Super Bowl ads are selling fast - 95% of spots had sold by Jan. 3, according to CBS - and 30-seconds of air time is reportedly going for more than $2.5 million. Both rates and sales are ahead of 2007, the last time CBS broadcast the big game, although the weak economy might be having an impact on rates compared to last year's game.
While Pepsi and GM have decided to stay on the bench, the ads are a big investment for those businesses that play the game.
But what makes Super Bowl ads successful? How do companies stumble upon the talking babies or the fetching Clydesdale that will stay with people long after the Lombardi trophy is awarded?
These days it's not just about the 30 second spot, but a comprehensive plan to run an ad campaign that starts before the teams are even decided and continues until the last piece of tickertape has fallen.
"What has really been critical now is not just the ad," says Brent Stafford, an instructor in the Digital Film & Video program at The Art Institute of Vancouver, "but everything else you do that wrapped around the ad."
The real goal for advertisers is brand exposure, said Stafford, senior vice president of business development for VideoClix, an agency that provides clickability to online video. And because of brand exposure many advertisers are releasing spots on YouTube before the game to start generating buzz.
Others are creating buzz by taking a unique approach. In 2009, it was Miller High Life with the one-second ad.
"The value of the PR and word of mouth from that one-second Super Bowl ad kind of paid for itself," notes Amie Ley, director of public relations and social media at the Smith Brothers Agency in Pittsburgh.
For Doritos, it's user-generated ads that are fueling the buzz. The company first invited consumers to write, shoot, and submit their own spots in 2006. By 2009, the company offered $1 million if the winning spot placed first on USA Today's ad meter. And, sure enough, the spot featuring a Doritos crystal ball created by unemployed brothers Joe and Dave Herbert, from Batesville, Ind., did just that.
"When Doritos launched the campaign they were really tapping into a total shift in the way in which culture produces communications products," Stafford said. "It was an absolute brilliant stroke of genius."
Students from The Art Institute of Portland also participated in the 2009 Doritos Challenge. The student-run advertising agency brashCreative brought together 25 students enrolled in Art Institutes schools from six different programs of study to create a 30-second ad called "Collisions of Flavor."
The ad features a Doritos pillow fight as the catalyst for the brand's recently released "collisions" bags, combining two flavors of chips. Although the "Collisions of Flavor" ad did not take the top spot in the Doritos Challenge, it did help re-energize the student-run agency.
In addition to user-generated content, recent Super Bowl ad trends also have included an integration of commercial and programming content, such as the 2009 Pepsi ad using "SNL's" MacGruber character, and a call to action, such as Denny's ads promoting free breakfast.
"An offer like that is really going to stop and get people talking about it," Ley says.
To keep that buzz going in the post-game, advertisers are trying to maximize impact by continuing the dialogue online.
"Post-game stories are critical, and that's all viral," Stafford says. "It's all about finding those ideas that stick. The more sticky the ad is, the more viral the ad will be."
To increase the stickiness, advertisers are turning to social media; putting spots up on YouTube; placing banner ads on sites like YouTube, MySpace, and Facebook; and devoting their homepages to the campaign, Ley says.
Last year, Pedigree dog food turned its website over to a charging rhino, part of a campaign featuring unusual pets that promoted both their product and pet adoption. The company also donated a bowl of food to dogs in shelters for every video watched on its site.
An increasing number of companies also are paying to maximize online searches. In 2009, 65% of Super Bowl advertisers bought search terms related to their ads. That was up from 54% in 2008 and 21% five years ago, according to Smith Brothers.
So, what should viewers expect in 2010?
First and foremost, an increased use of social media.
According to a recent MediaPost article, companies are looking to social media "to adjust their marketing in ‘real-time' - depending on the data available." For example, Twitter allows advertisers to interact immediately with brand loyalists.
And those tweets can be tracked. The New York Times put together an interactive map showing the location and frequency of commonly used words in Super Bowl related Twitter messages in 2009. Interesting to note was the amount of tweets about the Super Bowl ads in general, and which ads (Doritos, Budweiser, CareerBuilder, and Hulu) generated the most tweets.
Aside from the social media, both Stafford and Ley expect to see more user-generated content in 2010. Doritos is at it again. This time the contest, available at www.crashthesuperbowl.com, has $5 million up for grabs.
The company will air three 30-second spots, and is offering $1 million for placing first in USA Today's ad meter. Contestants can receive $600,000 for second and $400,000 for third. If the spots finish 1-2-3, each will get a $1 million bonus.
And Career Builder also is sponsoring a user-generated ad contest. The winner will be awarded a "paycheck" of $100,000 and the runner up will earn $50,000, according to a company statement.
"Consumers have now become the producers of the very content that they consume," Stafford says. "The entire production of television content has been democratized."