Now that the excitement has calmed down around the Super Bowl (except in New Orleans, where I am sure they will be partying for the next year) people’s interest in the oh-so important Super Bowl ads has faded. With the hype and excitement built around the “big event” no longer prevalent, the interest in watching, talking, and examining the Super Bowl ads has dropped from the public’s mind. I know this is true for me. After spending the days following the Super Bowl discussing the ads around the water cooler I am hard pressed to remember any of the commercials except for Snickers Betty White commercial of course.
People have moved on to the next “big thing” and with no shortage of content and channels to receive it they are having no problem doing this. Maybe this is another reason that influenced Pepsi’s decision to pull out of the Super Bowl after 23-years of being a sponsor.
A great example of this is the weekly AdAge Viral Video Chart that shows the majority of Super Bowl ads haven’t gained traction as viral campaigns. According to the viral chart and Micheal Learmonth’s AdAge article, “Most Super Bowl Ads Don’t Go Viral”, the majority of the ads that dominated the viral chart the week following the Super Bowl fell from the list the very next week, just two weeks removed from the event.
“This week, only four ads from last week's Bowl-dominated chart remain: Doritos, Snickers, E-Trade and Google, while a fifth Super Bowl ad, from Bud Light, joins the list for the first time. Doritos came in at No. 1 with an impressive 5 million views, even though that's a 73% drop from last week. Gone are many of the ads that generated heat around the game, such as Audi's 'Green Police,' Tim Tebow's Focus on the Family ad and Motorola's Megan Fox ad.”
Learmonth believes that this is a testament to the power of TV as it is the driving force behind the Super Bowl ads popularity. This may be true, but I believe more than anything this shows the power of the “big event.” The event and the excitement surrounding it, not TV is the driving factor in the popularity of the ads during the Super Bowl. Vicky Tamaru discusses the concept of the “big event” in her AllBusiness article, “How Entertainment Can Avoid Becoming a Commodity.”
At the same time more legitimate viral campaigns powered by social media have returned to the chart, showing off the lasting power well-planned strategic viral campaigns can have. And this can be done without dropping the exorbitant amount of coin a Super Bowl ad spot costs; $2.5-$3 million for a 30 second spot. So at the end of the day maybe Pepsi made the right decision to pull out of this years “big event.” Will other big brands begin to follow in their footsteps?
