Is a Super Bowl Ad Really Worth the Cost?

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One Super Bowl ad runs $2.6 million. Is it a good investment? What else might an advertiser do with that kind of cash? Do the people’s favorite ads even get the best results?

Super Bowl ads have, for years, been little more than a beauty contest for advertising agencies. When a company selects an agency's ad to represent it during the Super Bowl, it’s sort of like choosing a girl to represent a state in the Miss America pageant. Super Bowl ads are an iconic, cultural phenomenon that makes very little sense; essentially, they're the advertising equivalent of bathing-suit-clad girls with big eyes and high heels talking about their dreams of world peace.

Over a year, the price of one Super Bowl ad could provide your company exposure to 50 percent of the population of Southern California. It would buy you enough radio repetition for the average listener to hear your ad four times a week, 52 weeks a year throughout Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange County and the Inland Empire (Riverside and San Bernardino). Altogether, $2.6 million could buy you several thousand ads, which would reach a total of nearly 15 million people.

Paying $2.6 million for an ad to air during the Super Bowl might possibly be the dumbest thing you could do with $2.6 million. Or the smartest. It all depends on what you communicate in the ad.

The Dumbest Super Bowl Ad of 2007: FedEx Ground
Although this was one of the more clever and entertaining ads this season, it'll also prove to be counterproductive. Remember the ad? A bunch of people are sitting in a conference room …

MANAGER: FedEx saved us with their overnight service, so we’ve added FedEx Ground for everyday shipping.

JOEL: Ground? That doesn’t sound fast.

RELAXED GUY LEISURELY HOLDING COFFEE: Actually, Joel, FedEx Ground is faster than you think.

MANAGER: We can’t judge things by their name. Don’t you agree, Harry?

EXTREMELY HAIRY GUY: Absolutely.

MANAGER: Eileen?

GIRL LEANING HARD ON HARRY: Of course.

MANAGER: Joy?

JOY: (Gives an effervescent giggle with a beaming smile)

MANAGER: Bob?

BOB: (Bobs his head up and down in an extreme fashion)

GUY WITH HUGE DOUBLE CHIN: You see, Joel, we all agree that FedEx Ground is fast, despite the name “Ground.”

MANAGER: Well said, Mr. Turkeyneck.

The ad ends with the FedEx logo revolving quickly to reveal four variations--FedEx Ground, FedEx Express, FedEx Kinko’s and FedEx Freight--while an off-camera announcer says, "FedEx Ground. Fast. Reliable. And for less than you think."

Here are the major problems with the ad:

1. The ad clearly illustrates that Joel was right; you can judge things by their name.
2. The people arguing that FedEx Ground is fast “despite the name” appear bizarre and ridiculous. Joel is the only normal person in the room. We identify with Joel, not with the others.
3. “For less than you think” is ambiguous ad-speak. Specifics are always more powerful than generalities. “For as little as $2 a package” is specific. And far more impressive.
4. The ending of the ad is soft and unfocused. We’re not yet convinced that FedEx Ground is a worthy alternative to UPS, and it seems that FedEx isn't completely convinced either. In the end, the company wants to be sure that we realize there are at least three other FedEx options: FedEx Express, FedEx Kinkos and FedEx Freight.

The Smartest Super Bowl Ad of 2007: Two Lions for Taco Bell
Remember the ad? A pair of lions are looking at a group of campers in the distance eating lunch while on safari. The lions smell the new steak taquito from Taco Bell. The rest of the ad is one lion trying to teach the other how to pronounce “carne asada,” the type of steak used in the taquito.

Here’s what makes the ad work:

1. A lion is king of the jungle; its opinion is respected.
2. Lions are meat-eaters, absolute carnivores.
3. Viewers learn how to pronounce a strangely spelled word--carne asada--thereby increasing their comfort level when ordering the item at Taco Bell.
4. The ad ends with a mouthwatering close-up of freshly grilled carne asada steak as it's being sliced. You definitely want to taste it.
5. The ad is focused on one thing: the carne asada steak taquito. Taco Bell’s agency had the wisdom not to include any images or descriptions of other Taco Bell products.

