Wednesday, January 31, 2018
Audience Metrics & Advertising Blog 2, Question 1 (Feb. 6th)
How would you assess this year’s Super Bowl – from the commercials to
the halftime show to the game itself? In this changing media environment, is
the Super Bowl as influential as a showcase for advertisers, performers, and
the NFL as it was in the past? Limit: 9 responses
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Looking at this year’s Super Bowl, I would say it was quite mediocre. I have to say the game itself was one that had me hooked, and I’m not even a big football fan. I love a good underdog story and the Patriots turnover in the fourth quarter was what changed the entire feel of the game.
ReplyDeleteIn regards to the advertisements, I feel like everyone played it safe. There was no one ad that blew me away or made me belly-laugh. I noticed that a lot of the ads tried to tug at your heartstrings though. I felt like a lot of the ads revolved around world peace, helping one another and kept with the theme of the game: underdog story. The ads for the Olympics mostly contained athletes who have endured some kind of injury or has some physical disability. For example, both Shaun White and Lindsey Vonn were featured, showing their “comeback.”
An AdAge article warned us that “In years past, it was a race to see who could create the most humorous creative around the Super Bowl.” (Sotille) I feel like this year’s Super Bowl definitely shifted away from that trend, but still keeping up with the politically charged ads. The article also shared that “I think again you’re going to see center stage this year politically charged statements around climate change, female empowerment and other issues,” (Sotille) which definitely holds true in terms of this year’s ads.
The main reason I feel that a lot of the ads were not as creative as they used to be is due to the status of the NFL. It is no surprise that NFL ratings have been down the past few years and advertising slots are only going up in price. Due to the substantial decrease in ratings, companies are taking less risk with their ads because they know these ads are not reaching the much larger audience than they used to. An article published in Forbes states “Perhaps as a result of these issues, NFL viewership is down more than 5% this year. Fewer people are tuning in to watch the games. Whether this will hold for the Super Bowl remains to be seen, but a decline in viewership has the potential to lead advertisers to pass on the massive price tag of a Super Bowl spot.” (Rucker & Calkins)
As for the halftime show I was pleasantly surprised by Justin Timberlake’s solo performance. His song choice was good and definitely knew how to play to his audience with the Prince tribute. When the entire city was lit up purple it sent chills down my spine. His choreography was also undeniably fantastic. While I would not call it an “iconic” performance, I think he got the job done, and he did it well.
Unfortunately, not everyone agrees with my opinion. Justin Timberlake is being heavily criticized for his Prince tribute. USA Today reports that people are calling the performance “demonic” and “not what Prince would have wanted.” (Blas) Coming back for redemption since his 2004 Super Bowl performance, I think Timberlake did the tribute tastefully and would have probably been under fire if he did not acknowledge Prince in his home city. Therefore, no matter which route Timberlake chose, he would receive backlash from both.
Looking back, the Super Bowl is definitely not the media extravaganza that it once was. It is definitely not as influential and powerful for advertisers, also for performers. Every aspect of the Super Bowl now is under such a microscopic lens and subject to so much scrutiny. Viewers are so critical of every detail nowadays and have no problem taking their opinions to social media. Despite ratings being down, the spectacle that is the Super Bowl definitely has a lasting impression on those who chose to watch.
I found this year’s Super Bowl of 2018 to be just like any other Super Bowl in year’s prior. There seems to be a trend that goes on every year when referring to the commercials. One can find the variety of some tugging on ones heartstrings commercial(s), some funny and some political that can be found during every Super Bowl.
ReplyDeleteReferring to the game itself, I found it be a bore due to the fact that I am not a fan of American football per-say, therefore, I do not have any particular team that I would want to win. If it was an NBA game and the Cavaliers were playing then I would be emotionally invested. However, I was excited for the performance and advertisements.
The halftime show, featuring lead performer, Justin Timberlake, was quite the performance. Along with his renditions of his top hit songs, was his attempt to create an exciting and captivating performance. While I was very anticipated to watch his performance, I found it to be lacking in spunk when comparing it to Lady Gaga’s performance during the half-time show in the 2017. Her performance was packed with colored lights and effects. It actually lived up to expectations that come along with the prestige of the Super Bowl half-time show.
The half time show wasn’t the only thing I was looking forward to in this year’s Super Bowl. The commercials are what really catch my attention more than the game! In last years Super Bowl, the advertisements did get political as we were just coming out of a “politically charged environment” (Oster). And in this this years Super Bowl, it was expected to do the same, except take on a different political approach. As last years political commercials were geared toward pay, inequality and immigration, this years was foreseen to focus on climate change, female empowerment and as well as many other controversies. The Variety referred to this years Super Bowl as coming in many varieties… some are spicy…some are salty…this year many were just sweet” (Steinberg).
