“To counter that, we can expect Anheuser-Busch to go all out in its Super Bowl advertising,” says marketing expert Scott Hamula. “They are really pushing to regain both top spots, and on what better stage to roll out the big guns than on what has become the most watched — and most talked about — television spectacle of the year.”
In addition to purchasing the most time on the NBC broadcast by any advertiser for this year, Anheuser-Busch has tied up Super Bowl national broadcast exclusivity for its stable of brands through 2014, meaning Coors is forced to sit on the sidelines. Viewers can anticipate seeing spots featuring the always-popular Clydesdale horses, and the company will launch its new Bud Light Platinum.
With the American auto industry continuing to rise from its slump, the Super Bowl will be filled once again with car ads. Hamula says its remains to be seen whether anything can top the emotional high of last year’s Chrysler spot starring Eminem and the city of Detroit itself.
“General Motors was aiming for something different this year by actually proposing to pay to place its products in other Super Bowl commercials, so you might see a Cadillac in a Pepsi ad, for example. However, not only is it doubtful Pepsi and other advertisers would agree to dilute their own brands, integrating products into unrelated commercials would run afoul of NBC’s policy against reselling spots.”
An associate professor of strategic communication in the Roy H. Park School of Communications at Ithaca College, Hamula points out that despite the high level of quality commercials produced by major advertising firms, the “best” Super Bowl ad could come from relative amateurs. A record 5,000 entries were submitted for the sixth annual consumer-generated ad competition sponsored by Doritos.
“The five finalists — two of which will air during the game — look anything but homemade, but I think fans really get into the notion that it doesn’t take millions of dollars to put together something fresh, funny and memorable. And Doritos has extended a simple 60-second ad buy into a months-long campaign that gets millions of consumers involved through online and social media. Super Bowl advertising has truly evolved from being a spectator sport to being a participatory experience.”
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