On Monday,
executives said it had finished selling commercial time for the
upcoming NFL championship game between the New Orleans Saints and
Indianapolis Colts. Despite the weak economy,
Several first-time advertisers are among the line-up, including Kia Motors America,
mobile television service FLO TV, KGB texting information service and
the pro-life organization Focus on the Family, which has a
controversial anti-abortion commercial with college football star Tim
Tebow.
“This year we are going to call it the Controversy Bowl,” said
and Dr. Pepper Cherry. “It used to be a championship football game,
then it became an advertising showcase, and now the Super Bowl has
turned into a microphone for special interests. It has become so much
bigger than a football game.”
the Tim Tebow advertisement dominated the pre-game debate during the
past week and a half. Liberal groups mobilized to decry the network’s
decision to accept issue ads, a reversal of its previous policy. Last
week,
More than
on Super Bowl ads, including the pre- and post-game shows, according to
industry analysts. Advertising in the Super Bowl increasingly has
become a high-stakes sport, in large part, because about 100 million
people are expected to tune in on Sunday, which would set a new record.
Despite the weak economy,
“We have had a healthy sales effort, and the game is full of blue-chip advertisers,” said
No major banks bought ads this year. The only financial services firm will be
which plans to introduce a new baby investor in its commercial. Only
one domestic automaker, Chrysler Dodge, is in the rotation. A fleet of
foreign auto makers, including Hyundai Motor America,
Several companies that didn’t advertise last year,
including Dockers pants, Skechers shoes, Unilever and Home Away, a
vacation-home swap service, will take the field, Ross said. The U.S.
Census Bureau has an advertisement and, once again, InBev
Anheuser-Busch will be the only beer company in the game, buying five
minutes of time. Anheuser Busch has been the exclusive beer advertiser
for more than 20 years.
Teleflora early on bought a
“
Teleflora’s chairman and owner. “Last year, we did amazingly well. Our
sales for February were up 5 percent, which doesn’t sound that amazing.
But remember that last year, February came in the middle of the
economic freeze.”
Surveys have found that as many people watch the Super Bowl to see the ads as much, if not more than, the action on the field.
said 51 percent of the people it surveyed enjoyed the commercials more
than the game and, in some cases, people remembered ads even when they
couldn’t recall the name of the winning team.
Advertisers increasingly are building weeks-long
advertising campaigns around their Super Bowl spots with online games,
mobile phone applications, opinion polls and other marketing ploys.
“This is the only media event where some 90 million
people watch and they want to see your advertising. In every other
medium, people are clicking on their remotes or turning the pages to
try to get away from your advertising,” said Deutsch’s Sheldon.
Some people watch live shows in part to see if anything outrageous happens. Six years ago,
are generating controversy — which should prompt more viewers to watch.
“They don’t want to miss the train wreck,” he said.
—
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