigan State University, joins ‘Forbes Talks’ to discuss the value of Super Bowl ads.  0:00 Introduction 0:21 Taylor Swift's Impact On Advertising 0:45 Super Bowl And Brand Visibility/Recognition 3:47 The FTX/Crypto Super Bowl Ad 5:47 Social Media And Super Bowl Ads: The Goal Is To Be A Trending Topic 7:48 What Brands Are The Highly Anticipated Ads?  Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript  Stay Connected Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com  Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.

Transcript

00:00 Hi everyone, I'm Rosemary Miller here with Robert Colt, a professor at Michigan State

00:07 University Emeritus, here to tell us all about Super Bowl advertising.

00:13 Thank you so much for joining me today, Robert.

00:16 Well thank you, Rosemary.

00:17 It's going to be a great year for Super Bowl ads.

00:22 I imagine it will be, especially with Taylor Swift there.

00:25 I mean, how will she impact advertising?

00:29 You know, I think if people, if they play drinking or eating games during the game,

00:36 every time they take a shot of Taylor Swift, someone should take a shot or a bite of a

00:40 chip or something.

00:42 They will be full by the end of the game.

00:44 They will be full.

00:46 Well, can you discuss the impact of Super Bowl ads on brand visibility and recognition?

00:53 Well, Super Bowl Sunday is like Oscar night is to the film industry.

01:00 It is the biggest advertising day of the year.

01:05 The best ads, the most creative, biggest cost productions, celebrities, animals, they all

01:14 come out to create the best ads of the year, and they really do drive sales for a lot of

01:20 products during the year.

01:23 So people always ask me, is it a good return on investment to spend $7 million for a 30-second

01:33 spot?

01:34 The answer is easy.

01:36 Yes, it pays off.

01:38 It pays off in sales.

01:40 It pays off in image and branding.

01:43 And big companies do it because it works.

01:47 So could Super Bowl ads ultimately end up harming a company in any way?

01:53 Oh, sure, if you do a really bad ad.

01:56 And we've had some really bad ads in the past.

02:00 But the measurement of evaluation has kind of changed because over time, we used to just

02:08 have a Super Bowl ad and you would expect sales to increase.

02:13 Now there are a lot of awareness ads where an ad would come on and it would make you

02:18 sensitive to a topic, like we have an anti-Semitism ad this year in the Super Bowl.

02:25 We have a Jesus ad.

02:26 Again, they've been in, that group has been in.

02:29 So they're making you awareness.

02:31 They're not really selling you anything.

02:33 But for advertisers who are paying money to sell products, they don't, you know, if you

02:38 see a BMW commercial, you're not going to run out and buy a BMW within five minutes.

02:46 It's going to take some time.

02:47 So that brand impact has to stay with you and be memorable long after the game.

02:55 And what do the advertisers say?

02:57 They say it works.

02:59 It sticks with people.

03:00 It's, you know, the Super Bowl with the ratings probably being north of 130 million worldwide

03:09 will be the biggest viewed television advertising event of the year.

03:15 They always are.

03:17 So with that kind of audience across all demographics, you know, why does an eight-year-old girl

03:24 watch the Super Bowl?

03:26 Well, it's a party.

03:28 And they watch for the ads and maybe the halftime show.

03:32 And there's a lot of other things going on.

03:35 And it's not necessarily a football.

03:37 I will tell you that the day after the game, people will forget who won the Super Bowl

03:43 and probably remember their favorite ad.

03:47 You know, I do remember last year, two ads come to mind.

03:51 It was Coinbase and they had the QR code just floating across the screen.

03:56 I believe they were giving away a few dollars in crypto.

03:59 And FTX, after the major fall of FTX, everyone remembered that Super Bowl ad.

04:06 Well, and people have made bad ads.

04:10 I mean, they happen, but they can be iconic.

04:14 And again, there is a different form of measurement.

