brand as business bit: Here’s a quick add to my previous critique of this year’s Super Bowl commercials. Making a Super Bowl ad involves a level of innovation, strategy, and skill that rivals what goes into making the advertised product itself. So it’s helpful to see what can be learned from those in a similar business of creating desire: movie trailers.
advertising commercials Denise Lee Yohn Super BowlI know, they’re funny, and ads with animals and/or kids can't lose. Last night was a ritual for some of us to judge and compare the commercials during a football game that we otherwise wouldn’t have watched. We’re going to spend a few days enduring incessant “best of” lists, marketers will perform some complex gymnastics to explain why the spots are brilliant business strategy, and ad agencies will refer back to all this buzz when it’s time to revive their pitches to sell Super Bowl spots to their clients next year.
Jonathan Salem Baskin Super Bowl advertising commercialsThe extraordinarily successful group discounter Groupon succeeded in offending pretty much everybody with its Super Bowl ads, which spoofed worthy causes (for instance, actor Tim Hutton bemoaned the destruction of Tibet's culture while celebrating the Groupon discounted curry fish at a Tibetan restaurant in Chicago), and then with an explanatory letter from its CEO claiming the spots were intended to bring attention to said causes (and that they actually made fun of Groupon).
advertising communications groupon Jonathan Salem Baskin Super BowlEveryone loves to rank Super Bowl ads, and one neuromarketing firm that did so is Sands Research (see Super Bowl 2010 Ad Winners. Sands uses a combination of EEG, eye-tracking, biometrics, and surveys to calculate a “neuro-engagement factor” for each ad. Does that mean these ads will sell more product? Not necessarily. But here are the top ads accompanied by their measured EEG activity – you can see how the changes in brain activity match up with the action in the commercial.
advertising commercials Roger Dooley Super Bowl neuromarketingWhat makes an engaging television commercial? If you think visual and auditory appeal – action, sound, music, people, color, etc. – you would usually be correct. Ditto for high production values. An exotic location might help, too.
advertising commercials Google Roger Dooley storytelling Super Bowl textIn what is becoming an annual event, Sands Research announced the “winning” commercials for Super Bowl 2010 as determined by their neuromarketing analysis. Volkswagen emerged as #1, well ahead of the competition by Sands’ metrics.
advertising commercials neuromarketing Roger Dooley Super BowlIf you’ve been in the business long enough, you come to understand there are some basic rules to follow when running an ad on the Super Bowl. Humor works best. Use animals or big-breasted women – or both. Wow people with extraordinary settings and production values.
Denise Lee Yohn Super Bowl advertising consumer insightsI'd planned in all sincerity to write an essay about the three Super Bowl commercials that I thought wouldn't get the recognition in most "top ten" lists, but that I believed might actually do something business-wise down the road. I meant it. I wanted to be positive...
Jonathan Salem Baskin Super Bowl advertising
