Super Bowl Ads: Entertainment or Brand Building?
Seeing that my beloved Chicago Bears didn’t make it to this year’s post-season, my interest in who wins the Super Bowl is as high as who wins this year’s American Idol. Therefore, being that my chosen profession is in marketing, my money on this year’s Super Bowl is on what advertisers will have the best commercials.
I love Super Bowl commercials. The funnier and smarter they are the better. Some of my favorites include Fed-Ex’s Caveman; Monster.com’s When I Grow Up; Apple’s, 1984; and my all-time favorite, Reebok’s Terry Tate, Office Linebacker. What makes all of these commercials standout in my memory is that they did their job — they literally broke through the commercial clutter, caught my attention, held it, entertained me and successfully delivered a brand message.
In age of fragmented television viewership and social media, marketers will need to find new ways to engage consumers with their respective brands. This is one of the primary reasons why Frito-Lay has elected to move beyond traditional Super Bowl marketing, i.e., purchase airtime and have an advertising agency produce a funny TV spot. Instead the Doritos brand team has literally said to consumers, “You create an ad. We won’t edit it. And we’ll let you pick the winner, which we’ll put on the largest advertising stage possible.”
This is a brilliant approach to building a brand. Frito-Lay has learned that marketing is a not support function, rather, marketing is a tool for sustaining growth for a business. By leveraging two marketing strategies, advertising (traditional) and social media/user-generated content (emerging) the Doritos brand team has created an equity building campaign that allows them to remain in “conversation” with their target audience throughout the year.
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Howard said:
Great read here and I just watched the Terry Tate Office Linebacker commercial and it brought back some good laughs. I do like what Doritos did this year. I thought the Dorito’s mom’s date was great this year. I love how they let their consumer create the video spots. A great way to engage their target and let them have fun with the brand.
Great win for the Saints. The feel god story!