Major players throw in the towel on Super Bowl ads this year
Companies such as GM and Ford have opted out of airing commercials during the NFL championship game.
Some of the biggest spenders in the history of Super Bowl advertising are sitting on the sidelines this year. For the first time in 23 years, none of the four largest automakers in the U.S. will participate.
And for the first time in three years, the price for a 30-second spot seems to have finally plateaued, after a spike from $5.5 million in 2021 to $6.5 million in 2022. Last year’s price reached $7 million, and experts predict it’s likely going to stay there for 2024.
So what does this all mean for this year’s Super Bowl? Darrin Duber-Smith, senior lecturer in Metropolitan State University of Denver’s Department of Marketing, explains the trend and offers insight on the elements of a successful Super Bowl commercial.
Why do you think car companies have declined to participate in Super Bowl advertising this year?
I think car companies have finally figured out that they don’t get much out of Super Bowl commercials. Their ads are too long, and viewers’ attention span is short, especially when people are all together. They blew all their money on the electric-vehicle promotions last year, followed by a disastrous year of sales for electric vehicles, so they don’t have much money to work with this year. That industry is struggling.
Perhaps car companies were a component of driving the price up over the years, and now that they’re not in the picture, the price has stabilized.
So which types of companies do tend to benefit from Super Bowl ads?
Big brands. This is not a time for new brands. It’s a good time for well-known, heavyweight brands to reinforce a position, create a new position or introduce a new product.
Take Kawasaki, for example. They’re a well-known brand, and they’re making their debut this year with their first Super Bowl ad ever. They have the perfect opportunity to make a big splash and put out their position in the marketplace, especially with no major competitors.
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With that said, what are the crucial elements to a successful Super Bowl ad?
No. 1 is to get people’s attention. That’s the reason why celebrities are used so much. If you don’t get people’s attention, you can’t do anything else.
Second, you have to keep their interest, which means your ad has to be short enough so people don’t check out — ideally, under 30 seconds. That’s where car companies have gone bad every year.
Once you’ve gotten the attention and the interest, you then have to reinforce the brand. Make sure that you’ve mentioned the brand at least twice: at the beginning and the end because of the primacy/recency effect, where people remember the beginning and the ending of things, not so much the middle. The middle is there to keep your interest so that the brand can be reinforced a second time. The best ads will reinforce the brand, say with color or a slogan, at the end. It’s about using your brand elements.
Finally, make it memorable through emotional appeal. Either go funny or tug at the heartstrings, but keep it positive. You don’t want to use negative emotions like fear or guilt, because of the classical conditioning, which associates your brand with negative emotions.
It’s all about balance. You don’t want to overuse any emotional appeal, either — it can get in the way of the message. It’s about the brand recall. If all you remember is the celebrity or the funny part of the ad but can’t recall the brand, it’s a fail.
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Anything else that’s notable for this year?
I’d like to note what the rising popularity of online sports betting has done to boost viewership, especially for the Super Bowl.
There’s this idea that the ads have to be placed when people are intently watching. The thing is, marketers have no control over the quality of the game. If it’s a bad game, people will stop watching. So they have to move as many ads upfront when the audience is there. Or if the game is good, they’ll spread the ads out.
That’s where sports betting comes in. It’s been really a good thing for both the avid fan and the casual fan. It guarantees viewership throughout the entire game and keeps people interested. While most people will tune out and stop watching, the sports-betting community will likely watch until the end.
