Wednesday 30 January 2013

Super Bowl TV Slots: Past and Present Pt.1

After reading Creative Reviews blog post Brands prepare for the Super Bowl [1] and seeing that for just thirty seconds of air time big name companies like Coke-Cola and Audi are forking out $4m for a slot, though take into account this doesn't include production costs and celebrity endorsements if they are there, I am more curious on the affects these highly anticipated adverts have on the brand?

Last year in America alone 111 million people watched the whole Super Bowl, with another 52 million people just watching part of it making the total viewing audience of 163 million, in the states alone [2]. That is, to be fair, a large number of eyes fixed on the television. Even though this is the case the brands that do get a time slot also go out and create new and one off adverts just for the occasion, and it is easy to see why. For example lets take 2011's stand out advert by Volkswagen, The Force, if you haven't seen it I have added the Youtube video for you to watch over.


Now being as I live in London, I don't get to see the infamous advert broadcast for the first time. Thanks to the buzz on the web via various blog posts, Facebook likes and Tweets I was able to find it with ease. So for an advert being shown to 111 million Americans, how much more did Volkswagen get for their big cash add? As I type this the Volkswagen Youtube page video has 56,039,654 views alone, a case study by Mediacom [3] tells us that on game day the visits to VW.com hit a 480% increase and on average 127% since. Please note Mediacom post was back in 2011, but this is an advert that will be mentioned for some time being such a success for Volkswagen. Both for the increase in their social media presence, from dominating Youtube to an average click-through per tweet up by 925%, and as The Volkswagen US Media Room [4] states the sales in the US increased by 26.3 across the board with the Passat outselling their 2010 volume by 124%.

Why was this advert such a massive success during and after the Super Bowl? My opinion is because of several different reasons. The young boy trying to have the powers of the force, something which any Star Wars fan has wished, and probably tried at some point in their life. The older generation wanting to be young again, the innocence that this child brings to the screen when he finally use the force to start the car. Mums and dads seeing their child as the little Darth Vader. The generation of Golf GTI drivers who have now settled down, have a partner and a child or two, the Passat is a family car and the nearest you will get to a Golf and memories of being young again. Volkswagens Golf produced an advert which explains peoples love for the Golf just perfectly. With all these factors this advert hits the 30 something families with their first children who need a new family car, adding Star Wars to the factor lets those who know the original films to talk about being Vader. With these factors and Volkswagen utilizing the fact that everyone is connected via social media, they turned a car ad into a viral ad that took the States and Europe by storm. 



[1] http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2013/january/super-bowl-ads



[2] http://www.ibtimes.com/super-bowl-ratings-how-many-people-will-be-watching-2012-405398



[3] http://www.mediacom.com/en/news-insights/blink/issues/edition-2-2011/case-study-vw-setting-the-stage-for-success.aspx


[4] http://media.vw.com/newsrelease.do;jsessionid=3254FC9793325020ECAC9367866A509D?&id=974&allImage=1&teaser=volkswagen-reports-26.3-percent-increase-2011-u.s-sales&mid=116







No comments:

Post a Comment