Super Bowl 50: Where Were the Brand Stories?

To paraphrase John Wanamaker half of all advertising dollars are wasted but no one knows which halfamp160 Watching Sunday nightamp8217s extravaganza made it ridiculously clear which advertising dollars were wasted and which were notBut before we get to the ads letamp8217s start with the economicsIn a home proliferating with digital devices broadband and satellite connected HDTVs struggle to maintain their reign as the best video viewing experience But thereamp8217s nothing like a highstakes fastaction live sports event to remind folks of the unrivaled beauty of a 65amp8221 flat screen with a cable connection amp8230 which is exactly why CBS was willing to pay more than 1 billion to the NFL for the right to broadcast the biggest game of the year How else to reclaim the eyeballs from the big suck of the wireless little screens permanently attached to our handsSo why are advertisers willing to pay more than 5 million for access to the hundred and fifteen million people they hope will put down their smartphones stop tweeting twiddling and texting and watch an ad for 30 seconds Just because thereamp8217s no amp8220skip adamp8221 button during an uberhyped live sports event doesnamp8217t mean the audience is captivatedRegardless of the amount of devices vying for attention the size of the screen the presence of a cord or the strength of the wireless signal capturing the attention of a consumer today comes down to one critical factor Great advertising past future forever and alwaysamp173 is great storytellingSheep singing karaoke definitely amused the party I was at but what was that all about When someone started to explain that the pink blob walking down the street was a human colon he was told to shut up and eat his chili con carne We were puzzled when the infamous British serial killer aka Hannibal Lecter reminded us Americans of death and taxes And we all wondered how a colorful sock company could afford to put Christopher Walken in a Super Bowl adThe bestcrafted brand stories of the night the ones that stopped the chatter and lured eyes away from our smartphones and guacamole were those crafted by Hyundai In the first a teenageramp8217s daddy ingeniously keeps tabs on her date amp173using an ingenious hightech feature of his new Hyundai The fact that Kevin Hart pictured at top starred in the ad actually enhanced the storytelling without detracting from the brand story something Budweiser couldn39t pull off with the trifecta of Amy Schumer Seth Rogen and Helen Mirren who effortlessly hijacked the brand message with their own charismaamp8220Ryanvilleamp8221 another winning Hyundai spot made the meta statement that celebrities are the ultimate distraction but the caramp8217s automatic emergency braking system effectively protects drivers from all the perils in a town crawling with hunky Ryan ReynoldsesThe most arresting ad of the night belonged to CBS itself The tunein promo for amp8220The Good Wifeamp8221 announcing the imminent threat of the final episode the end of the story stunned the room into pindrop silence Ed Martin has a lot to say about thisIt was an epiphany At that moment I understood the real purpose of the Super Bowl spectacle and why neither the sport nor the craft of creating great brand stories is wholly the focus anymoreamp8220Live broadcast sports programming has become the best place to remind tricky consumers of the joy of watching TV via a traditional connectionamp8221 says Scott Singer a digital strategy and biz dev expert at DDG an innovation consultancy amp8220It can be argued that networks now amp8216overpayamp8217 for not only the rights to draw a huge audience on behalf of advertisers but also to remind those cordcutters cordnevers and Netflix fans yes Millennials that they have some great content The notsosecondary goal is to perpetuate broadcast TVamp8217s higher ad sales rates versus those online and extend the value of television as we39ve known it for the last 30 yearsamp8221amp160Owning the rights to broadcast major sporting contests is no longer just about bringing a big event to the people and exposing them to clever ads At this point in its 50year history the live broadcast of the Super Bowl is as much about the survival of the medium itselfamp8220Exactlyamp8221 says Singer amp8220The more people who watch the Super Bowl live on TV the more 5 million ads can be sold to the audience and the more people CBS can convince to watch more CBS programming later so more ads can be sold and traditional broadcast television CPMs wont be replaced as quickly as they otherwise would by lower internet CPMs in streamed contentamp8221 Whether or not people actually watch those ads or buy stuff is irrelevant if thereamp8217s no audience for TVThe take away Ad and television industry execs should be just as focused on the quality of the creative content as they are on the future of a disrupted industry Quality captivating storytelling will always hold the eyes on the screenEven if itamp8217s impossible to look away from a puppymonkeybabyThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillageMyersBizNet management or associated bloggersamp160

Become a Thought Leader. Share your thought leadership article with industry professionals & have them archived in Thought Leadership

Super Bowl 50: Where Were the Brand Stories?

Author

Publish date

Channel

Kristi Faulkner

Hispanic Leadership Roundtable: Inclusion, Mentorship, and Building the Next Generation (Video) - By Juan Ayala

More Videos:

Become a Thought Leader. Share your thought leadership article with industry professionals & have them archived in Thought Leadership

Super Bowl 50: Where Were the Brand Stories?

Enjoying This Commentary? There's More to Love

Kristi Faulkner

Hispanic Leadership Roundtable: Inclusion, Mentorship, and Building the Next Generation (Video) - By Juan Ayala

The payment was successful

Cookies