Study: Super Bowl Ads Have Little Effect on Sales

[JohnShadows]

Why Super Bowl commercials may be a waste of money - CBS News

Kind of interesting:

The study, covered in AdAge on Jan. 6 and originally published last year, found that only one out of five Super Bowl commercials spur consumers to buy a product or build purchase interest. The research firm will also study this year's advertisements to gauge which are the most effective.

"Advertising should make people buy products, or at least build purchase interest. Judged against this standard, four out of five Super Bowl XLVII commercials failed to deliver," the company wrote.

The company, which interviewed consumers before and after they viewed the commercials, found the most-liked ads are not always the most effective at selling goods.

Take PepsiCo's (PEP) Doritos, which runs a popular contest that allows regular people to submit their own would-be Super Bowl ads.

"Doritos, which for the 7th year has generated publicity and consumer involvement by holding an open competition to create its Super Bowl commercials, typically achieves strong rankings in USA Today and other polls that concentrate on attention and liking," Communicus notes. "However, the story is quite different when actual persuasive power is taken into consideration -- none of the four Doritos Super Bowl commercials over the last 2 years have moved the needle in terms of brand preference or purchase intentions."

....

 

[Fountain City Blues]

Don't tell the guys paying for these ads.

 

[HammerDown]

Don't tell the guys paying for these ads.

That's you and I!

 

[JDM]

I feel like 1 in 5 is pretty damn good.

 

[HammerDown]

I feel like 1 in 5 is pretty damn good.

That's exactly what I was thinking. I have a hard time believing that these ads have a 20% conversion rate.

 

[TDs3nOut]

Kind of interesting:

No doubt. In fact, I find it absolutely fascinating that companies are prepared to spend up to $4 million to run a 30 second ad during the SB. Doesn't surprise me at all that the study cited finds that those advertising expenditures often don't pay off.

 

[Fountain City Blues]

That's you and I!

!!! Someone got that joke? You need a cookie, sir.

 

[JDM]

That's exactly what I was thinking. I have a hard time believing that these ads have a 20% conversion rate.

How do you define build product interest? A lot of the ways to try to measure this are subject to bias or distortion.

I would believe reality is less than that, but still seriously worth it.

 

[TDs3nOut]

How do you define build product interest? A lot of the ways to try to measure this are subject to bias or distortion.

I would believe reality is less than that, but still seriously worth it.

I think that the only way to measure that is to conduct a focus group in which ad viewers are asked whether the ad makes them more interested in buying the product. Even more problematic, it seems to me, is measuring how an ad actually affects sales.

 

[JohnShadows]

I feel like 1 in 5 is pretty damn good.

Yeah, but I think it comes down to cost-benefit. Don't know much about marketing metrics, but:

Still, with an ad's price tag now hitting $4 million, it's unlikely that marketers will see a return on that investment, Tim Calkins, a marketing professor at Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management, told Advertising Age in November.

Can see the alternate point of maintaining brand awareness, though (for companies that have the $ to absorb the shortfall).

I also remember the 90's dotcom failures, that spent way too much for too little return. I believe pets.com (lol) ran multiple ads.

 

[Tacoma_canuck]

Well, advertising means nothing to me as far as buying a product or not but I do find some of the ads very entertaining. I don't think the companies forking out all that big money are necessarily worried about whether or not I'm entertained but they aint getting my hard earned money the easy way. They better make a better product and worry less about advertising. I usually subscribe to an old adage of those who talk the most about why they are better usually aren't that great in the first place.

 

[JDM]

I think that the only way to measure that is to conduct a focus group in which ad viewers are asked whether the ad makes them more interested in buying the product. Even more problematic, it seems to me, is measuring how an ad actually affects sales.

There's a few other ways, but they still involve the error that simply priming the brand at hand has a short term impact that doesn't last. Also, a focus group doesn't measure the psychological impact of it being during the Super Bowl. I would be very interested in the methodology of the research and am not sure how much faith I'd put in it.

 

[gohusk]

Part of the reason they do this is to maintain the market share they already have. If the big boys weren't ponying up big bucks for these slots then some lesser known brands would be buying the slots and getting exposure.

 

[CaptainStubing]

As has been mentioned, 20% is not too shabby. Also, companies don't always need an immediate sale. Brand recognition for future sales is also a factor

 

[ATL96Steeler]

Back in my fortune 500 working days...we ran a SB ad...not expecting higher sales...at least not initially...branding was the primary reason...in the athletic retail shoe biz went from maybe 20% marketshare to about 28% roughly 2 years after the ad ran...I can't attribute to increase to the ad, but it did put us on the map as a national brand.

 

[ATL96Steeler]

As has been mentioned, 20% is not too shabby. Also, companies don't always need an immediate sale. Brand recognition for future sales is also a factor

I could've save myself some typing had I seen your post...spot on.

 

[dkmightyhammer]

I think when you are talking about massive brands like Budweiser, Pepsi, GM, etc...they aren't really expecting huge gains in market share because they already hold so much of it in the first place. They are just trying to be a presence in the largest TV event on the planet.


Now, when it comes to smaller brands I think the gain potential is probably off the charts. Look at a company like Go Daddy who's first major ad campaign came during the superbowl a few years back. They were a virtual unknown to people outside of that industry and today they are a household name.