The Talk judges have spoken and detailed below are our top 10 picks for Super Bowl 2010.
1. Dodge Charger - Take a Stand
2. Denny’s (all ads collectively)
3. Budweiser Human Bridge
4. Bud Light House
5. Doritos Bark Collar
6. Google - Parisian Love
7. Audi Green Police
8. Dockers - Time to Wear Pants
9. Kia Sorrento - Sock Monkey Joy Ride
10. Monster.com Fiddling Beaver
Controversy swirls around Super Bowl advertising like hot sauce sticks to chicken wings. Ever since GoDaddy got its first ad rejected years ago, controversy has been a pre-game staple as entertaining as the ads themselves. Advertisers go out of their way to create controversy by creating naughty spots they know are going to get rejected. Then they act “shocked” and hem and haw to the media, shouting discrimination!
Case in point: this year’s spot by Mancrunch.com, a gay online dating site, in which two men succumb to a heavy make-out session after their fingers brush together in the chip bowl. Mancrunch.com says CBS is anti-gay. Really? I don’t think so. Networks rejected PETA’s “Veggie Love” ad last year that showcased scantily clad women taking a little too much pleasure in their vegetable basket. The tagline: “Studies Show Vegetarians Have Better Sex.” PETA said the rejection was discriminatory and that the network only takes money from “the corporations that have only fat, unhealthy and cruel food. Hmmm.
The Super Bowl will deliver 100 million viewers today. That’s a very attractive audience for advertisers — and advocacy groups. But with a price tag of $3 million for :30, most advocacy groups can’t touch it. So they look for loopholes. Offer up an ad that will get rejected. Benefit from resulting publicity and save the $3 million.
Perhaps the NFL and networks should come up with some clear standards and then charge a sizeable “review fee” for companies and groups that want to submit an ad for consideration. Approved ads would see their review fee goes towards their $3 million purchase price. Something like this might help stem the tide of advocacy groups taking advantage of the publicity opportunities.
But then what would we have to talk about for two weeks prior to the game?
With a national audience that could reach an estimated one-third of 300 million Americans on February 7, the National Football League’s championship game is more important than ever for companies and advocacy groups. With a price tag of almost $3 million for 30 seconds, it can be just as effective for those submitting ads to have a spot rejected as inappropriate and use the attention generated from that to drive visitors and business to their websites.
“A whole cottage industry has grown up out of trying to make use of network turndowns,” said Martin Franks, executive vice president of planning, policy and government affairs at CBS Corp, which is televising the NFL game this year. The commercial approval process has come under heavy scrutiny this year since CBS approved an ad sponsored by a conservative Christian group called Focus on the Family. Some U.S. women’s groups have urged the network not to air the ad — which stars college football star Tim Tebow — saying it has a strident anti-abortion rights message.
Industry executives and analysts recognize Internet domain company GoDaddy.com, which annually airs several ads during the Super Bowl as the best at attracting attention for its ads. On Thursday, GoDaddy in a press release invited consumers to view its latest rejected ad at the company website.
The companies that have been rejected unanimously say they do not submit ads simply to have them rejected, but CBS’s Franks said a rejection and the attention that it generates can be as valuable as paying for a network ad.
“What we’ll see in future years is that more and more issue-related groups will use the Super Bowl as a venue, so it will be very important for the networks to be clear on the standards,” he said.
Pizza Hut and Papa Johns are hoping you’ve got their delivery numbers on your speed dial. Pizza Hut is debuting its new creative by the Martin Agency in Richmond (that clever Geico agency) during the Super Bowl pre-game. Papa Johns is advertising 2 minutes prior to half time.
Pizza Hut’s pre-game strategy assumes game watchers place their pizza orders prior to kick off. Papa Johns is banking on hungry half-time fans who want to restock the buffet.
Martin ads promote “any pizza, any size, any crust, any toppings” for $10 each. Wow. That’s a good deal. If Pizza Hut delivered to our house, I’d be placing on call. But no such luck. In one Pizza Hut spot scheduled to air just before kickoff, a husband and wife are discussing the promotion, and the wife, thrilled with the variety of pizza choices available, says “for the first time in my life, I don’t have to settle.” The husband interjects, “You’re talking about pizza, right?”
Papa Johns is running a spot that shows founder John Schnatter delivering pizzas to workers behind the scenes of the game. The spot was produced by NFL Films to give it an “in-the-game” look that will appear to be happening live. But it’s not.
I look forward to seeing which brand scores more pizza sales today. Sounds like a close call.