While watching the Super Bowl, I noticed that there weren’t many political ads. The majority was a blend of heart-filled and comical commercials. For example, the Doritos Blaze vs. Mtn Dew Ice (both owned by Pepsi Co.) commercial featured well-known celebrities, Peter Dinklage (#spitfire) and Morgan Freeman (#icecold). It featured them lip-syncing to popular songs such as Look at me Now, Busta Rhymes and Get Your Freak On, Missy Elliot. This commercial was meant to be humorous and fun, which I thought was. I found it to be personally enjoyable because I enjoy ads that have a mixture of music and a sense or humor.
ReplyDeleteThe NFL itself seems to be in trouble for it has been known to be declining every year. Even with this prominent reason for declining, it is still the place for advertisers and performers to showcase themselves. The views that the Super Bowl gets in perspective to the views on a normal day are still dominant for the “audience level for the Super Bowl has always towered over the rest of television… delivering 106 million viewers or more since 2010” (Battaglio). The main difficulties that the NFL is dealing with, ranges from protests similar to Colin Kaepernick’s, to injuries and most importantly the declining of TV ratings. The outside sources that are disrupting these TV ratings to decline would be Netflix and other streaming services, which are preferable and increasing in subscribers.
Overall, I found the Super Bowl to do its justice at creating a strong advertising environment including the usual intriguing commercials. The performance on the other hand, lacked with originality and melodrama. The Super Bowl still tops the viewing ratings with its large amount of viewership but the NFL will continue to face problems within the next coming years.
Oster, Erik. “4 Advertising Trends to Expect from Super Bowl LII”. AdAge, 8 January. 2018.
Battaglio, Stephen. “NBC says Super Bowl commercials are nearly sold out, topping $5 million per 30-second spot”. Los Angeles Times, 11 January. 2018.
Steinberg, Brian. “Super Bowl Ad Review: Why Madison Avenue Chose Pop Over Politics”. Variety, 4 Feb. 2018
This Super Bowl always has a little something different for everyone but some aspects shined brighter than others this year. The game itself will be remembered as one of the all-time greats. It broke the record for most combined yards in a Super Bowl game and featured aggressive play calling from start to finish. The Eagles were relentless going for it on fourth downs, attempting two-point conversions, and the play on fourth and goal that resulted in the quarterback Nick Foles catching a touchdown will go down in history. The Eagles overcame the loss of Carson Wentz who likely would’ve won MVP, Jason Peters who is a potential future Hall of Famer, and star linebacker Jordan Hicks. Their leading receiver in the Super Bowl was an undrafted free agent running back, Corey Clement. The Patriots seemed poised to snatch yet another Super Bowl from the hands of a team trying to win its first.
ReplyDeleteThe commercials are another story. Super Bowl commercials have been a target for ridicule for years now and 2018 was no different. That isn’t to say the money wasn’t pouring in, “Dan Lovinger, executive vice president of advertising sales for NBC Sports, said on a conference call Thursday that the network expects to take in $500 million in ad revenue on Super Bowl Sunday, about the same as last year’s event” (Battaglio). The price to get a thirty-second ad was $5 million and they were sold out in no time. So advertisers were still clamoring to buy the ad spots but very few seemed interested in making a commercial worth the price of admission. The consensus on Twitter after the game was the 30-second blackout NBC experienced was one of the best “commercials” of the night. Some companies came through with witty and original ideas such as Tide, Amazon, and the NFL oddly enough. Unfortunately, that’s where the praise stops. Dodge had one of the worst of the night when they ran an ad for trucks with audio from a Martin Luther King Jr. sermon. The internet quickly turned on Dodge due to the outright insulting attempt to use MLK Jr’s words to sell trucks. The ultimate irony being the full sermon is a speech on anti-consumerism and acts a critique of the way people use cars (among other materialistic items) to show off their success. Dr. King even specifically names Chrysler in the sermon as an example of the problems he sees with American consumerism.
