Super Sunday For Super Ads
Some 90 million people are expected to tune into the Super Bowl on Sunday. But the Seahawks and Steelers won't be the only ones doing battle: it's the big game for advertisers, too.
And they're spending big bucks, shelling out $2.5 million per 30-second commercial.
Remember the Budweiser frogs? They made a huge splash in 1995, carrying on the beer maker's tradition of being one of the most creative and successful advertisers in Super Bowl history.
McDonalds found success with Larry Bird and Michael Jordan and is another company that has, in the past, gone all out when it comes to Super Bowl ads.
The Super Bowl is football's championship and, in many ways, it's also advertising's biggest game, too.
"You're hoping that your creative ideas will resonate with other people. There is always risk," explains BBDO Chairman David Lubars, one of the top minds in the business. "And so that's why Super Bowl is so intense. Cause you're spending so much money, you really don't want to be wrong."
Lubars was the creative force behind one of the Super Bowl's most memorable commercials, the cat herder ad for EDS in 2000 that left some people scratching their heads.
"It's not that crazy," says Lubars. "That was a saying in technology geek circles. It was a saying that said: 'Oh it's so complicated it's like trying to herd cats.' "
From that simple phrase, a concept and then a commercial was born.
"It was only about 30 cats. Right. And they were trained to do certain things," Lubars says. "And then using computers and post production we cloned the cats to make look like thousands.
"And then, when they were going through, it looked like they were fording a river, they were actually going through a warmed, heated kiddy pool."
This year, expect some more surprises, but also some old standards too. Budweiser will be back, as always, in a big way.
The company reportedly is spending $26 million this year to air 10 spots during Super Bowl XL.
"Anheuser Busch has so many ads that even if you don't like some of them, there's bound to be one or two that you think are hilarious. So they always win the poll," says Barbara Lippert from Adweek Magazine.
Pepsi is also putting down a pretty penny with four spots in the game, featuring Sean "Diddy" Combs.
Jessica Simpson, meanwhile, will be featured in a commercial for Pizza Hut.
McDonald's won't be advertising during this year's game but Burger King is putting on a big show, featuring the "Whopperettes."
"I think the Burger King one is gonna be the one that's most buzzed about. It's a huge production number," says Lippert. "And the work that they've been doing is really out there and fantastic and not fake."
Perhaps this year's most unexpected entrant is Dove. The company generated a ton of publicity last summer with their "campaign for real beauty."
And with women making up nearly 50 percent of Sunday's audience, Dove decided to bring their message to the big game, this time targeting girls.
"It's very sweet and it's very innocent," says Lippert. "And it's an ad that's beautifully photographed with these little girls just looking straight at the camera. You're gonna have to take 45 seconds out to think about little girls and their self-esteem. And if that really bothers any men, well, then there'll be cleavage right around the corner."
For that, you can count on GoDaddy, the Internet company that raised a few eyebrows last year by taking a stab at Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction." They're back in 2006 with another sexy ad.
Lippert says catching viewers' attention is what it's all about.
"For the past 10 years, they've been having trouble getting people to watch their commercials, and with TiVo it's even worse," Lippert says. "This is the only event where people are watching for the commercials. And to have 90 million people focusing on your commercial is pretty unique."