Yeah, yeah, I know I’m mixing my sports metaphors, (double plays are baseball) but indulge me please. Diamond Foods is using its one :30 spot in today’s Super Bowl to promote two products - Pop-Secret popcorn and Emerald Nuts. Getting your point across about one product in :30 is challenge enough. But two?
But dig deeper and it appears that Diamond Foods’ strategy is just as much about attracting retailers as it is about appealing to consumers. Retailers give better positioning in the aisles to products they know will be promoted aggressively. Diamond Foods says their popcorn and nuts will be placed in a “whole host of different display options” including end-of-aisle presentations. Positioning has a huge impact on impulse buys like snacks when cruising the supermarket aisles.
Ad Age says the Diamond Foods spot will feature a dolphin trainer at a marine theme park, as well as the phrase “Awesome + Awesome = Awesomer.” I hope the spot has awesome results for them. I’m nuts for nuts. And I like popcorn too. I’ll be serving both this evening.
We are all familiar with Betty White as Rose; the lovable, dim-witted, Golden Girl from St. Olaf Minnesota. Betty along with Abe Vigoda will be starring in Snickers’ Super Bowl spot featuring the tagline: “You’re not you when you’re hungry.” Both stars are over 80 years old and from what we can see from the trailer, Betty White is in top physical condition. This commercial holds some real potential to be very funny and hopefully will not result in a disastrous outcome like their 2007 Super Bowl spot (the last time they aired a Super Bowl commercial).
Three years ago Snickers commercial featured two male mechanics that accidentally kiss then react with disgust. The gay community was outraged by the commercial and it was taken from the air just 24 hours after it had aired.
Vice President of Integrated marketing, Carole Walker, promises that there will be, “No kissing at all,” and “It has nothing that the gay community would find offensive.”
It seems that Snickers has gone over everything with a fine tooth comb and put forth a commercial that everyone should enjoy.
The last day to vote for Dorito’s Crash the Super Bowl contest was January 31, 2010, and now we must patiently wait for the big reveal. The six finalists were selected from over 4,000 entries and online consumer voting determines the win. Among the finalists is an unusual contender—a church from LA. Their video, titled “Casket,” is not only one of the six finalists, but is also ranked one of the top three most popular ads on the web site. The ad features a funeral for a man whose dying wish was a casket filled with his beloved Doritos.
Also among the finalists are two triangle men, Nick Dimondi of Cary and Joshua Svoboda of Raleigh. Dimondi and Svoboda, along with their team including one of the videographer’s grandfathers, created two of the finalist commercials. The first commercial, “Kids These Days,” features an older man attempting to buy Doritos out of a vending machine. While the old man is gathering his change together, a young man (Svoboda) cuts in line and purchases the last bag of Doritos. Out of nowhere, the old man tasers the “kid” and grabs the Doritos. The second commercial, titled “Underdog,” features Brian Oliver, a Raleigh part-time actor and freelance video editor. The man taunts the dog with Doritos, and the dog outsmarts the man. Dimondi won first place in 2007 for the best homemade Doritos commercial. This year the group stands to win $3.6 million.
What would you do if someone gave you $5000 to come up with an idea on how to better the community? How about if you were given $25,000 or $50,000 or even $250,000? Well if you’re the type of person who has a great idea, then the people over at Pepsi are the ones you want to talk to. Instead of spending millions of dollars on Super Bowl airtime, Pepsi has created The Pepsi Refresh Project. The Pepsi Refresh Project is an initiative put forth by Pepsi telling people that if they have an idea that they feel will benefit the community in some way, to submit it, if it receives enough votes a grant will be awarded. Visitors can vote up to 10 times per day and grants will be awarded every month (up to 32 grants each month)
Needless to say something like this is not inexpensive. Pepsi is putting up $20 million in grants for the top finishers amongst the six categories (health, arts and culture, food and shelter, the planet, neighborhoods, and education).
So submit your ideas to Pepsi and vote for your favorites, you may be lucky enough to win and help change the world around you.
In Pennsylvania, Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow calling for six more weeks of winter, but it seems truTV has other plans. truTV, previously CourtTV, will air it’s first ever super bowl ad featuring a bite-sized Troy Polamalu of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Polamalu stars as a “groundhog” that sees his shadow, calling for six more weeks of football. The spot, which has already been released online, promotes truTV’s new show NFL FULL CONTACT. The show will premiere Monday, February 8, 2010 at 10 p.m. NFL FULL CONTACT provides a behind-the-scenes look at the 2009-2010 NFL season and allows fans to see what happens behind the game day cameras. The spot is scheduled to appear in the second quarter of the Super Bowl.