The big talk will be about the ratings themselves and while the Super Bowl had an estimated viewership of 103.4 million, “The number is down 7% from the 111.3 million that tuned in for last year's Super Bowl, which saw the Patriots come back to beat the Atlanta Falcons. And it makes the game the least-watched Super Bowl since 2009” (Pallotta). It is important to note however that despite the drop from last year this Super Bowl still ranks as the 10th most watched TV program in American history. These numbers also don’t take into account those at bars, restaurants, and house parties with dozens of people. There are those that will argue the ongoing protests against police brutality and racial injustice could make advertisers wary of the Super Bowl, or the increased awareness of concussions may be another risk advertisers don’t want to take (Rucker). The NFL ratings are always an easy target but it is also important to remember that TV ratings are down across the board. It is still a desirable and influential platform for companies to showcase their products because despite the dip in ratings the Super Bowl still towers leagues above any other TV program.
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DeleteI would be remiss to ignore the halftime performance by Justin Timberlake which went pretty much how I expected it would. Justin Timberlake is a great performer and his catalog is full of chart-toppers and it was unlikely he would disappoint. The only issue is I know it would be extremely safe which is why they asked JT in the first place. There weren’t going to be any risks or envelopes being pushed but we knew that from the onset. There is some discussion over whether the Super Bowl is still worth it for performers. The NFL does not pay halftime performers so JT had to cover all the production costs which sit near $10 million. The incentive though is the album sales of artists explode following a Super Bowl performance, typically seeing an increase in sales from 250 to 1,100 percent just after the game (Rovell). This is huge for Justin Timberlake since he just dropped a new album and there’s no better time to advertise it to over 100 million people.
DeleteBattaglio, Stephen. “NBC says Super Bowl commercials are nearly sold out, topping $5 million per 30-second spot”. Los Angeles Times, 11 January. 2018.
Pallotta, Frank. “How Many People Watched Super Bowl 52? NFL Sees Slight Downtick from 2017.” CNNMoney, Cable News Network, 10 Jan. 2018.
Rucker, Derek. “Why Super Bowl Advertisers Face Challenges In 2018.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 10 Jan. 2018.
https://twitter.com/darrenrovell/status/960320504061186054
This year's Super Bowl was business as usual in my opinion for the NFL and all the companies that use this spectacle as a platform to advertise their product. The Super Bowl always will have great importance for the NFL, advertisers, and performers, each year millions of people who pay no attention to football all year sit down with family and friends and watch this game. Apparently, the NFL is very popular, but the drawing of the championship game is much higher than any other sports the play by a significant margin. The power and influence during the super bowl hold great value for the network showing it as well as the companies who pay millions of dollars for advertisements displayed during the game. It is an opportunity for significant film studios to debut new trailers for upcoming movies that year. The use of celebrities or well-known actors in the advertisements brings a certain sense of importance. These are classic methods used by people in charge of creating commercials for the big game.
ReplyDeleteAn example of advertisers using celebrities in their advertisements is "Tourism Australia"(Staff, Adweek) using Chris Hemsworth and Danny Mcbride traveling to popular destinations in Australia. This advertisement placement makes you believe that some of the people watching the game are targets for people who want to go to Australia or otherwise they would not have placed this expensive advertisement.
For the NFL this game is the most significant day of their year. Their logo is plastered all over the television for over four hours, and their brand is associated with the game. The performance of the players on the field and the referees play a considerable role in how people will view the NFL after the game. Fans are quick to assume things in games like this where there is so much importance, and it's the championship game. The players putting on a good performance or a not as impressive one will have the fans drawing opinions on the current state of the NFL saying if the league is "up or Down" performance wise. The same goes for the officiating, so much criticism is put on officials these days with high definition cameras during replays and deciding on what is a catch or is not a catch on the field. Fans may become upset with different rulings on the ground. It is a massive performance for the NFL in all aspects.
The Halftime show with Justin Timberlake in my mind always brings a lot of attention to an artist. Anyone watching the game will see them perform even if it is a genre of music they may or may not listen to. I enjoyed his performance this year; I think he was an excellent selection for a halftime performer. It was not so for everyone, unfortunately "while the performer wooed some fans with his performance, audio troubles made it difficult for the singer to successfully "bring sexy back." (Evans, Morgan)Things like this will make fans upset when technical difficulties occur during something like this
In regards to the Influence that the advertisements have compared to now and in the past, they have not declined this year at all compared to previous years. The networks and advertising money are still at a very high level as said in the Los Angles times "the average price was "north of $5 million" for a 30-second ad,"(Battaglio, Stephen) This event typically creates most of the advertisement revenue for whatever network shows the game. They know that the high price of the advertisements does deter any companies paying the network millions for their small place during the game.
Battaglio, Stephen. “NBC Says Super Bowl Commercials Are Nearly Sold out, Topping $5 Million per 30-Second Spot.” Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, www.latimes.com/
Evans, Morgan. “Justin Timberlake's Bad Audio during Super Bowl Halftime Show Has Fans Upset.” Fox News, FOX News Network, www.foxnews.com.
