That's how much it will cost to run a 30-second national ad during the Super Bowl XLIII, according to today's Wall Street Journal:
While individual slots have sold at that level before, it's never been the starting point for negotiations for the dozens of 30-second ads sold for the game. It represents a price increase of more than 10%, roughly double the usual annual rise.And remember, that doesn't include the cost to produce the spot.
Right after watching SalesGenie's "Two Pandas" ad during the Super Bowl, I predicted some PR fallout was on the way. Now, just three days after the Big Game, SalesGenie is pulling the spot amid criticism from viewers. Today's New York Times reports on the company's half-hearted apology:Vinod Gupta, the chairman and chief executive of InfoUSA in Omaha, the parent of Salesgenie.com, said in a telephone interview Tuesday that a commercial featuring two animated pandas speaking with what were intended as Chinese accents would be withdrawn.
“We never thought anyone would be offended,” said Mr. Gupta, who developed and wrote both commercials himself.
“The pandas are Chinese,” he said. “They don’t speak German.”
Still, “if I offended anybody,” Mr. Gupta said, “believe me, I apologize.”
On the other end of the spectrum, Proctor & Gamble is getting the most for its Super Bowl dollar by building off the buzz from its awesome Tide-to-Go spot. This from yesterday's Cincinnati Enquirer:
The next time you're looking for examples of the overall effect--positive and negative-- that ads can have on an advertiser's brand, remember Super Bowl XLII.The Cincinnati-based consumer products giant used the ad to send consumers to a Tide To Go Web site, www.mytalkingstain.com.
Surfers to the P&G site were greeted with games, prizes - 1,000 will be given away each day - and a chance to submit their own YouTube.com ad spoof. The best ad submitted will be aired on prime-time TV later this year.
By the end of the night Sunday, mytalkingstain.com had received more than 30,000 unique visits, and more than 5,500 customized ads were created, the company said. The ad spot was also viewed more than 100,000 times on YouTube.com, P&G said.
Now it's your turn: which Super Bowl ad was your favorite? Take the poll in the right hand column. I'd also like to hear, in the comments below, what you liked about your favorite spot, whether you liked a spot that isn't in the poll, and which spots you didn't like.
I had hoped to follow along with the live commentary over at SuperAdFreak, but I was glued to the laptop and the TV. But now we can read it here in its entirety, before we all lose our objectivity after reading the papers and hearing which ads we were supposed to like.
The Best: Tide To Go
Honorable Mention: NFL SuperAd/"; Coca-Cola, "Jinx"
The Worst: SalesGenie "Two Pandas"
Dishonorable Mention: GoDaddy; SalesGenie, "Salesman of the Year,"; Lifewater
The Big Winner: The New York Football Giants. Wow. And the Manning family just lined itself up for about a billion additional dollars in endorsement contracts.
Thanks to everyone who followed along. This was fun, but next year I'll focus on just the highlights.
Victoria’s Secret—incomplete. Sure, Adriana Lima is hot. But that’s not enough. They should have done a better job with what was a much-anticipated spot.
Amp—incomplete. We’ve become immune to shirtless fat guys, burning nipples or no burning nipples. That’s more of a commentary on culture at large than on this spot, but that doesn’t help the folks at Amp.
American Idol, "Dream Big - Roethlesberger" —incomplete. Good job of selling Ben Roethlisberger. Not as good a job selling American Idol.
My guess is that SalesGenie's "Two Pandas" spot was intentionally bad--they generated a lot of buzz with last year's horrible spot and they wanted the same response this time. But were they trying to be offensive? Here's just one example of the response it's receiving so far.
I think they've created a PR problem for themselves. And I don't think that's what they were trying to do.
Bud Light—incomplete/HONORARY MENTION for “Semi-Pro”—FG. This ad does nothing for Bud Light, but it’s exactly what I had in mind when I thought the “Semi Pro” ad should have made better use of Will Ferrell. This is what I'm talking about when I say don't pay someone else to steal your thunder
Hyundai, "Tomorrow"—incomplete: for a company that’s so smug about not caring about Super Bowl ad hype, they sure seem pretty intent on creating some Super Bowl ad hype
eTrade, "Clown"—FG. O.K., this one seemed to do a better job of focusing on benefits. But maybe I just liked this one more because I hate clowns.
