Online buzz does not equal sales

images A survey of audience respondents, performed exclusively for Bloomberg Businessweek by marketing-research firm Db5, suggests [inlinetweet prefix=”” tweeter=”” suffix=””]consumers remembered less than 10 percent of Sunday’s Super Bowl commercials.[/inlinetweet] Yet here we are with hype around the spots already. Hyundai is even teasing their spot to create buzz. Ha?

[inlinetweet prefix=”” tweeter=”” suffix=””]Buzz does not equal sales[/inlinetweet].  Read that again. McKinsey & Co found that no statistically significant sales impact – positive or negative – resulted from online buzz after an extensive cross-media study.  But isn’t that the objective of all advertising?

Let’s be honest here, running ads on the Super Bowl is the direct result of agencies who are self promoting themselves so that later in France they can all pat themselves on the back.  It’s about wining and dining clients in executive suites at the game and getting clients to sign over more money.

[pullquote]When asked to recall as many companies as possible that had ads during the big game, the average viewer in the survey could name only 5.4 brands. With more than 50 companies buying ads, that means less than 10 percent were recalled.[/pullquote]

Now we have Hyundai who is teasing people with their spot during the Super Bowl, like people are going to be saying “boy I can’t wait to see that Hyundai spot and rush down to my dealer to buy a Hyundai”.

Then there are the sticky ratings problems of the NFL.  Viewership of NFL games is declining.  And once again the most hated team in the NFL, the Patriots, are in the big game against a team whose fans have been compared to thugs.

Give me the money that brands are spending on the Super Bowl and I’ll drive sales, but sorry there won’t be any money for our agency or fancy suites at the game.  Just sales increases, which is why we are supposed to be in business.

 

About richmeyer

Rich is a passionate marketer who is able to quickly understand what turns a prospect into a customer. He challenges the status quo and always asks "what can we do better"? He knows how to take analytics and turn them into opportunities and he is a great communicator.

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