Staff, Adweek. “Super Bowl LII Ad Tracker: All About the Big Game's 2018 Commercials.” – Adweek, Adweek, www.adweek.com/
Overall, I believe that this year’s Super Bowl was specular. The game itself was a thriller. I’m a New York Giants fan so I didn’t have any particular rooting interest in this game. As a New York sports fan, I am obligated to root against Philadelphia. However, watching this Patriots dynasty take the league by storm over the past fifteen years or so has become boring. Rooting interest aside, this game was one of more exciting Super Bowls I have ever seen. The defense wasn’t great but a high scoring game is more exciting in my opinion. It was a back and forth game and one big turnover is what the game came down to. As hard as it was for me to see a Philadelphia team win, everyone likes an underdog story and that’s exactly what the Eagles were. Ever since their starting quarterback went down in week 14, no one gave this team a chance. They were the #1 seed in the NFC and they were still the underdogs in every single playoff game.
ReplyDeleteIn addition to the game, the commercials were pretty good and the halftime show was great. As a big sports fan, I tend to pay much more attention to the game than the commercials and halftime show. However, I spent slightly more time focusing on the commercials and halftime show this year compared to the past. I thought there were a few funny commercials. Maybe I’m a little biased because I’m a Giants fan but I thought the best commercial of the night was the NFL commercial with Eli Manning and Odell Beckham Jr reenacting a scene from “Dirty Dancing.” I also thought Doritos and Amazon had pretty good commercials.
Honestly, when I first heard that Justin Timberlake was performing during halftime, I didn’t think it was the greatest idea because of the whole wardrobe malfunction fiasco back in 2004. Apparently he made a subtle joke about the incident during this year’s performance. I didn’t catch it in real time, but according to the article from Joanna Robinson, as he was singing “Rock Your Body” he shouted “STOP,” instead of singing the line, “bet I’ll have you naked by the end of this song” (Robinson.) In my eyes, the most talked about part of the performance was the Prince tribute. Timberlake received some backlash for it but I thought it was the right thing to do while in Prince’s hometown of Minneapolis.
I do still think that the Super Bowl is just as influential as a showcase for advertisers, performers, and the NFL as it was in the past. People may think otherwise because of the recent drop in NFL ratings. At the end of the day, according to the article by Stephen Battaglio, NBC is expected to take in $500 million in ad revenue during the Super Bowl and the average price per 30-second ad was over $5 million which is in the same neighborhood as previous years (Battaglio.)
As far as the halftime show goes, I still think it is an influential showcase for the performers. I actually wasn’t aware of this, but according to an article from TIME, the NFL does not pay any of the performers. However, it allows them to promote their new music as Justin Timberlake did with his new album “Man of the Woods.”
While NFL ratings are down, I think it’s a little skewed because TV ratings as a whole are down. The Super Bowl is still always the most watched television event of the year. Based on the statistics above about the money brought from ads and the cost of ads, I think it’s pretty clear that the Super Bowl is still as influential as it was in the past.
DeleteRobinson, Joanna. “Justin Timberlake's Super Bowl Halftime Show Included a Subtle Nod to Janet Jackson.” Vanities, Vanity Fair, 5 Feb. 2018, www.vanityfair.com/style/2018/02/video-justin-timberlake-halftime-super-bowl-janet-jackson-homage-prince?mbid=social_twitter.
“NBC Says Super Bowl Commercials Are Nearly Sold out, Topping $5 Million per 30-Second Spot.” Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, www.latimes.com/business/hollywood/la-fi-ct-nbc-super-bowl-ad-sales-20180111-story.html?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=THR%27s%2BToday%2Bin%2BEntertainment_now_2018-01-12%2B10%3A11%3A12_rrahman&utm_term=hollywoodreporter_tie.
