Post #3: Super Bowl Ads

Hello once more,

This week my professor assigned a special objective for blogging this week: analyze the Super Bowl commercials with the 4 P’s. At first, I wasn’t too enthused because I used the 4 P’s last week, and because I have been trying to emphasize personal branding. However, after watching the commercials (and the Seahawks domination!), I think this will be a good lesson in how companies try to appeal to you as they spend millions of dollars for these ads. To show the differences, I’m going to focus on the ads from different automobile companies.

If I remember correctly, the first ad was for the new Maserati Ghibli. The ad was one minute and thirty seconds long, and for the first minute and ten seconds a little girl talks about “waiting until they get sleepy,” “coming out of the shadows,” and then it’s time to “strike” - then they introduce the product. After looking at the commercial again, I identified the metaphor of other car companies getting sleepy and then Maserati coming out of the shadows and striking with the Ghibli, but I’ll admit I didn’t realize it the first time. So why did I remember this ad? I think it was just because it was so much longer than most ads, and maybe because I was confused by the two distinct parts of the ad.

Product – Maserati Ghibli

Promotion – Abnormally long commercial, “quietly walk out of the dark...and strike”

Place – First Super Bowl commercial

Price – Estimated $12 million for the commercial, price of car not mentioned

Chevrolet had two means of appealing to you. The first was humor with the bull being transported to the farm with all of the cows. The second was much more emotional as a couple traveled across the countryside, the wife silently communicating that she had overcome something by reaching for her husband’s hand. This ad was made in conjunction with the American Cancer Society. Both ads were a minute long.

Product – Chevrolet Truck (no specified model)

Promotion – Humor and emotion, teaming with American Cancer Society to raise awareness

Place – First half Super Bowl commercials

Price – Estimated $16 million for the two commercials, price of car not mentioned

Humor was used by Volkswagen, too. Their ad was my favorite of the car ads because it was simple, yet effective. The message was that once a Volkswagen reaches 100,000 miles, “a German engineer gets his wings”. After the driver of the VW tells this to his daughter, the attention goes to the VW plant where engineers start sprouting wings of different sizes. Then the daughter says, “Yeah dad, and I ‘m sure at 200,000 miles, rainbows shoot out of their butts.” And sure enough, they show one extra surprised engineer. Here’s a link. 

Product – Volkswagen (no specified model)

Promotion – Humor, “that’s the power of German engineering”

Place – First half Super Bowl commercial

Price – Estimated $8 million, price of car not mentioned

Other ads included Chrysler with Bob Dylan as their spokesman. This ad came late in the game and was not very memorable, but now I associate Bob Dylan with Chrysler – doesn’t make me want to buy a Chrysler though. Kia had an ad with Morpheus from The Matrix trying to redefine luxury, and then singing Nessun Dorma, the classic opera song made famous by Pavarotti. Toyota also had a memorable ad with the muppets and Terry Crews.

My main point here is that there are many different approaches to grabbing one’s attention. I like humor like many others. Some like suspense, others like emotion, and, of course, sex sells. The bigger question remains, Do these ads significantly increase sales? Here's a perspective on that question. In the meantime, I'll try to see if that's true throughout the week, and I'll let you know soon.

Best,

Tim