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For some, it's the ads, not the game
January 30,2004
Amy kamphuis of Novi loves football but likes
watching the advertisements
during the Super Bowl more
NOVI - Amy Kamphuis will miss the Super Bowl
this weekend because she will be on vacation
in Orlando, Fla. But the Novi resident is more
heartbroken about missing the advertisements
than the Panthers-Patriots battle.
"I can't miss the ads," said Kamphuis,
33. "That's the whole point of watching
the game. A lot of the ads, unfortunately, they
only air that day. They really pull out all
the stops for these ads, which are just hilarious
to watch."
Kamphuis left for Florida Thursday with her
husband, Ryan. They plan to meet a friend for
dinner Sunday, so they probably won't tune in
to the game. To make sure she doesn't miss the
fun, Kamphuis will have a friend tape the ads,
so she can watch them when she gets back.
"They've gotten so much funnier as time
goes on," she said. "It's almost like
they're in competition with each other to see
who can produce the most talked about commercial
the next day."
It's this phenomenon that encourages corporations
to spend more than $2 million for 30 seconds
of air time. With more than 80 million viewers
tuned in and fans geared up for the advertisements
as much as the game, the spectacle also generates
media coverage before and after the game.
Along with the usual beer and chip ads, at
least two drug companies will try to raise interest
in their erectile dysfunction products with
ads on Sunday. Levitra ads will feature former
Chicago Bears Coach Mike Ditka, while Eli
Lilly and Co. started running short TV ads
this month to tease an advertising campaign
for its new drug Cialis. The ads feature a man
and woman sitting in bathtubs overlooking a
green valley.
"It could be in really bad taste, but
it also could be funny," said Bruce Vanden
Bergh, a professor of advertising at Michigan
State University. "I'm curious to see how
they use the Super Bowl to be fun and imaginative,
which is what you have to do. When you spend
more than $2 million, you have to have high
quality and be creative."
This year, a 30-second advertisement cost $2.25
million, an increase from the $2.15 million
charged last year, according to Advertising
Age trade publication.
The No. 1 advertiser this year will be Anheuser-Busch
with an estimated $22.5 million spent on Super
Bowl ads, said Michael Bernacchi, professor
of marketing at University of Detroit Mercy.
The beer company, which made "Whassssup?"
a household word, is expected to introduce a
donkey that wants to be a Clydesdale horse,
The Associated Press reported.
Frito-Lay, a division of PepsiCo Inc., which
is another Super Bowl mainstay, will run an
ad featuring an elderly man and woman fighting
over a bag of chips. The man reaches the bag
first, only to find the woman has stolen his
dentures.
Last year, a Pepsi ad topped the list of Super
Bowl ads critiqued by a group of Michigan State
University professors. The winner, a Sierra
Mist ad, featured a baboon trying to cool off
in a polar bear's swimming pool. This will be
the seventh year the faculty members watch the
game together and issue a Monday report.
"The Super Bowl has taken on this kind
of ritualistic atmosphere in our society,"
Vanden Bergh said. "Just when you think
the games aren't that exciting, it seems to
get bigger and bigger every year."
The price is worth it, Bernacchi said, if companies
want to reach young males or introduce a new
product or advertising campaign. Half the viewers
say the ads are a primary reason for watching
the game, he said.
"Women are a strong component of this
audience, increasingly," he added.
The Super Bowl provides a sure bet for advertisers,
which struggle to reach viewers in a sea of
TV networks and programs. And fans who watch
the game at Super Bowl parties or talk about
the event at work on Monday add to the energy.
For the first time in a few years, The Big
Three will all run advertisements on game day.
Cadillac, a division of General Motors, will
have nine advertisements: four during the pre-game
show; one during the third quarter; and four
during the post-game show. The company also
sponsored vehicles for the teams and officials
and will give a Cadillac to the Most Valuable
Player.
Ford Motor Co. will have two advertisements
for its Ford GT, a new high-end sports car,
and DaimlerChrysler will promote its Dodge Magnum
sports sedan with a 30-second ad during the
first quarter.
"No event, no opportunity presents the
male 18-34 demographic like the Super Bowl does,"
said Dave Elshoff, a spokesman for DaimlerChrysler.
"That's why everybody is there. It's a
very tough audience to reach. Although it does
give you a massive cross section of the American
population, it's very effective on the hard-to-reach
young male demographic."
©The Oakland Press 2004
source:-http://www.zwire.com
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