“Justin Timberlake Performs Super Bowl Halftime Show For Free | Money.” Time, Time, time.com/money/5119492/justin-timberlake-super-bowl-halftime-show-pay/
This year’s Super Bowl felt different in comparison to past years’, and not just because the Patriots didn’t take home the win. As a whole, the experience felt lackluster. There is always so much hype surrounding the Super Bowl, including the game, the ads and halftime show. This year, there has been a lot of controversy surrounding the NFL. Amidst many protests, viewership of football has decreased, and many wondered how this would influence viewership of the Super Bowl. The Super Bowl has long been known as a “remarkable marketing platform”, according to Professors Derek Rucker and Tim Calkins of Forbes. With viewership so high, they estimate, “The cost of a Super Bowl ad is roughly $5 million for a thirty-second spot” (Rucker and Calkins). Such a large platform creates immense pressure for companies to create advertising content that will leave an impact. In reflecting on this year’s commercials, it seems a lot fell short of this impact. In my opinion, the advertisements that were most memorable included familiar celebrities, including the Tide commercial with David Harbour, and the Crock Pot commercial with Milo Ventimiglia. I have noticed many of the commercials, such as the Crock Pot one, involve the audience knowing certain contexts from other media. Tanya Duo discusses the Crock Pot ad in her article The Best and Worst Super Bowl 2018 Commercials. She writes “Crock-Pot went on the defensive after a revealing "This is Us" episode two weeks ago. But then it got support from the NBC show itself, with a hilarious new ad for the show featuring Milo Ventimiglia eating some chili made in — you guessed it — a Crock-Pot.”(Duo). Most would not fully understand the comedy of this commercial without being a fan of This Is Us. In terms of advertisements, the NFL and Super Bowl seem to have somewhat of a decreased influence on audiences. As the media environment has changed and evolved, other media platforms, such as social media, have surpassed television networks in terms f advertising and public relations.
ReplyDeleteThe half time show was unfortunately another let down, after there was so much anticipation for it. This year, Justin Timberlake was met with much controversy, after teasing a performance that would include a holographic tribute to Prince. Every year, the Super Bowl Performer is expected to be extravagant in their performance, and each year we expect it to be bigger and better. While Timberlake found success in his tribute to Prince, his performance was otherwise nothing that special. Coming from a loyal Justin Timberlake fan, it is difficult to criticize such a talented artist, but his performance was in no means spectacular. Many people discussed the controversy of the performance. In his review, Alex Abad-Santos sums it up best, by stating “Timberlake delivered on the tribute, and reminded us what made Prince a genius in the process. Amid a production that was dodgy in parts, Timberlake’s homage to Prince was a highlight, however controversial it might have been”(Abad Santos). Timberlake definitely played it safe by choosing the projector of Prince, and this paid off for him. In reflecting on this year’s Super Bowl as a whole, it is clear that the experience is changing, and the influence of the NFL is quickly becoming overshadowed.
Abad-Santos, Alex. “Justin Timberlake's Super Bowl Halftime Show: the Good, the Bad, and the Prince.” Vox, Vox, 4 Feb. 2018, www.vox.com/2018/2/4/16972178/justin-timberlake-superbowl-2018-halftime-review.
Dua, Tanya. "The Best and Worst Super Bowl 2018 Commercials," Business Insider 5 Feb. 2018. Web.
Rucker, Derek. “Why Super Bowl Advertisers Face Challenges In 2018.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 10 Jan. 2018.
This year's Super Bowl with the exception of the Philadelphia Eagle winning their first-ever Super Bowl title (#FlyEaglesFly) was ‘just okay'. The athletic portion of the game was unbelievable; this was by far of the best NFL games I have seen in a while. As a native New Yorker, I am automatically supposed to vote for whoever is playing against New England, and the fact that the Eagles were the underdogs made them even more likable. However, the Patriots did not go down without a fight as they came back to take the lead in the fourth quarter, yet, in the end, Philadelphia still rose to achieve the task of becoming National Champions.
ReplyDeleteWhile the game kept me glued to my couch, the entertainment aspect of the show, which is one of the reasons a lot of people tune in to watch the Super Bowl, was subpar. When it came to advertisements, I thought some of the ads were great and entertaining, while others were just somewhat annoying and boring. Commercials during the Super Bowl have a reputation of being memorable and entertaining, and they also usually cost a lot to be broadcast during the show. Executive Vice President of Advertising sales for NBC Sports, Dan Lovinger, stated, "the network expects to take in $500 million in ad revenue on Super Bowl Sunday, about the same as last year’s event” (Battaglio).
One advertisement that I thought was great and kept true to their brand identity was the ‘Doritos Blaze vs. Mountain Dew Ice’. The commercial featured huge names in the entertainment industry such as Busta Rhymes, Morgan Freeman, Missy Elliott, and Peter Dinklage. This advertisement stood out to me because while the brand(s) featured kept true to whom they were, they also stepped outside the box, which I felt a lot of the other advertisements lacked. Eric Deggans from Nation Public Radio (NPR) stated, this ad was “totally cool, totally hot and totally fun all at once — a rare hat trick for Super Bowl ad makers, who are often too intimidated by the Big Stage to let their hair down and produce something that feels really fun”.
