Super Bowl LI, super or bust? Depends upon whether we’re talking about the game or the advertising. Regardless of your sentiments the game was truly super with the New England Patriots coming from a 25-point deficit late in the third-quarter to beat the Atlanta Falcons 34 – 28 in the first overtime game in Super Bowl history. It is among the greatest, if not the greatest Super Bowl game of all time. It was a crowning achievement for both Patriot Quarterback Tom Brady and coach Bill Belichick who have each won 5 Super Bowls in their illustrious careers. Tom Brady was voted Super Bowl MVP (Most Valuable Player) for an unprecedented fourth time in these epic games.
As per the advertising, meh. While some pundits are claiming this is the best Super Bowl advertising ever we’d beg to differ. Yes, there was some pushing of creative boundaries. Yes, some of the ads had a strong emotional component. There was mayhem and slapstick and celebrities galore in both sports and entertainment. Some of the ads tackled social issues such as gender inequality. Others carried a whiff of political posturing. And, the production values were impressive. Despite all of this we come away rather disappointed, finding the clear majority of the ads to be rather uninspiring when it comes to motivating consumer behaviors to purchase.
It’s Not Creative Unless It Sells
Advertising is an investment. As such, it should be assessed not on criteria such as likeability or number of clicks or buzz but based upon how it performs where it counts, at the cash register. Like any investment it needs to provide a favorable return to the marketer. If it does not it is a bad investment or, to put it mildly, a cost. Pure and simple. At $5-million per 30-second commercial (that’s $166,666.67 per second) advertising on the Super Bowl represents a huge outlay of brand marketing funding. So it must produce. If it doesn’t and the bottom line (i.e., profit) is threatened, CMOs will cut marketing budgets and, perhaps, heads.
Importance of ROI
What brings more to bottom line profits, increasing sales by $1 or cutting marketing’s budget by $1? Whenever we ask this question marketers will answer “increasing sales by $1.” But a quick analysis reveals the opposite. The $1 of sales is burdened by cost of goods (COG) and sales & admin (S&A). While there is no COG attributed to cutting marketing’s budget one might argue that S&A remains. True. After all, we do have personnel, distribution sites, customer service, etc. In this case the CMO or COO will reorganize. Have you experienced a cut in your marketing budget? Have you been through a reorganization? We need to provide a very favorable return on advertising spending and, for that matter, all marketing spending. That’s where the advertising objective comes in.
Advertising Objective
What it all comes down to is having the right ad objective and ensuring the advertising achieves it. Interestingly, the creative team for Tide, which was prominently aired during the Super Bowl revealed that their client’s stated objective is to have “the most loved brand in the Super Bowl?” Excuse me! What does it mean to be “loved?” Most popular? Most liked? What message do I deliver for prospective target-customers to get them to love my brand? Is it really about the message or promise, the delivery of that message or how we make them feel? Virtually all the creative briefs we are privy to reviewing contain an objective that is not in the least bit SMART.
If we are using advertising as an investment in growing our business then the objective needs to be the achievement of a specific behavior. We must be SMART. Virtually everyone is familiar with this acronym: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Timebound. We’ve referred to it on numerous occasions in DISPATCHES’ articles. Specific as per the behavior we aim to achieve such as switching, adoption, trade-up (or upgrade), frequency of purchasing, etc. If it is not a specific behavior then it is not an expectation for a return on the investment. Measurable means that we intend to measure the results. By the way, anything worth measuring can and should be measured. Achievable relates to being real. It is an expectation that can and should be met. Relevant ties to our business objectives of which there are only three: sales, market share and profit. Timebound specifies a timeframe for achieving the business objective, which is typically the promotion period and/or year.
Super Bowl Ad Review
So, in addressing whether an ad was super or a bust we must ask ourselves did it motivate a customer behavior that contributed to incremental sales and achieving the brand’s business objectives. Yes or no? Stated another way, did the advertising lead you to purchasing the advertised product? While you may strongly agree with the Audi brand’s message regarding gender equality has it influenced you to purchase one? Does anyone know what 84 Lumber is about? Regardless of the geographical or political divide you stand upon it is probably as confusing to you as it is to us. Might we differentiate based upon attracting like-minded people as customers? Certainly! But it must be related back to the brand in a meaningful way such that it triggers the behavior the advertiser intends. And, why you may have been entertained or moved by a particular commercial can you remember what is the brand and its benefit to you? Perhaps we are a bit slow but it took us three views of the Snickers’ live action commercial to figure out the brand and what was going on even though we applaud the “You’re Not You When You’re Hungry” campaign. And for all the hullabaloo about it being produced live at halftime it did not come through say, for example, like an episode of ER that was aired live a few years ago. In other words, we did not feel like we were present. The internet ads were a mess. We like Jason Statham and his kick-ass action so we go to see his movies. But, c’mon, it doesn’t motivate us to use WIX to develop a website, even if it is for free.
When we come away from it all we will continue purchasing Tide to clean clothes and get out stains. We will go out and purchase Febreze to freshen the loo, particularly when we’re having company. After all, we wouldn’t want to offend. And, we’re most interested in seeing the new Scarlett Johansson Sci-Fi movie, Ghost in the Shell, when it appears in a local theatre. Beyond that, well, we don’t know if anything much was worth investing $5-million for 30-seconds. What about you?
Boats & Helicopters:
Before committing precious marketing funding to advertising, regardless of whether it be aired in the Super Bowl, appear in a medical journal publication or digital vehicle check to ensure the following:
Do you have a relevant, meaningfully differentiated strategic message – It’s about the message and value you bring to your target-customer. Therefore, it needs to be relevant (as in important) to them and differentiated from competition.
Is it captured in a compelling campaign idea – The campaign idea translates strategic language into compelling customer language. It gets the target-customer to realize the strategic message so that they take it to heart. It fuels a favorable ROI. It consists of three parts: the naked idea (creative concept unadorned); the key copy words that contain the benefit and tie back to the naked idea; and the core dramatization (typically visual). All three must work together to deliver the strategic message in a compelling way.
It has sound brand linkage - What this means is that target-customers remember the brand and its benefit. So, the story needs to tie to the brand. It should garner attention and engage the target-customer.
Use your gut – Simply stated if you were the customer would the advertising lead you to the behavior stated in the communication behavior objective? Would you purchase the product or service? If you think not, then go back to point 1. If you believe yes, then proceed to the next point.
Check it out with target-customers – Use marketing research to inspect against your expectations. What are your expectations? If you don’t know what we’re talking about reread the Advertising Objective section of this article. If you’re not achieving expectations then it is unlikely that you are making a sound investment in advertising. If you are not inspecting against your expectations then you’re gambling with your marketing funding making it a crap shoot.
Become a perennial super winner with your investments in advertising. Lead with SMART objectives and achieve it with compelling messaging that delivers a favorable ROI.
Richard Czerniawski and Mike Maloney
Richard D. Czerniawski
430 Abbotsford Road
Kenilworth, IL 60043
847-256-8820
Fax: 847-256-8847 richardcz@bdn-intl.com
Michael W. Maloney
1506 West 13th Street, #17
Austin, TX 78703
512-236-0971