04:18 For instance, if you just want exposure and awareness, you will get your money's worth

04:23 in the Super Bowl.

04:24 But if you need engagement, you need someone to go buy or click on a website or actually

04:31 take that QR code and do something, what's a different scale?

04:35 And it's tougher.

04:36 Some people might not be ready.

04:38 They might not prepare for it.

04:40 Or maybe they're not just interested in making an immediate decision.

04:44 Nobody makes an immediate decision to buy something during the Super Bowl.

04:49 But there have been CEOs that report great sales from the Super Bowl.

04:55 I'll tell you the story.

04:56 A few years ago, when Eminem did a spot for Chrysler, Chrysler Stellanus, the CEO was

05:05 Italian and they did this wonderful, beautiful spot made in Detroit, driving around the city.

05:13 And then they ended up at the beautiful Fox Theater with a choir.

05:16 What a beautiful spot.

05:18 Well, he said, the CEO said, it resulted in $400 million of unanticipated sales.

05:27 And he just said, "Boy, if I knew the Super Bowl was going to be that effective, I would

05:31 have featured a better car."

05:35 And they had a lot of better cars, but they featured the Chrysler 200 and they had the

05:40 300 and other things.

05:41 But you know, it pays off for people in a lot of ways, branding and also sales.

05:48 So how is the rise of digital media, social media, how has that impacted Super Bowl ads?

05:55 It's great.

05:56 It actually expands the audience and people see ads multiple times.

06:00 I think people do recognize the kind of integration between art and science here and sales.

06:09 They all kind of come together.

06:11 That's what makes the Super Bowl a really unique tradition.

06:15 You know, you don't have to do anything.

06:17 If you don't like an ad, okay, don't worry about it.

06:21 But if it's there and it changes your attitude and motivates to change your behavior to do

06:27 something you wouldn't normally do and creates awareness, wow, you have a winner.

06:34 And there are specific Super Bowl formula ads that always work.

06:41 And how do companies tend to strategize and plan for the Super Bowl ads?

06:46 Well, you know, they put a lot into it.

06:50 There's, I mean, usually what happens is a lot of agencies start work a year before the

06:56 next game.

06:58 And when they think about it, they're thinking about what do we have to accomplish?

07:04 What's the strategy?

07:05 Who's going to be the hottest celebrity?

07:09 You know, this year, they kind of took a step back in the past.

07:15 Woodsdale's will be back in the Super Bowl for Budweiser beer.

07:18 Now, they haven't been around for a few years, but boy, we got those horses delivering beer

07:24 in a snowstorm.

07:27 And the formula really is if you get a celebrity, an animal of some kind, and in some way do

07:36 something that's more emotive or emotional, rather than is cognitive where people are

07:41 processing information.

07:43 The research says it's just going to be much more.

07:47 Well, Robert, is there anything else on your radar regarding Super Bowl ads that you believe

07:53 should be on ours?

07:56 Well, there's no Detroit automaker in the game this year, and that's too bad.

08:03 And the Lions obviously aren't there.

08:06 It would have been weird if the Lions were playing in the game and the Detroit automakers

08:11 weren't.

08:12 But BMW has a great ad with Christopher Walken.

08:16 There are a lot of other funny things that will be coming up.

08:20 The comedian Kate McKinnon does this ad with mayonnaise, and every time she gives me a

08:26 weird camera look, it makes me laugh.

08:28 And that's what we want to do in the Super Bowl.

08:31 At least, if you're not making a sale, make me laugh and you'll be successful.

08:36 Well, this has been great.

08:38 Thank you so much for joining me today, Robert.

08:41 Thank you.

08:42 Absolutely.

08:43 Thank you.

08:44 Thank you.

08:45 Thank you.

08:46 Thank you.

08:47 Thank you.

08:48 Thank you.

08:49 Thank you.

08:49 [BLANK_AUDIO]

Category

Transcript

Recommended