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Most Brands Aren't Getting What They Are Paying For In Super Bowl

Most of Super Bowl XLIX’s advertisers will lose money on their investment in the Super Bowl, per Brand Keys’ 13th annual “Super Bowl Ad Engagement Survey.” 

Robert Passikoff, president of the loyalty and engagement marketing and branding firm, says advertisers are looking for five things for their $4 million: a big audience, a lot of buzz, lots of social networking, a big creative statement and emotional brand engagement. Most aren’t getting them, especially the last one. “Number five is most important because it’s a leading-indicator of consumers’ positive behavior toward the brand in the only arena that counts — the real-world marketplace,” he said. 

The firm said consumers found that only 46% — or 12 of the 26 Super Bowl-advertising brands examined — were both engaging and entertaining, which is lower than the 12-year historical average of 50%. They are BMW, Doritos, Dove Men + Care, GoDaddy, Mercedes, Nissan, Paramount Pictures (Jurassic World), Pepsi, Skittles, Snickers, Toyota, and WeatherTech.

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According to consumer perceptions and social networking, Budweiser, Coke, McDonald's and Morphie, were considered “highly entertaining” but with low engagement.

“Agencies and marketers hope their ads will be entertaining,” noted Passikoff. “But advertising must be judged not by entertainment value alone or related social network activities, but how it performs in the marketplace. Does the ad engage and build brand equity? Does it engage enough to drive sales? If so, you’ll see positive bottom line impact, even if the advertising wasn’t as entertaining as envisioned. A brand that can both engage and entertain is a real Super Bowl winner.”

Assessments were collected via mobile software from a national sample of 2,705 men and women who indicated they were going to watch the Super Bowl, and were category and brand users. The firm measured social networking activities for brands advertising on the Super Bowl, consumers’ emotional engagement for the brand itself, and the brand within the context of the Super Bowl broadcast.

3 comments about "Most Brands Aren't Getting What They Are Paying For In Super Bowl ".
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  1. R. M. from self, January 23, 2015 at 5:07 p.m.

    (1) big audience= may or may not be paying attention (but rather to drink, food, conversation, phone, etc)
    (2 & 3) buzz & lots of social networking= temporary, but always a good PR soundbite for brand to re use in the next week
    (4) big creative statement= vanity? or life-changing to the viewer?
    (5) emotional brand engagement... do emotional & engagement actually work together at the same time? I guess I just don't see guys tearing up while texting branded messages or digital shopping or downloading coupons.
    PLEASE find NEW SLANG for engagement, that word at least 9x in the article above.
    ***If "the only arena that counts — is the real-world marketplace,” then why are non of the 5 listed goals inclusive of ROI? ***

  2. Robert Passikoff from Brand Keys, Inc., January 26, 2015 at 10:25 a.m.

    The only one of the 5 that's been validated to correlate with positive behavior in the marketplace and – axiomatically, sales and profits – has been emotional engagement, which is defined as moving the brand closer to the consumers' Ideal in the category where the brand competes. "Emotional" does not = "tearing up," which is actually imagery. But as the industry uses it without looking for any link to ROI. Engagement with the platform (CBS) or the program (Super Bowl) is fine. But it's not engagement with the brand.

  3. Maxwell from eMaximize, January 27, 2015 at 12:38 p.m.

    When you say only 12 of 26 brands, you're really talking about commercials right? And then if you polled 2705 people, then what is the threshold to make one of these commercials, "entertaining and engaging" - 1400 ?
    I find it odd that Victoria's Secret SB spot was not considered entertaining and engaging. In addition the Carls Jr. ad that also features a model, may not be considered "engaging or entertaining" but they sure are getting alot of press and it hasnt even aired yet. - 2 Cents

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