QUICK READ:
- Super Bowl commercials cost had reached $5.6 million for a 30-second slot.
- Ad agencies continue to develop spots that are irrelevant and don’t sell products.
- Agencies continue down the path to extinction. They really believe that entertainment sells.
Once again ad agencies are proving just how out of touch they are with today’s consumers. The vast majority of spots on this year’s Super Bowl will be rated by entertainment value not on whether they actually sell products.
Dave Trott, a legendary ad-world guru and the author of Predatory Thinking, estimates that just 4 percent of the average ad is remembered positively. Another 7 percent is remembered negatively, and a whopping 89 percent is forgotten entirely.
Brands haven’t escaped the growth of distrust in established institutions. For example, in 2017, when the French media company, Havas Group, surveyed 300,000 consumers in 20 countries, it found that a majority believed that some 60 percent of the content produced by companies was poor or irrelevant.
But not all the money on SB commercials is wasted. Coke is introducing a new line extension product called “Coke Energy” and spending the money on a Super Bowl spot is a great way to build awareness but the vast number of other spots are going to fail in drive sales while ad agency executives fly to Cannes to accept pats on the back.
More and more brands are bringing ad agency services in house. The Super Bowl is a good reminder as to why this is happening. Brand and agency executives will be celebrating the spots in suites at the game while products collect dust on store shelves.
