Saturday Edition

dispatches from the new world of work

Sally H. vs. Steve Y.

Okay, let the game begin. This is where we'll be posting Sally and Steve's back and forth as the game goes on. Let's see what happens.

sallyhogshead Okay, the gloves are off and I'm ready for "Super Bowl Smackdown" - live commentary with @steveyastrow at #tpsb43 and www.tompeters.com

sallyhogshead Quite the collection of advertising clichés in StateFarm spot: faux press conference, dream sequence, celebrity, mis-direct ending.

steveyastrow #tpsb43 This Audi chase ad may be exciting, but it is confusing, over done, and ... it includes car crashes! Car crashes in a car ad ...hmm

steveyastrow Hyundai is taking some risks by having multiple messages tonight - their Assurance program and the car of the year.

steveyastrow Remember Max Headroom from the '80's? In the future attention spans would be so short that TV ads would be 1 second. Future = now

sallyhogshead @steveyastrow Steve: What's your take on a $3M media pricetag for :30 (or $100k / second) during a recession?

sallyhogshead Always surprises to see CMOs spend top media $ without top-shelf creative thinking behind it. This pre-game work is rather sub-par.

steveyastrow Yes, I can't even remember what ads I saw in the pre-game, and I'm trying to pay attention!

sallyhogshead On average, Superbowl parties have 17 people. Will Twitter lower that number, by giving people a virtual party?

steveyastrow Yes, the audience is 100 million people, but 97 million are dipping chips in guacamole right now.

sallyhogshead I don't care if the media is cheaper, it's still a waste to have lame ideas in the commercials.

steveyastrow Sally, my take on $3MM for 30 seconds in a recession: Customers are so scrutinizing right now, spending 3cents each on 100 million people is spreading yourself too thin. They won't pay attention.

steveyastrow #tpsb43 This Audi chase ad may be exciting, but it is confusing, over done, and ... it includes car crashes! Car crashes in a car ad ...hmm

sallyhogshead Audi spot is great because it's so YouTube-friendly- you want to watch over n over. Highly crafted for Audi consumer tastes. #tpsb43

steveyastrow #tpsb43 Yes, if Iwatched the Audi ad 100 times on youtube, I might get it .... if.

sallyhogshead Hold on, deja vu, are we seeing two time-compression-technique spots almost back to back (Audi/Pepsi)?

steveyastrow #tpsb43 The Doritos ad was hilarious ... but will be the classic, "Who was that ad for?" conversation at the water cooler tomorrow.

sallyhogshead Recent study stated that a single Superbowl ad generates more sales than 250 regular commercials. I bet more.

steveyastrow #tpsb43 Sally, so why is reaching 100 million people at one time a good idea? Seems like a mile wide and an inch deep to me

steveyastrow #tpsb43 Sally ... but what are "regular commercials?"

steveyastrow #tpsb43 The bigger the audience, the more diluted, the more people watching who don't care about your message ... very few sales being made

sallyhogshead #tpsb43 Huge disagreement: SB is the ultimate shared experience in USA. Its power isn't the TV buy, but in the social currency afterwards.

steveyastrow #tpsb43 I hope Conan O'brien got paid a lot, and enjoyed the shoot. It certainly didn't sell a lot of beer

sallyhogshead #tpsb43 For 30 seconds, you have the attention of consumers and thought leaders all at once. Nothing else delivers 100M people WANTING ads

steveyastrow #tpsb43 Does shared experience lead to sales? Or just a lot of chatter?

sallyhogshead Just like people love to play “armchair quarterback” during the game, during the commercials it's “armchair marketer."

steveyastrow #tpsb43 So far Audi and Bridgestone have shown car crashes/accidents in their ads. And our whole party thought the Castrol ad was "creepy"

steveyastrow #tpsb43 Sally, but do armchair marketers buy the products? Or just talk?

sallyhogshead Goal to justify $3M media cost: don't just entertain, but change minds and provoke action. Entertainment is sooo '08.

steveyastrow #tpsb43 $3MM across 100 million consumers is 3 cents each. What kind of effect can you expect for 3 cents? Not much, but the superficial.

steveyastrow #tpsb43 GoDaddy wastes their money again. Not only tasteless, but it give no one a reason to use them.

sallyhogshead #tpsb43 Steve: armchair marketers debate, which equals free media over and over. Example: YouTube, web hits, and Tweets like THIS.

steveyastrow #tpsb43 After the GoDaddy shower ad, my friend said, What's GoDaddy? I explained and she said, "Oh, I think we used them for my website."

steveyastrow #tpsb43 Ok, the Pepsi Max is very unpleasant to watch. But only they could get away with it.

sallyhogshead 3 cents each: that's the geometric growth of free PR. If it's not worth bringing up in convo tomorrow, the brand shouldn't run it.

