Super Bowl Ads

I've got to start my posting about super bowl ads early.

Banned PETA Ad
I really think that PETA made this ad on purpose knowing that it would be banned so that they did not have to spend the $3,000,000 to air the ad on TV, but would get it posted on the web (YouTube) for free and still get their message across. Without YouTube, Google Video and other similar sites along with the increasing availability of high speed broadband in the home this type of marketing technique would have never been possible. Plus, those of us who like to see ads again and again are no longer limited to Tivos and other DVRs.




One Second Ads
With the $3,000,000 price tag for 30 seconds, a Miller is going with one second spots in some markets that only cost $100,000 per throw (pun intended). A one-second ad could be a challenge to be effective, but a one-second ad viewed 1,000s of times on the Internet (YouTube and Google Video to the rescue) will probably be effective to some degree and cost a lot less.




Spilling the Beans
While online video sites have also freed us from the Tivo and DVR when we want to replay the commercials, these sites have also given use the ability to preview the ads before they air. I think this capability is great since it gets the message out earlier, but at the same time, I think it detracts from the allure and suspense of the Super Bowl commercials. If I have already seen the ads, it is no longer as much fun to watch the event. As long as the impatient do not take a sneak peak, I think these sites only help to get the messages promoted earlier (and for free too).

Winners and Losers
Losers
The GoDaddy.com online video was horrible and was rather tame. I think that it was really a ploy to get people to log onto the site. Given that the placement of the video was on the lower right-hand side of the page, I think this only reaffirms my observation, since the viewer usually looks at the upper left hand side of the page first then moves down and to the right.

One-Second Ad
In the spirit of Web 2.0 and DVRs, I missed the one-second miller ad, but caught it on DVR replay.