(ma) Not So Super Super Bowl Television Ads
chicagotribune.com
Dot-com firms hop a runaway train
As Super Bowl ads hit top speeds, critics expect crash
By Phat X. Chiem
Tribune Staff Writer
January 30, 2000
HotJobs.com Chief Executive Richard Johnson wants to lay claim to the universal icon of the Internet: the "Hand" that points to the hyperlinks on a Web page.
And he's spending $3 million in 30 seconds in a Hail Mary bid to do so.
Hotjobs.com, an Internet job-search site, is among the rush of companies that will toss out their funniest, wackiest or otherwise most memorable advertising during Sunday's Super Bowl broadcast.
Yet as the ad rates soar, so does the skepticism among marketing experts who believe that few of these commercials will stick with the estimated 120 million viewers after the nachos and dip disappear.
Indeed, the much-hyped game has become a showcase for splashy, self-conscious ads that convey no lasting message, some experts say. And this year, with a dozen or so participating dot-coms that have little or no brand recognition to begin with, more marketing megabucks than ever will be wasted, they say.
"It's really easy to get attention on the Super Bowl," said Peter Krivkovich, president-chief executive of Chicago-based Cramer Krasselt. "It's harder to get attention with meaning that solidifies the strength of your brand. Being memorable without meaning is idiotic."
Still, the advertisers keep coming.
Feeding off the frenzy of cash-flushed dot-coms, ABC boosted the average price of a 30-second bowl ad to a staggering $2.2 million-a 37 percent premium over last season's rates. The network is reaping as much as $3 million for a half-minute's exposure, or $100,000 per second.
Sure, the same $100,000 bought an entire 30-second slot in 1970. But Johnson, for one, thinks the expense is justified. Last year, when Hotjobs.com was only one of three dot-coms to advertise in the Super Bowl, the site's traffic more than doubled to 1.9 million visitors a month following the game, he said.
And Johnson estimates he got $25 million in free, prebowl publicity- in part because the Fox network rejected an initial ad featuring an elephant sitting on a zoo worker.
Hotjobs.com comes back this year with a campaign that features the human-size Hand, with the voice of actor Samuel L. Jackson, going through a series of job interviews. The spots end with the tagline: "The hottest hand on the Web."
"Everybody said we were crazy to advertise in the Super Bowl last year," Johnson said. "But we went from a small Internet company to being a brand overnight. Now we look like geniuses."
Not counting production costs of about $1 million, Hotjobs.com paid $1.9 million for a 30-second slot back in August. "Not only did we buy three months earlier [than usual], we paid full asking price," Johnson said.
Such inflated prices for bowl advertising have prompted something of a backlash. In recent years, several longtime Super Bowl advertisers, including McDonald's, MasterLock and Nike, have pulled the plug on the game. Some companies tried to back out of their commitments this year, and ABC reportedly had a few spots available as late as last week.
An editorial in last week's edition of the industry's trade journal, Advertising Age, called for a "Super Bowl equivalent of a stock market correction."
Most companies will "waste millions frolicking in an overwhelming, forgettable commercial orgy," the publication opined.
And in a blow to eager dot-com companies, a survey this month by Andersen Consulting suggests that banner advertising on the Internet is more effective than expensive TV ads.
"From a mass marketing standpoint, the Super Bowl is one of the biggest events of the year," said Norm Rickeman, partner in Andersen Consulting's media and entertainment group in Minneapolis. "But does it really drive consumers to the Web site? Our research would say that among experienced Web users, what's available on the Internet is more relevant than what they saw on TV."
For some advertisers, though, the number of game-day viewers makes a gamble irresistible.
Hallmark Cards reports that the Super Bowl has overtaken New Year's Eve as the nation's top at-home party occasion. And in an increasingly fragmented advertising world, it's one of the few mass-market venues left.
History has been made in 30 seconds on Super Bowl Sunday-and not only because of a Joe Montana pass or a Marcus Allen run. Consider the famous "1984" commercial for Apple Computer during that Orwellian year in which a young woman smashes the towering image of Big Brother with a sledgehammer.
That one ad not only became a landmark in Super Bowl advertising, but helped fuel today's high-tech revolution by propping up sales of the struggling personal computer maker.
"There's nothing like the Super Bowl. You're going to reach an awful lot of people really quickly," said Dennis Ryan, executive creative director for J. Walter Thompson USA in Chicago, which produced a commercial for Blockbuster Video starring beleaguered ex-Bears football coach Mike Ditka that will air during the pregame show.
Ryan thinks the Blockbuster spot will stand out amid the commercial clutter because of its humor and topicality. Written by Thompson's group creative director Jeff York, the ad has Ditka, who was recently fired as coach of the New Orleans Saints, trying to persuade a popcorn vendor to rent "Runaway Bride."
"Help me out here, fella," Ditka cajoles. "You don't want me to lose this job, too?"
To be sure, the blitz of dot-coms, including such unfamiliar sites as Computer.com, Lifeminders.com, Epidemic.com and Netpliance.com, is bringing a strange advertising mix to the beer-soaked audience. Pets.com has three spots with its rambunctious Sock Puppet crooning the band Chicago's "If You Leave Me Now." OurBeginning.com is spending five times its annual revenue of just $1 million to push its on-line wedding invitation service.
Even companies that don't really advertise to consumers are rushing the crowded field. Chicago-based John Nuveen is spending $4 million for a 60-second spot to highlight its shift from a municipal bond underwriter to a money manager for brokers and advisers.
In the ad, paralyzed actor Christopher Reeve appears to rise from a chair to present an award for research that produces a cure for spinal-cord injuries. "In the future, so many amazing things will happen in the world," the narrator says. "What amazing thing can you make happen?"
Nuveen CEO Tim Schwertfeger said the commercial is intended to "inspire a much higher level of dialogue about investing, away from spending and accumulating to social responsibility."
EDS, a company that offers business-to-business information technology services, comes out with a 60-second "epic tale" that shows Western cowboys driving hundreds of cats across the plains.
"We wanted to show that EDS can create order from chaos and defeat complexity by herding technologies," says David Lubars, chief creative director for Fallon McElligott in Minneapolis, the agency that created the spots.
But whether the ads can translate into increased revenues and stronger brands is a big question. Even HotJobs' Johnson acknowledges that a good number of the game-day spots will fail to connect with viewers.
"The Super Bowl is trending down in terms of effectiveness," he said. "Next year, the prices will be determined by the success of the dot-coms. If it's a bust, you might see a flattening out of the rates and the return of the traditional advertisers."
Perhaps the best example of Super Bowl advertising absurdity- or brilliance- is Lifeminders.com, an on-line direct-marketing company. The company bought a 30-second spot in late November, but its agency, Fallon McElligott, refused to produce the commercial, saying there wasn't enough time.
So the firm's executives made a low-budget ad on their own. An on-screen card with crude black letter proclaims: "This is the worst commercial on the Super Bowl."
This year, Lifeminders.com's ad might prove to be the smartest play of all. |
