Super Bowl Advertising: Nothing New
By Todd Murphy | February 6th, 2012
Of course the headline of my post today is supposed to cause people to take exception with that comment. What I mean by “nothing new” is that fundamentally, creativity still carries the day. For all the high tech production tools we have, the social media integration, and the ever growing use of celebrities, creativity always wins. The #samerules of advertising are never more evident than when the professionals debrief on which ads won the hearts and minds of Super Bowl Viewers.
Although I don’t have my hands on the exact stats, I would theorize that as many watch the Super Bowl for advertisements as much as the game. As Universal Information Services analyzes the news and engagement from this year’s Super Bowl, we may find that more are watching for the commercials as the Super Bowl is a cross demographic event. It’s the one time of the year that you might gather men, women, children, grandparents, and pets in the same room to watch a program without the remote control in your hands. Yes, the Super Bowl may be the one television broadcast where we override our conditioned response to channel surf during commercials. Of course, who would want to miss a commercial.
The irony of watching a broadcast for the commercials could be analogous to broadcasts of the 1950’s, where viewers enjoyed the live product information as much as the show that the product sponsored. It is interesting how our response to Super Bowl ads may be a vestigial viewing habit from many generations ago. Or, it may just be that we are all members of a species that is still very intrigued by creative advertising. Could it be that simple?
Super Bowl advertising is a great example of #samerules with #newtools…and I really enjoy it. Tell me what you think. Has advertising tapped into something far greater than the simple interest of a person who wants to be entertained for 30 seconds or less? Leave your comments. Thanks.
Tags: #newtools, #samerules, Marketing
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