THIS POST IS REPRINTED FROM Mashable
2010 is the year social media and the Super Bowl are officially converging.
Everyone from the advertisers and the NFL to fans and athletes are getting in on the social media Super Bowl action like never before.
In fact, we’re seeing advertisers play up their controversial Super Bowl spots in social media channels, with online denizens weighing in with their candid thoughts. Of course there are also advertisers who are taking the straight and narrow path via their Facebook Fan Pages, offering fans the ability to share and and participate in Super Bowl-inspired Facebook
activities.
Below we’ll look at the entire social media picture as it pertains to the Super Bowl and round up what we’ve seen and expect from advertisers, the NFL, fans and athletes.
- GoDaddy: The web-hosting company has never been shy about creating ads that push the boundaries of what’s socially acceptable for television. This year it posted its “Lola” ad online — which features a former football player now filling his time with more feminine activities — after it was banned by CBS. The move seemed like an effort stir up drama and generate online interest. What’s especially interesting is that while GoDaddy has managed to rank fifth overall as the most-mentioned advertiser in terms of social media Super Bowl conversations (per Alterian SM2 data), it’s also generating a ton of negative online buzz.
- ManCrunch: ManCrunch posted its “banned” ad — which shows two men grabbing for chips and then spontaneously making out — to YouTube
- Focus on the Family: Focus on the Family may not have manufactured the controversy around its pro-life Tim Tebow spot, but the unseen advertisement has become the second most widely discussed Super Bowl ad nonetheless. People are using social media — especially Facebook — to voice their frustration and show their support, making Focus on the Family one of the most buzzed-about advertisers going into the Super Bowl this year.
Several advertisers are using Facebook tie-ins to pump up the volume on online chatter about their spots. Instead of going for cheap controversy, they’re using their Fan Pages to inspire fans to share content and participate in Super Bowl-themed activities that are spreading virally via Facebook, ensuring that social media mentions are mostly positive in nature (per Alterian SM2’s analysis included below). Let’s take a look at a few of the Facebook-savvy brands capitalizing on the Super Bowl via social media.
- Coca-Cola: The company’s Live Positively Facebook app lets fans share a virtual Coke bottle on Facebook in order to watch a sneak peek of one of its Super Bowl spots. For each virtual gift shared, the brand is donating $1 to the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. As it stands, the campaign is generating a ton of positive buzz for the brand. Coca-Cola currently places fourth when it comes to the most positive conversations about Super Bowl advertisers, per recent Alterian SM2 social media analysis.
- Budweiser: Anheuser-Busch is the biggest Super Bowl advertiser this year, occupying five minutes of air time. It’s also wisely using Facebook in a big way by encouraging fans to vote for the commercial they most want to see during the Super Bowl on Sunday. The efforts are paying off handsomely, as the brand has the highest positive sentiment score according to Alterian SM2 when compared against other advertisers.
- Target: While not a Super Bowl advertiser, Target is definitely getting in on the social media Super Bowl action with its Valentine’s Day-themed Facebook application: Super Love Sender. The campaign combines the two events with a generous $1 million contribution promised to the most popular charities as selected by fans.
- Monster: The Super Bowl advertiser’s social media blitz was unveiled earlier today. The company’s social media efforts include a few seconds of its actual spot — which it exclusively shared with us — and a Super Bowl-specific microsite dubbed Fiddle a Friend. This site is currently just a landing page with a fiddle-playing beaver, but come Super Bowl Sunday you’ll be able to send customized greeting cards to friends that feature the busy beaver fiddler.
For the first time in 23 years, Pepsi will not have a Super Bowl ad. The soft drink maker has opted instead tospend $20 million on a social media campaign dubbed the Pepsi Refresh Project.
The idea behind the campaign is to encourage people to submit ideas to refresh their communities, and site visitors can vote on the ideas they like best. Ultimately, Pepsi will select and fund the most popular crowd-sourced ideas.
So far the campaign has been a huge social media success. According to Alterian SM2 data (see below), Pepsi tops all Super Bowl advertisers in total number of mentions and overall online reach.
For the first time ever, the NFL is officially participating in the Super Bowl mêlée. The Tag the Super Bowl #SB44 initiative encourages fans to tag their tweets and Flickr photos with the SB44 hashtag. The football organization is aggregating all tagged content and presenting it in a unique and interactive user interface, giving anyone the ability to visually explore tweets and photos.