sallyhogshead The biggest mistake Superbowl advertisers make is to water down their message, and run a commercial that’s nothing but vanilla mush.

sallyhogshead In Superbowl commercials, as in the SB game, you lose if you wuss out and play it safe.

sallyhogshead For SB, an ad agency might spend the entire year coming up with HUNDREDS of potential ideas, and then produce just one. Earn it.

steveyastrow #tpsb43 I've never bought into the excuse that buzz makes up for ludicrous ad buys. Bernie Madoff had lots of buzz, too.

sallyhogshead This year's SB ads need to be multi-tasking machines: to prompt action, incite talk, and earn a consumer's attention.

sallyhogshead RT @dhorridge: @sallyhogshead Sally, I'm not sure that Steve understands that time is the new currency.

steveyastrow #tpsb43 Sally, so what kind of buzz will lead to sales, or just to forgotten chuckles?

sallyhogshead A Superbowl ad should be tip of iceberg in terms of marketing halo. Check out Pepsi: http://www.youtube.com/pepsi

sallyhogshead Chuckles: no. Breaking through inertia and cynicism with humor to overcome savvy consumer's natural resistance : yes.

sallyhogshead Today, Americans will consume 8 million lbs of guac, and 14,500 tons of chips. Maybe add a few obesity commercials too?

steveyastrow #tpsb43 Yes, some of these ads will work. But putting all of your chips on red 14 might work also ... but most of the time it won't.

steveyastrow tpsb43 Rationalizing SB advertising due to all of the buzz/conv is not senscial. Call these what they are: speculative, risky investments.

sallyhogshead I dislike the GoDaddy.com ads but admit they use controversy well. Too bad the concepts so weak-- nothing to buzz about but boobs.

sallyhogshead "Buzz" is the only way to crack through consumer inertia unless you have world-changing data-driven rational benefit (most don't).

steveyastrow #tpsb43 How does GoDaddy use controversy well? They get talk, but it can't help their business. Talk doesn't make the cash register ring.

sallyhogshead Social currency = people want to engage with, play with, learn from, talk about, and above all OWN a brand. That is sales.

steveyastrow #tpsb43 Brand harmony works much better than buzz. Have many interactions that all blend to tell a story. Then the talk will be powerful.

sallyhogshead GoDaddy: "Super Bowl Advertising Working for Go Daddy" http://bit.ly/2JVq

steveyastrow #tpsb43 The world is a very noisy place. Brute force rarely cuts through the clutter. Many interactions blending in harmony does cut through

sallyhogshead Isn't buzz an infused part of brand harmony? One part - mixed with retail exp, cust relations, packaging, etc etc

steveyastrow #tpsb43 Did anyone find the Hyundai shouting ad a little xenophobically offensive? Germans and Japanese screaming.

steveyastrow #tpsb43 Sure, buzz can be a part of brand harmony. But buzz is rarely manufactured through expensive production and a single viewing.

sallyhogshead Hyundai annoying yes, but like classic Absolut campaign based on the bottle, it reinforced benefit AND product name.

sallyhogshead Bud Light "Drinkability" - what do you think of using a marketing-centric piece of jargon in consumer-facing ad?

sallyhogshead Hyundai is not spreading too thin w/ 3 messages. It's fragmentation of brand, keeping surprise + interest.

steveyastrow #tpsb43 The Teleflora ad sucked. Like car spots with car crashes, a florist ad with flowers berating a woman is a really bad idea.

steveyastrow #tpsb43 We've been so jaded by buzz lately, aren't we entering an age of substance? People are so scrutinizing these days!

sallyhogshead Every year there’s a menagerie of talking bears pigeons, squirrels, monkeys, Clydesdales. Now anthropomorphized flowers!

steveyastrow #tpsb43 I agree ... these ads are contrived, forced, unmemorable ... and mostly un-buzzable.

It's halftime and your correspondent has decided that you can follow the rest of this discussion by going to hashtags.org and searching for #tpsb43. that will bring up the whole discussion between Sally and Steve (and whoever else cared to join in by using the hashtag on their tweets).

Happy trails!

Erik Hansen posted this on 02/01/09.

Comments

I agree with Sally that if you're going to do a Super Bowl ad that it should be just part of the broader marketing plan. As Steve says, SB ads are like playing roulette...sometimes you win, sometimes you don't. You had better have enough marketing capital to make that gamble.

Posted by Amanda Cullen at February 1, 2009 7:31 PM

The Boss won, hands down, no contest.

Watch sales of Bruce Springsteen's cd's over the next week: I'll wager 5 of my English pounds that he is far and away the winner from all the products on display.

Posted by Mark JF at February 2, 2009 7:03 AM

The Boss also got into trouble for signing an exclusive deal with Wal-Mart whose in constant battle with union organizers. But he still might be "far and away the winner from all the products on display." I like that line, Mark JF.

