Marketing 101:: As Taught by Super Bowl Commercials

As a marketing professional {and as a woman} my favorite part of the Super Bowl is always the commercials. And, of course, the half time show. I always find it fascinating how large corporations choose to express their brands, considering they’ve spent millions to do so.

Now, it’s obvious that none of us here will ever be advertising on Super Bowl night. Nationally, anyway. However, you may have been lucky enough to scoop up one of the few local spots that were available. If you were, I hope your spot looked better than some of our local promotions. Sad. I digress ….

So, what were your favorite commercials from last night? And, what did they teach you, or fail to teach you about marketing? I think the biggest lesson to be learned is impact. When spending a significant amount of money, make sure your ad will be effective and make an impact. While we remember many of the spots from last night, many more are already forgotten. And, sadly enough they spent the same amount of money, maybe even more when you consider production.

I really enjoyed the M&M commercial, the Doritos baby and the Pepsi spot was great too. I liked many others, but those were probably my top three.

Another advertising strategy that was apparent last night was the use of celebrities. Obviously, it’s much more common when it comes to these high budget projects, but you can make that work for you as well. Network and align your brand with those who are well-known in your niche or in your community. An endorsement from someone popular can go a long way. Or, perhaps you could try celebrity gifting. Maybe a famous celebrity will endorse you indirectly by using, wearing or displaying your products. {We published a guest post last week about making the most of celebrity gifting here.}

Granted, we probably won’t see celebrities like Elton John, Mark Cuban or Clint Eastwood in your ads like we did those on Super Bowl Sunday, but that doesn’t mean you can’t use celebrities to push your brand.

It probably wouldn’t be a regular Super Bowl without a little bit of controversy, right? {It wasn’t just in the half-time show this year.} Ford asked GM to cancel their commercial mimicking the apocalypse, but they ignored the request and aired it last night anyway. You can read more about the GM vs. Ford debate here, but basically GM directly called out its competitor. They aren’t shying away, stating that the Chevy Silverado is the most reliable, longest-lasting truck on the road.

It was a brazen act, but admirable. Although I don’t usually recommend directly undercutting your competitors, if you’re going to do so you better have the data and the proof to back it up. That wasn’t the only clever thing GM did last night. They also incorporated technology and a giveaway. If you downloaded their app, you had a chance to win a new vehicle. Who doesn’t like a giveaway? This is an example of another easy marketing strategy that you can incorporate into your plan. You won’t be giving away cars, but giving away some of your own products can be beneficial.

So, what do you think? What did you enjoy and not enjoy about the marketing on television last night? Let us know in your comments!