Fans are turning to Twitter
and Facebook to weigh in on the big game and the advertisers like never before, and the social media activity will only continue to increase as we get closer to game time.
In fact, what will be especially interesting to watch is the online chatter about the Super Bowl ads that will continue long after the game. Given that sites like Hulu have a tradition of posting the Super Bowl spots online, we know from years past that the advertisers and ads will remain hot topics as social media fans continue to watch, share and discuss the top spots during the following week.
Another unique element to this year’s Super Bowl: This is the first year NFL players are tweeting en masse. It’s also the first time that fans will have this much unfettered access to the athletes uncensored opinions and game-day activities.
For example, Chad Ochocinco will bring us the Motorola-sponsored OCNN to cover all angles of the games, which will include commentary from other players he has recruited to his news crew. We also expect other players to share their experiences extensively, which is why we’ll be following Twitter Lists like the one below.
bigmacvikings RT @serenajwilliams: @bigmacvikings big mac!!!!!!(What’s good!?)right now
ericbarton50 And I’m pretty sure a 15 year old girl just asked me to take a picture. I’m 100 percent positive she didn’t know who I amabout 1 minute ago
ShaunPhillips95 #itkillsme how people lie about having a job.about 1 minute ago
ericbarton50 I’m not gonna lie he’s pretty good! He’s like a little baby usher. Timberland performs next.2 minutes ago
ericbarton50 Not making fun!5 minutes ago
ShaunPhillips95 I can smell ocean water I must be close.11 minutes ago
Dhall23 Hanging at the Redskin Hotel entertaining all of our great Sponsors! We gotta get back to the glory days! Pur fans deserve it!12 minutes ago
OGOchoCinco 3 blocks from the CLEVLANDER,somebody finna kiss the baby on Madden13 minutes ago
ericbarton50 Who is Justin beaver and why am I at his concert?14 minutes ago
rome089 U at the hockey game16 minutes ago
Lfitzgerald11 Everyone wish my lil homie @D_genius a happy bday.Hope ur enjoying the snow back in MN bruh! Haha17 minutes ago
ddockett I’m making pink look damn good! Lol real #classy #fly catch me19 minutes ago
thurmanthomas Good stuff u got there huh21 minutes ago
Humble83 RT @RevRunWisdom: u can have friendship & u can have love.. but when theyre 2gether.. its called gr8 love (luv stories)21 minutes ago
D_Stallworth18 The traffic in Miami is INSANE already!!!22 minutes ago
MarcusMcNeill73 come on guys lets join together n and do the LT SLIDE23 minutes ago
MatthewHass8 Kenpo.24 minutes ago
Schweigert39 Oh wow Purdue can’t lose to IU.24 minutes ago
JasonDavis43 I don’t understand y @UNDRCRWN wud hav a sample sail while I’m in Chi??!!! I mite as well open the @UNDRCRWN Chicago Offices25 minutes ago
thurmanthomas @Mr_LabelMeThe correct answer sld have been” Im heading back to Buffalo to get Ready” ur still young. U will figure it out soon30 minutes ago
- Pepsi and Focus on the Family are still the most buzzed-about advertisers. Together their combined social media mentions make up about 15% of all advertiser conversations tracked by Alterian SM2.
- GoDaddy is the fifth most mentioned advertiser in social media conversations, but it is also receiving the second biggest number of negative mentions (second only to Focus on the Family).
- Anheuser-Busch has the highest sentiment score among all advertisers.
- It’s still the case that advertisers that are keeping mum on their Super Bowl spots aren’t making anywhere near the impact on social media conversations as those that are offering sneak peaks or previews.
Super Bowl Social Media Results 3 Feb 10
With the upcoming release of the new video game Dante’s Inferno, Electronic Arts, Inc will make its Super Bowl debut with their new commercial and tag line “Hell Awaits.” Originally EA’s 30-second spot featured the slogan “Go to Hell,” which was rejected by CBS and sent back for editing. The new edited version will air during the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl. Their original “Go to Hell” tag line has carried EA’s “nine-months of Hell” marketing campaign, which included tactics such as a “Go to Hell” Facebook application, a comic book, and their controversial mock protest to rally against EA Games and Dantes Inferno. The campaign will conclude with the Super Bowl spot. The video game is loosely based on Dante Aligheri’s epic poem, and takes the video game players through the nine circles of Hell. The main objective is to recover a murdered lover. Dantes Inferno hits stores February 9 for Playstation 3 and Xbox 360.
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