Well it's now almost the start of Super Bowl XLIII Weekend with a little more than 48 hours away from kick-off in Tampa Bay. It's supposed to be a NFL Football game between the division leaders... the Pittsburgh Steelers vs.the
Arizona Cardinals. However, this year more than ever I've heard more about the ads that will run during the broadcast of the game then about the teams themselves. In fact, it appears that many of the advertisers have released their ads prior to Sunday so that we can get a "preview" of them. I've already seen the Pedigree ad 4 or 5 times I think. It's cute, but enough already.
Last year I wrote this post right after the Super Bowl which I stated that 64% of the Super Bowl ads promoted their website. So far the previews I've seen I haven't noticed many website mentions which really surprises me. I had predicted last year that that percentage would be much higher and was surprised it wasn't back then. With NBC asking a record $3 million for 30 seconds worth of commercial time you'd think that advertisers would want to drive people online to extend the experience. I guess we'll have to watch and see who's going to get the most for their money.
Besides football and ads, there's also the war of the pizza chains. Papa John's is celebrating its 25th anniversary with an interactive promotion. They've enlisted former Green Bay Packer Desmond Howard to "invite" consumers, via a video posted on YouTube, to register for a chance to win a 25-cent pizza -- if the game's initial kickoff is returned for a touchdown.
Pizza Hut is a pre-game advertiser and is planning to launch it's Tuscani lasagna on Sunday. They claim that if every pizza slice sold on Super Bowl Sunday was laid end to end, the line would stretch halfway across the U.S. About 80% of orders come before halftime, and this year Pizza Hut has ordering available by phone, web, text and on Facebook. Domino's is also introducing their new premium line of pizzas that include Honolulu Hawaiian with Tabasco sauce, Pacific Veggie with spinach and feta, and Buffalo chicken.
I've also read that so far this year blog tags for the words "Super Bowl ads" appear to be at least 20% below last year, according to Nielsen Online's Blogpulse. They also state that mentions have been confined to a peak of less than 0.4% of the more than 92 million blogs tracked this month, compared with more than 0.5% last year. Last year's pre-game ad buzz appeared to be consistently higher in the days leading up to the game than this year's.
Well this year we don't have the added excitement of two major markets with major teams, the New York Giants and the New England Patriots. I'm still hoping for a good 'ole football game though. Plus we get a live interview with our new President. So, enjoy Super Bowl Sunday and we'll see who the real winners end of being this year.
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