However, I found that many other ads tried to use the climate of the NFL to portray messages of unity and togetherness, which strayed away from their brand identity and attempted to capitalize on civil rights. In this case, I am referring to the ‘Rams Truck' commercial that featured an audio of the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. speech that he gave 50 years ago on the same day as the Super Bowl this year. In my opinion, Ram should have considered the backlash they could possibly face when using a historic speech from one of the worlds greatest activist as a way to sell pick up trucks. Several fans believed that it was inappropriate to use MLK Jr.'s words to sell cars; viewers used terms such as “tone deaf” and “shameful” to describe how they felt about this ad. (Hibberd) Dr. King's youngest daughter, Bernice King also spoke out about her disapproval of the company using her fathers speech for likeliness, she tweeted, "Neither @TheKingCenter nor @BerniceKing is the entity that approves the use of #MLK’s words or imagery for use in merchandise, entertainment (movies, music, artwork, etc.) or advertisement, including tonight’s @Dodge #SuperBowl commercial,” his family wrote on Twitter via The King Center account”. (Webber) I found this ad to be disrespectful, and I think it has only added to the controversy the NFL has struggled with the past year.
When it comes to the Pepsi Halftime Performance, I was not at all impressed by Justin Timberlake’s performance. His performance began with songs from his upcoming album Man of The Woods followed up by his past popular hits. While I found his attire questionable, as he was dressed in a Duck Dynasty-inspired suit, his choreography, vocals, and stage presence as a whole, was just ‘okay’. In fact, I was bored throughout his whole performance until he paid his tribute to Prince by singing his “I Would Die 4 U track” while simultaneously displaying a large video projection of Prince in the background. I thought this specific portion of the Halftime Show Performance was a highlight and a tribute well deserved as Prince is a music legend and the Super Bowl was hosted in the late singer's hometown, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
DeleteHowever, several Prince fans found Timberlake’s tribute to be problematic and took to social media to criticize this part of his performance. According to a 1998 interview Prince did with ‘Guitar World’, he stated that he ‘despised the use of holograms”. (Melas) Although Timberlake’s tribute featured a video and not a hologram, Prince fans still saw this as a form of disrespect towards the late legend. But, in the end, Prince’s longtime friend and former collaborator Shelia Edrummer, tweeted, “Family, I spoke w/Justin 2nite and he shared heartfelt words of respect for Prince & the Purple fans. I look 4wrd 2 seeing what I’m sure is going 2 be a spectacular halftime show. There is no hologram. (Melas) After Edrummer’s tweet, fans seemed to tone down their criticism of Timberlake's tribute and see it as just that, a tribute.
Overall, the Super Bowl this year definitely did not live up to the hype this event has created in the past. I think this is due to the current climate the NFL is currently facing when it comes to the controversial issue of player’s kneeling/sitting down during the national anthem and the fact that the player who started it all, Colin Kaepernick is still unemployed and essentially blacklisted in the NFL. I think this is what has led to several aspects of the Super Bowl being critiqued and scrutinized so heavily. The National Football League has some major damage control and revamping they need to do to their brand if they want to gain back high ratings and a satisfied fan base to get their brand back to where it was in the past.
Battaglio, Stephen. “NBC says Super Bowl commercials are nearly sold out, topping $5 million per 30-second spot”. Los Angeles Times, 11 January. 2018.
Chloe Melas, CNN. "Justin Timberlake Pays Tribute To Prince During Super Bowl Halftime." CNN. 2018. Web. 6 Feb. 2018.
Deggans, Eric. "Super Bowl Ads 2018: The Best, The Weirdest And The Most Complicated." NPR.org. 2018. Web. 6 Feb. 2018.
Hibberd, James. "Dodge Super Bowl Ad Outrages Viewers By Using MLK To Sell Trucks," Entertainment Weekly 4 Feb. 2018. Web.
Webber, Stephanie. "Dodge Ram's Super Bowl Ad Slammed For Using Martin Luther King Speech." Us Weekly. 2018. Web. 6 Feb. 2018.
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ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteNFL ratings have been on a steady decline this past year and despite the Super Bowl being the number one televised event, viewership suffered. This didn’t come as a surprise and was highly anticipated to happen. According to The Hollywood Reporter, “Sunday's game is off a mere 3 percent from that of 2017, though it's enough to spell a potential eight-year low among households” (O’Connell). This is definitely a hit for the NFL because they had issues filling advertising slots and many advertisers backed out this year due to the low ratings. Even more disappointing is that the game itself was exciting and groundbreaking. The Patriots and Eagles battled it out until the very last minute. This game had the highest scores in 52 years and was the Eagle’s first Super Bowl win (O’Connell).