Posted by Judith Ellis at February 2, 2009 7:52 AM

At $3m for 30 seconds, The Boss' 12 minute show was a free advert worth $72m... I read that he's regretting the WalMart deal: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7862687.stm

Posted by Mark JF at February 2, 2009 10:32 AM

Wow! I also wondered about the Motorola headphones and product placement. What would that be worth if anything? I had read that The Boss regretted the deal, but it is after all a signed deal. The Boss, obviously, did what was best for him. How could he not know the firestorm that would follow. But I'm cool with it.

The deal probably will not do great damage to his public image. He has been a voice for working class folks forever and, of course, others buy his stuff too. I'm a fan. I also loved the soulful rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner" by Academy Award winner Jennifer Hudson. She's got a set of pipes, no calisthenics needed.

Posted by Judith Ellis at February 2, 2009 10:49 AM

Jennifer Hudson was outstanding... The Boss was pathetic - no voice and no rhythm. His new album is a dud.

Did not see that many ads down here (Australia) on our coverage - our TV did their own ads BUT also had whole segments devoted to US ads. Doritos ads I saw were great - they provide a platform for World Wide Rave when shown in Online Videos, YouTube clips, and referred to by Twitterers.

The Cardinals forgot to tell the Steelers #10 Holmes that they had the ball game won - so he proceeded to complete 5 from 6 receptions to win the game in last 2 mins. What wonderful theater the Super Bowl provides - I just love it!!!

Posted by Richard Lipscombe at February 2, 2009 7:15 PM

Judith,

She does have a set of pipes (Jennifer Hudson), especially when they're pre-recorded and lip synced during the Super Bowl.

My point-----as a society, we can't even tell what's real or fake anymore. When she started singing, I thought, "Well that's strange, there's no echo from monitors to main speakers." Now her publicist is scrambling to explain why lip syncing was the right thing to do.

I'm doubting whether or not that was really Kurt Warner playing the game. I want proof.

At least the Boss was singing and his rhythm ended up in the cameraman's lap when he slid on stage. Nice close up of the Boss's package; I was hoping for a wardrobe malfunction after the slide.

Posted by Candy Man at February 2, 2009 8:03 PM

Candy Man - Pre-recorded or not, Jennifer Hudson is an outstanding singer with great musicality. You sound like those who were annoyed that the inaugural quartet's piece was pre-recorded. If they were playing to someone else's music, then we could hoop and holler. They weren't and Hudson wasn't. Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, and Jennifer Hudson remain great musicians, pre-recorded or not. Regarding these, we know what's real and fake. These are the real deal.

After the tragic deaths of Hudson's mother and nephew, I was glad to simply see her on the stage at all. Good on her! She is an extraordinary talent, both singer and actor. By the way, was The Boss actually singing? If so, he's a better singer than I. With my many years of training, singing, and performing, I could not do such things and actually sing. But then again, some may not call what he does singing. He is a great performer, giving a great show. Richard may have a point. Is the band really that tight?

Now, I'm NOT hating. The Boss remains The Boss and one could not fault him for looking after The Boss. He seems quite real to me.

Posted by Judith Ellis at February 2, 2009 9:11 PM

I loved the Doritos commercial. Great music!

Posted by Judith Ellis at February 2, 2009 9:13 PM

why can't cardinal sicola become pope?

because he would be pope sicola.

Posted by thePope at February 2, 2009 9:36 PM

Judith,

Then why do we bother to have her up on stage, pretending that she's singing? Why don't we pre-record her singing and run the tape.

And if she's so impacted by the deaths of her mother and nephew, pass on the event altogether. Or better yet, pre-record her singing and let me go out there and move my lips.

With regard to the comparisions of the inaugural event, there are none. I understand completely why the musicians needed to utilize a pre-recorded song because of the extreme temperatures. But why couldn't the musicians just move their dumb asses inside where it's warm. Like we don't have the technology to record them playing inside and pipe the music outside. Aretha sucked at the inaugural event as well. She blamed it on the cold...they definitely should have pre-recorded her.

My point again------we try so hard in society to make sure everything is perfect, we lose the essence of what it means to be human. The boss ramming his crotch into the camera was not only funny, but human. By the way, Little Stevie sounded like shit in the same mic that Bruce was singing from.

Speaking of lip syncing. How can you tell when Obama or any of those politicians are lying? Well, much like Hudson, they're moving their lips? Obama is beginning to look more like a golden goose than anything else. Maybe yet, he's moving his lips and Colin Powell is talking, or it could just be Pelosi.

Posted by Candy Man at February 2, 2009 10:31 PM

Candy Man - Sleep well. Goodnight.

