How much do Super Bowl ads cost?

Your advertising budget needs deep pockets to air a commercial during the Super Bowl. This year ABC is charging $2.5 million for a 30 second spot. Plus many of the advertisers spend up to another $2 million to produce the commercial.

I heard an advertising executive on the radio tonight. He was talking about some of his favorite Super Bowl ads through the years.

I agreed with him on one ad. Mean Joe Green is won over by a little boy offering him a Coke. In the end Mean Joe tosses his jersey to the kid in thanks for giving him the Coke. I liked that one a lot. I watched this one when it originally aired.

Actually I like most of the Super Bowl commercials I watch. But just how effective are they? I can’t say since I haven’t done any research on the matter. I would say it is difficult to track just how effective the advertising dollars spent on these commercials are.

But I want to get back to our ad executive for a minute. During the interview he was asked what the most important aspects of a commercial to be aired during the Super Bowl are. He said two things were important. They must start with a great idea. He stated that a great idea could be gotten for only a few hundred thousand dollars. The second important item was it must be creative. He claimed most advertisers spend more than they need to on the production of a commercial. I guess the advertisers think if it’s expensive then it must be good.

What ever happened to the idea of selling your product directly? If your ad wins an award but doesn’t increase sales enough to pay for the production and airing of the ads, what kind of service are you providing for your client?

I will be watching the Super Bowl this Sunday with great interest. I love football but I also love the ads. I will be taking notes. (I know, I’m weird) One of the things I will be looking for is if any of the ads are direct response in nature. I doubt it but you never know. There may be at least one enlightened ad agency out there. It takes two to tango though. First the agency must know the direct response format generates more sales for the client and then must be able to convince the client that this is true.

So I suspect most of the ads will be “building the brand” rather than asking for the sale. If I had a product and the budget appropriate to the Super Bowl I would forget about monkeys and all the other creative branding. Show the prospect your product. Solve their problem and give them a good reason why your product solves it best. Then ask them directly to buy from you. This can be done in a creative way, just make sure you are asking for a response, whether it’s to purchase your widget, call a toll free number for information, or what ever you want your prospect to do.

I wonder just how much more profit would be generated if these advertisers did a targeted direct response mailing campaign rather than spending $2 million on producing an ad and then another $2.5 million per 30 second slot to air it. Not all products lend themselves to direct mail or sales on the web but many do.

There’s a little food for thought. Don’t forget the Budweiser either. I always look forward to their ads.

I’m going to do a little market research too. My daughter and her best friend work at Burger King after school and on weekends. Since they are doing a huge Super Bowl promotion this year I am going ask my daughter whether they get any busier than they were before the Super Bowl. I’ll let you know if what my anecdotal non-scientific poll finds out.

That’s my two cents worth.