ReplyDeleteMany fans didn’t know what to expect for this year’s commercial lineup. According to AdWeek,“’In years past, it was a race to see who could create the most humorous creative around the Super Bowl’... ‘That still existed, but [last year] you had creative teams and brands sit down and find elements of which they wanted to align their product and their brand with and going all-in on statements’” (Oster). Many companies that usually advertise during the super bowl decided against it. The commercials we did see this year featured some of the top celebrities at this time. David Harbour from Stranger things was the face for Tide, Peter Dinklage from Game of Thrones presented for Doritos, and Chris Pratt from Jurassic World and Guardians of the Galaxy was the face of Michelob. According to Billboard, the top spot for best commercial was Doritos and Mountain Dew, “This one was perfectly cast, with Game of Thrones star Peter Dinklage and perennial God portrayer Morgan Freeman spitting the peerless rhymes of Busta Rhymes and Missy Elliott, respectively. We call this one a draw” (Atkinson).
Overall, the companies who went for funny such as M&M and Doritos saw great success; those who tried to make a political statement were not well received. According to Billboard, Ram Trucks missed the mark using Martin Luther King to sell trucks, which was a disaster especially in light of recent events.
Justin Timberlake had an incredible performance that seemed to go off without a hitch. He is one of those entertainers that have the ability to appeal to a wide audience, so it was very smart to have him perform. Also, This Is Us was the most watched program post-super bowl, but this can be circumstantial because this episode was highly anticipated by its fans.
With the change in media, targeted ads may not be the key anymore. Ad slot prices did not go up this year, and if the ratings don’t bounce back, more advertisers will exempt themselves from reserving a slot. The risk of flopping a commercial or causing a controversy will ultimately cost them much more than just backing away.
All in all, despite the lower ratings, the NFL and advertisers are wise to keep political statements separate and should continue to do so in the future, the fans have made it quite clear that they want entertainment to be entertainment.
Atkinson, Katie. “Best & Worst Super Bowl 2018 Commercials.” Billboard. 5 Feb. 2018.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.billboard.com/articles/news/super-bowl/8098020/best-worst-super-bowl-2018-commercials
O’Connell, Michael. “TV Ratings: Super Bowl 2018 Slides a Little in Early Numbers.” The Hollywood Reporter. 5 Feb. 2018.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/super-bowl-ratings-1081648
Oster, Erik. “4 Advertising Trends to Expect From Super Bowl LII.” AdAge. 5 Feb. 2018.
http://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/4-advertising-trends-to-expect-from-super-bowl-lii/
As someone who watches the Super Bowl only when my friends do, my analysis on the game is predicated by the fact that I don’t have an interest in sports in general, which I usually supplement with some of the most meticulously crafted advertising of the times that shows up in between the game. I can say that these adverts, along with much of the other media moments of the game, were pretty disappointing. This seems to be reflected in the ratings for the game, as even though it was the most watched event on TV, it still retained a lower number of viewers than years past as the NFL has been stymied by numerous internal problems. This is unfortunate, because the game itself was highly competitive and truly fun to watch the whole way through up until its riveting ending – for the first time in my experience, the game itself outweighed the entertainment brought by the advertisers. “With 103.4 million watching, last night’s game on NBC from Minneapolis is down 7% from the total set of network eyeballs from the 2017 Super Bowl. A steeper fall than even the declining the stock market today, that’s the worst the Super Bowl has done since 2009 when the Pittsburgh Steelers 27-23 defeat of the Arizona Cardinals scored 98.7 million viewers.” (Patten)
ReplyDeleteThe advertising experience during the Super Bowl is the shining pedestal of the advertising industry. The interesting thing I noticed about this years Super Bowl compared to years prior, was the level of famous actors and actresses that starred in the commercials compared to faces we haven’t seen before. Chris Pratt, Morgan Freeman, Peter Dinklage, and David Harbour would all star in their own advertisements. As was with the Super Bowl every year, it will be painted with the political flavor the week, with this year being absolutely no exception. Companies that knew better kept it safe with comedy, but that’s when Dodge walked in and screwed everything up. Dodge decided to include audio from a speech by Dr. Martin Luther King about the dangers of consumerism from to sell trucks. While it is utterly astounding that this ad made it past all levels of production and was given a nod of approval from advertisers, the audience would not react the same way. “The response put Ram in a position that advertisers dread — misfiring with a commercial in the Super Bowl, which sells 30 seconds of airtime for upward of $5 million and is watched by more than 100 million people.” (Staff)
Then there was the halftime performance. I’ve actually been pretty fond of Justin Timberlake, as were many others – he had a pretty unsullied reputation before Super Bowl season. From his cringeworthy virtue-signaling Supplies music video to performing with a hologram of deceased pop legend Prince, he has been stumbling through the days up until his half time show. The show itself was not exactly riveting, which I suppose is a facet of design considering that they would safely choose Justin Timberlake, a pretty irrelevant artist compared to todays’ talent.
