How to Watch the Super Bowl Ads

It's upon us again: The annual media onslaught that accompanies the Super Bowl.

I'm not talking about the coverage of the game. I'm talking about the coverage of the advertising. Before the Super Bowl, we hear plenty about who the big advertisers are, what we should expect from them, and how much they spent. Afterwards, consumers and industry experts alike will weigh in on the spots they liked the best.

You should not be concerned with any of it.

The Super Bowl ad-hype machine is one of the greatest examples in the business world of flawed thinking on a grand scale. The ads have come to be seen as an extension of the game itself, as a form of entertainment. And that's exactly the problem.

It's a catch-22 for the advertisers. If the ads don't entertain, they inevitably disappoint. If they do entertain, that doesn't mean that they'll actually work - and if they don't, all that money goes straight down a rather massive rat-hole.

Of course, if you're reading this, there's a better than 99% chance that you're not advertising during Sunday's game. But that doesn't mean you can't learn some valuable lessons for your business and your brand from the whole extravaganza. Here are three things to keep in mind during the big game:

Awareness is a lousy marketing objective.

Every year, advertisers attempt to justify their multi-million dollar expenditures with the "big awareness" argument: "Now everyone will know our name!'

Big deal. Charles Manson has great awareness. But are you buying anything he's selling?

Remember the 22 dot-coms who advertised in the 2000 Super Bowl? I didn't think so. While their awareness may have temporarily peaked, most of them could not compel consumers to take 10 seconds to visit their websites.

It is not awareness that you seek to create; it is action. This leads to our second reminder...

The purpose of advertising is not to entertain. It is to motivate.

On Monday, usually within 12 hours of the final whistle, survey results will be released, in which consumers will be asked things like: Which ad did you like best? Which was most memorable? Which was most creative?

The correct answers to these questions are, respectively: "Doesn't matter," "Doesn't matter," and "Seriously... it doesn't matter."

To the best of my knowledge, in the entire history of marketing, there has never been a proven relationship between an ad's entertainment value and its motivational value. Likeability is not correlated to effectiveness.

Call me a stick in the mud, but I don't care how funny an ad is. I only care if it works. Hold your marketing to that standard. You don't have enough money in your budget to get into the entertainment business. That's what the game is for.

Be an "armchair advertiser."

Instead of looking for laughs, watch the ads critically. Put yourself in the shoes of the advertiser and try to identify why they made the choices they made. Ask:

What is the brand trying to say or accomplish?
Why did they choose that objective over any other?
Who are they speaking to?
What do they want them to do?
Were they successful? Why or why not?

So watch the Super Bowl ads. Enjoy them, even. But don't learn the wrong lessons. Forget the fanfare and the "fan favorite" polls. Ignore the lame gags of the major beer companies (that's a bottomless well if there ever was one). Instead, focus on the stuff that really matters in advertising: Motivating consumers to give your brand a shot instead of the competition.


To find out more about how we can help you make yours a brand that motivates, visit www.ThreeDeuce.com.

A version of this post has appeared in American City Business Journals.