TacoBell, "Hola! Fiesta Platter"—incomplete. Decent intro of a new product, but nothing we haven’t seen before.
Gatorade, "Man's Best Friend"—incomplete. So, do dogs like Gatorade? Do all sports drink commercials have to feature animals? Am I missing something?
“House” promo—incomplete. Fox is right to plug the show the Super Bowl leads into, but only existing “House” fans will care.
Toyota Sequoia—incomplete. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You’re a rebel. Congratulations.
“You Don’t Mess With the Zohan”—incomplete. A horrible movie, or just a horrible spot? I’m going with horrible movie. (Sandler apparently is in his “Borat Lite” phase.)
Coca-Cola, "Jinx"—FG. Good timing during these polarizing political times. And Bill Frist on a Segway is just gravy.
NFL SuperAd—FG. As much as they played up the Hassleback spot, I thought that was going to be the winner. But the Ephraim Salaam spot was a great story that will connect fans to the game. Given all the hype for this user-generated campaign, I was pleasantly surprised how good this was.
Bart’s Car Store—incomplete. For the love of God, if you’re going to buy time during the Super Bowl please make a new spot.
MidWest Federal Credit Union—incomplete. Cheesy thumbs up from vaguely Ashlee-Smpson-like girl. Cheesy jingle. Waste of money.
Dairy Queen—incomplete. this spot is so old that it’s pretty much wallpaper.
“Jumper”—incomplete. Nothing special despite Samuel L. Jackson’s voice and a reminder that “Hey! We made The Bourne Identity, and that was pretty good!”
eTrade, "Spit up"—incomplete. I’m probably alone on this one, but articulate, talking babies seemed played out ever since Look Who's Talking. Plus, I was focused on the baby and missed anything they said about why eTrade deserves my money. (And the barf take was a little gratuitous, dontcha think?)
Bud Light, "Fly"—incomplete. I like this campaign, but this one was just O.K. One note: this was almost a pretty dark spot, but showing the guy alive at the end saved it.
Bud Light “Wheel”—incomplete. Geico has killed the effectiveness of cavemen in commercials.
Ice Breakers—incomplete. Good spot if you’re selling Carmen Electra DVDs. Not as good if you’re selling gum.
Bridgestone—incomplete. They had me with Alice Cooper because it was so random. But they lost me with Richard Simmons.
CareerBuilder, "Firefly"—incomplete. Makes the Monster.com ads look downright sunny.
Terminator promo—incomplete. These are getting old.
Cars.com—incomplete: not as funny as their first spot, and not as good of job of explaining the benefits the website offers. It looks like they went with the run-your-better-spot-in-the-first-half strategy
SalesGenie Two Pandas—fumble: O.K., I had cut SalesGenie some slack for their first ad, knowing that their founder is Indian. So I thought the bad/borderline offensive accent was an inside joke. But pandas with a Chinese accent, along with a cheesy sales pitch? Looks like someone just dropped the ball.
Zantac—incomplete: to quote my wife, “that’s not even a new commercial.” The spot aired less than a minute ago and I’m unsure what the drug does. At least a Viagra spot leaves no doubt.
"Semi-Pro"—incomplete: they should have done a one off featuring Will Farrell instead of a straight movie promo. People love themselves some Will Ferrell.
ProBowl promo—incomplete: this would have been a great opportunity to remind football fans that the ProBowl is their last chance to see the NFL for a while (some might argue, though, that the NFL actually loses fans after they watch the Pro Bowl).
McDonalds—incomplete: this spot would have been at least a little better if they had incorporated the squeaky straw noise. Related question: did anyone who went to Mickey D's
WFFT-TV promo—incomplete: WFFT apparently is now providing tips about living green...does anyone care?
Centennial “Switching Moments”—NO COMMENT. Asher did these spots, so I am abstaining on this one
Dodge—incomplete: another uninspired ad from a
King of the Hill promo—FG: good timing to catch all the Tom Petty fans who are still awake (kidding!)
Stumble it!