Patten, Dominic. “Super Bowl Ratings Slip To 8-Year Low As Eagles Score Historic Win.” Deadline, 5 Feb. 2018, deadline.com/2018/02/super-bowl-ratings-eagles-patriots-this-is-us-nbc-1202278181/.
Staff, Variety. “Justin Timberlake Returns to His Roots in Super Bowl Performance.” Variety, 4 Feb. 2018, variety.com/2018/music/news/justin-timberlake-super-bowl-performance-1202683212/.
Maheshwari, Sapna. “Martin Luther King Jr. Commercial for Ram Trucks Is Swiftly Criticized.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 5 Feb. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/02/05/business/media/mlk-commercial-ram-dodge.html.
As a fan of The New England Patriots and all things Tom Brady this was the third worst SuperBowl I ever watched. This was made worse from having to stay up until 3:30 AM London time to watch it end, and then get up at 7:30 to get to class the next morning. In General the game was really well played and enjoyable, but the ending sucked.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the commercials I will have a unique perspective in comparison to the rest of the class. I streamed the game from the BBC and came to see that they do not have commercials on their airing of the SuperBowl since BBC1 is one of Britain’s federally funded TV stations and does not air commercials. The game itself was the same NBC coverage that Americans got, but during commercial break the cameras cut to the BBC’S commentating team, and we got extra analysis of the game. Because of this the only commercials I have seen were the ones featured on Reddit’s front page the next day.
By far the winner of the SuperBowl commercial hype contest was Tide Pod’s commercial mocking the generic styles of other brand’s commercials. The cherry on top was claiming that every commercial was a Tide commercial. I will say I agree with Preeya Vyas’ statement from Patrick Coffee’s Adweek article, in which she is quoted as saying, “The days of real-time marketing brand wars are largely outdated, and consumers are seeing through them. There just isn’t that much scale in that approach, and it’s mostly just marketers marketing at each other.” What I think Tide did was use the older molder of brand ‘burning’ other brands and did it preemptively within their commercial so that the public could discuss it as opposed to the older war room method of brands live-tweeting at one another.
The clear loser was the only other commercial I saw trending on Reddit the day after the big game; Dodge Ram’s commercial using a MLK Jr. speech to sell cars. Obviously what Dr. King wanted to inspire was not a growing tolerance and acceptance of one another despite our differences, but rather to inspire the purchasing of extra horsepower for hauling large loads. German Lopez’s Vox article makes reference to a YouTube video splicing other parts of King’s speech over the same commercial. In one particular portion King says, “Now the presence of this instinct explains why we are so often taken by advertisers. You know, those gentlemen of massive verbal persuasion. And they have a way of saying things to you that kind of gets you into buying. In order to be a man of distinction, you must drink this whiskey. In order to make your neighbors envious, you must drive this type of car. In order to be lovely to love you must wear this kind of lipstick or this kind of perfume. And you know, before you know it, you’re just buying that stuff. … I got to drive this car because it’s something about this car that makes my car a little better than my neighbor’s car. … I am sad to say that the nation in which we live is the supreme culprit. And I’m going to continue to say it to America.”
In summation, the game was great until the last 2 minutes, Tide made an excellent commercial, and Dodge wins this year’s hypocrite award for SuperBowl Commercials.
LeDonne, Rob. “The Best, Worst and WTF Commercials from Super Bowl LII.” Rolling Stone, 5 Feb. 2018, www.rollingstone.com/culture/pictures/super-bowl-ads-2018-best-worst-wtf-commercials-w516327.
Lopez, German. “Someone Edited Ram's Martin Luther King Commercial with What King Actually Said about Car Ads.” Vox, Vox, 5 Feb. 2018, www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/2/5/16973630/super-bowl-martin-luther-king-ram-commercial.
PatrickCoffee. “What Tide's Super Bowl Success Can Teach Brands About Social Media Strategy.” – Adweek, Adweek, 5 Feb. 2018, www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/what-tides-super-bowl-success-can-teach-brands-about-social-media-strategy/