| December 16, 2002 |
“It’s a trend that’s really taken hold over the last, oh, 10 to 15 years or so,” explained pollster Judy Gillickson. “We discovered that when we asked adults between the ages of 18 and 53 what they enjoyed doing on Super Bowl Sunday when not actually watching the game, the vast majority ranked ‘watch the commercials’ far behind ‘drink beer,’ ‘eat chili,’ ‘cruise web for porn,’ and even ‘beat wife.’ Frankly, even we were a little shocked.”
Gillickson reports that despite a yearly embrace of the multi-million dollar commercials by USA Today, Entertainment Tonight and various other mainstream publications, the viewing public at large in truth sees little distinction between “Super Bowl” commercials and the non-Big Game advertisements they’re exposed to on a daily, if not hourly, basis. “It’s like asking me which pile of dog crap smells fresher,” wrote one respondent. “I’d really prefer if the dog stayed off my lawn altogether.” Added another, “One word: TiVO.”
The opinions were not universal, however. Gillickson noted, “In particular, women between the ages of 55 and 80 were quite interested in the commercials, especially if the advertisements featured small animals or children, both of which they found to be cute.” Of course, while encouraging, she qualified these results somewhat, explaining, “Unfortunately, only .00015 of women in that age bracket demographic actually watch the game, which makes their genuine interest in the unofficial ‘best Super Bowl commercial’ contest not the most relevant bit of information.”
Nevertheless, when asked to respond, creative directors and graft-dependent media directors nationwide stated they still considered the lure of producing a “Super Bowl spot” to be advertising’s ultimate prize. “People care, oh yes, trust me, they care,” said Cramer-Krasselt/Chicago CD, Trisha Dix. “The spots we create are often bigger than the game itself. Think of the all-time great commercials. The Bud Bowls. Apple’s 1984. The dancing Cingular guy. They are why people watch television, not because of some silly game. And they are why we do what we do. I don't think I could go on if there wasn’t the chance of getting a spot on during the Super Bowl at some point in my career. What would be the point?”
JWT/Detroit media buyer Cynthia Frye agreed, “You simply can’t measure the amount of brand awareness one $2,000,000 30-second buy can bring you.,” she argued. “It’s kind of like a back injury that way. Clients just have to remember that we’re the experts and they just have to trust us.” She later added, “By the way, San Diego should really be fun this year. We’ve got a Ford-sponsored luxury box waiting for us and everything. I can’t wait.”