Posted by Judith Ellis at February 2, 2009 11:23 PM

I don't know if Ms. Hudson was singing or miming. But, if she was miming and given that so much fuss was made about the little Chinese girl lip syncing at the Olympics, why don't people apply the same standard when it's a little closer to home?

Posted by Mark JF at February 3, 2009 2:35 AM

An estimated 90 million people worldwide watched the Super Bowl. When considering subliminal messages (are there studies on their impact on such an event?), its hard to say that these commercials, being replayed over and over again on youtube, have no affect on sales or even the brand. I had not thought of the local ads that Richard brought up, but maybe the replay on youtube influences here. The Super Bowl commercials are all over the Internet in political, business, and lifestyle sites. They are being rated; masses are becoming involved with the brand on some level. Is this not good?

There may be a question about the evolution of the brand to consider here, but how much control do we actually have over this anyway? Who could have thought that the Aflac duck or the Geico lizard could have such an impact? (Or, have they?) We can do everything right but the consumer will ultimately decide what to buy and even recast our brand. I cannot imagine that suggestive subliminal creative adverstising has no affect on sales or the brand. We are emotional beings.

Posted by Judith Ellis at February 3, 2009 9:25 AM

The most telling thing I have read about advertising lately is in Martin Lindstrom's Cool Friends interview:
http://www.tompeters.com/cool_friends/content.php?note=010755.php
In the discussion around the 4th and 5th questions Erik asks, Martin says that once you've associated your brand with an image, the image itself--without your product or your product's logo--sets off a reaction in consumers. His example was a billboard of a rancher, with no cigarette in sight, making people crave a smoke, because they'd seen so many images with that theme.

So, based on that standard, those car ads that left me wondering "What's being advertised here?" may be the most effective of the lot from Super Bowl day. But, the one that got to me was the Doritos ad. In the end, one character takes a bite out of a chip. You hear the crunch. That sound made me want to get up and get chips immediately, and I would have had to leave the house to do that!

Posted by cathy mosca at February 3, 2009 12:19 PM

Bravo, Cathy! Your words made me smile. Thanks for the Cool Friends interview too. Great one, for sure!

Posted by Judith Ellis at February 3, 2009 1:10 PM

Mark JF,

Great observation. My answer----after the slumber Judith insisted I take----in America, I'm part of the "Do as I say, not as I do" society.

Lip syncing on Saturday Night Live absolutely ruined Ashlee Simpson's career...thank goodness.

How about that poor gal in Canada I believe (you can YouTube to find it) who sang the Star Spangled Banner and forgot the words. She says "I'm sorry" and goes back to the locker room. Someone convinced her to come back out and sing, big mistake, and she was brave enough to give it another try. Immediately entering the rink, she slips on the ice, and game over.

While this made for great tv and will forever be archived in YouTube and Bloops and Blunders, that gal, whoever she is, has more courage and dignity than Hudson in my opinion. I wouldn't go see Hudson perform, because, in the back of your mind, you'll never know if she's faking it or real. At least that gal had the courage to fail...something Americans have forgotten in our strategic, overstated wisdom.

Long live Milli-Vanilli. Remember what lip syncing did for them...bye-bye Grammy.

Posted by Candy Man at February 3, 2009 2:14 PM

I found this exchange incredibly interesting in the Cool Friend interview with Martin Lindstrom that Cathy referenced:

"I want to say one thing. I'm not a huge fan of subliminal advertising and I don't support it. But I am a fan of telling brands that brand building is not about the logo—it's about everything around the logo. Sending indirect messages is more effective. Tell a story without showing the logo.

Companies have to start a process where they craft their advertising so that at the end of a two-year period, they don't have to put their logo in the ads. The signals they send should be so powerful that the brand is obvious—the color, the shape, the picture format, the style, the tone of voice, etc.

Companies that do this are incredibly successful. Take the Apple iPod. There's no logo on the front of an iPod, but you still know it's the iPod."

Michael Lindstrom answers my question about subliminal messages and he also made me think about the prominent Motorola headsets that the coaches were wearing. They were not particularly sleek or cool, but one could not help but notice the brand. For me, the obvious did not have an incredible impact, though it was very much prominently placed. It almost had the reverse affect on me. I brought up the topic here a few times to see what others might have thought about the headsets aesthetically.

But something that was more powerful for me was during the Olympics when athletes of every nationality were "relaxing" during down times; they wore little white earplugs attached to white wire that undoubtedly led to little sleek beautiful white devices unlike the usual black electronic ones. Could these be iPods? Did I see that apple? It didn't matter; I thought Apple.

Design rules!

Posted by Judith Ellis at February 3, 2009 3:05 PM

How do you spell Grammy? JENNIFER HUDSON!

Posted by Judith Ellis at February 8, 2009 10:02 PM

Not to mention ACADEMY!

Posted by Judith Ellis at February 8, 2009 10:05 PM