TV is an impact medium. But there will be no impact if the viewer isn’t paying attention or if your ad's message is unfocused. The Super Bowl is the one event each year that guarantees viewers will be paying attention. We tune in as much for the ads as for the game.

Are your ads entertaining but counterproductive, like the FedEx ad? Or are they entertaining, focused and convincing like the Taco Bell ad?

Follow the lead of FedEx Ground if your goal is to entertain America. But if you want to sell product, I suggest you study Taco Bell's script.

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Roy Williams is Entrepreneur.com's "Advertising" columnist and the founder and president of international ad agency Wizard of Ads. Roy is also the author of numerous books on improving your advertising efforts, including The Wizard of Ads and Secret Formulas of the Wizard of Ads.

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Arizona Cart Retrieval Co

Despite alert store personnel, sophisticated anti-theft systems and other precautions, shopping carts seem to have lives of their own, disappearing like magic from Valley retailers.

Enter Tom Martinet, whose company, Arizona Cart Retrieval, operates every day of the year except Christmas to locate and return the carts to area businesses.

"I knew there was a cart problem," Martinet said, "but I didn't realize the extent of it until we started this service."

When Martinet began working in grocery management in the 1970s, cart theft wasn't much of a problem, he recalls. "We'd send a bagger over to the nearby apartment complex to pick up a cart or two," he said. "That was about it."

Things have changed.

In an average week, one of Martinet's contractors will have dispatched crews to round up and return close to 15,000 carts to Arizona retailers.

The retrieval service employs 18 flatbed trucks that serve more than 30 retailers and about 460 stores in the state. Clients include Fry's, Safeway, Albertsons, Wal-Mart, Family Dollar and Lowe's Home Improvement.

Martinet is philosophical about some customers' need to roll home with a private set of wheels.

"Households in certain areas buy a lot of groceries," he said. "They need a way to get them home."

Sometimes, cart-napping can even have health benefits.

"We've seen older people leaving the lot with their cart; at least they're getting a little exercise," he said. "Some of them are even using the cart as a walker. You wonder if they could make it without the cart."

Often, a single cart attracts others, Martinet adds. Recently, the company got a call from a landlord in Avondale. "He had evicted his tenant from the house and found 17 shopping carts."

"They were all in good shape; we just returned them to Wal-Mart."

Jim Oliver of OT Cart Service, a contractor for Arizona Cart Retrieval, is unflappable after 35 years in the business. Oliver said most folks are unperturbed about returning the carts.

"You get a few who have a temper, but most people realize they're not supposed to be in possession of them in the first place."

Oliver has found the carts used as unique home storage and decor solutions, too.

"People turn them on their side, lay a plywood top on it and use it for a dining room table. We've picked up carts that have been used to wheel out trash, sort the laundry, and do other household chores. They're pretty handy," he said.

Once captured, the carts are steam-cleaned or refurbished on-site using equipment loaded onto the flatbeds. Most of the repair work is limited to replacing handles and seat straps and welding wheels. Carts that can't be fixed are parted out.

A percentage of carts is retrieved from desert washes, alleys and other areas that serve as temporary homes for transients, but that number has remained steady over the years, Oliver said. "We haven't really seen an increase in the number of carts used by the homeless, especially if you compare Arizona to states like California," he adds.

Even the carts with anti-theft locking systems built into the cart's wheels are not a deterrent to a determined cart bandit.

"One guy rigged up a block of wood underneath the wheels with wire and tape. He had it sliding across the parking lot, just like a sled, and he got his groceries home that way," Oliver said. "It's kind of amazing the solutions people come up with."

Business can only continue to increase for the cart service, especially as the Valley becomes more congested. "In areas that are built up with apartment complexes, office buildings and condos, you're going to see this continue," Oliver said.

Fast-growing sections like Arrowhead are exceptions because much of the residential growth is confined to single-family homes.

The average steel shopping cart costs about $100. Custom styles, such as the plastic race car kiddie carts, cost $400 to replace. The firm works on a contract basis with retailers to retrieve carts.

[Via Arizona Business Gazette]

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