Lizzury Rodriguez
November 22th, 2008
RCS-362-01
Blog # 11
883875655

* SUPER BOWL ADVERTISING *

The Super Bowl is often the most watched television program of the year in the U.S. Without any doubt, one of the things that make the Super Bowl very famous worldwide is the high-profile advertisements that are aired during its television broadcast. The Super Bowl is a very highly rated program, and that is why prices for advertising space can cost millions of dollars, and prices are increasing each year. In 2007 the cost of 30 seconds of advertising time was $ 2.6 million, but a new record has been settled with a cost of $ 2.7 million for a 30 second spot during Super Bowl XLII in 2008, due to the extremely large audience, more than 97 million viewers. The high price tags of the commercials all but promises that they will be spectacular and innovative in most cases. The commercials are often highly anticipated, generating much buzz even before the game is played.

One of the ads that really caught my attention was the one launched by Pepsi, where Justin Timberlake performed. The commercial starts with Justin seated in what seems to be a restaurant, and he is talking with some friends. Suddenly, Justin is pushed by some strange force and he ends up in the street. While the force drags him over and over again, you can see a girl’s mouth that is taking a sip of Pepsi. The commercial plays on the idea of Timberlake’s “magnetic attraction” and follows Justin as an invisible force drags him through city streets, subjects him to crotch-crunching agony, and drops him at the feet of a Pepsi-sipping girl. As they are watching each other, it appears a voice that says: “Every sip takes you closer to Justin Timberlake MP3s, HT TVs and millions of songs from Amazon MP3 and more” The commercial ends when you can see some Pepsi cans and the voice says: “sign up at pepsistuff.com.” The ad was directed by Craig Gillespie (director of the feature film Lars and the Real Girl) and was created by BBDO NY.

What I liked about this commercial is Pepsi’s idea of creating a link with its audience through the use of artists and celebrities in its commercials. Now Justin is following the footsteps of Britney Spears, Kanye West, Mariah Carey, Mary J. Blige, and P. Diddy, who have all performed for Pepsi in the past. I think that this strategy is really good because people love celebrities, and people enjoy knowing and talking about them, even when they do not have a really good public image. I think Pepsi is trying to reach consumers, mainly women who feel attracted by such a handsome guy as Justin is. Pepsi is trying to convince these girls that by drinking Pepsi, they can win some prizes like Justin Timberlake MP3s. I think that the message in this ad is that being close to your favorite artist (in this case Justin) is as simple as drinking Pepsi. As we can see, the brand is willing to pay huge salaries to celebrities who are liked and respected by target audiences and who will favorably influence consumers’ attitudes and behavior toward the endorsed product.

Once Pepsi makes its commercials, it is also important that they find the best way to reach a huge amount of consumers. It has been demonstrated that people react with a relatively unenthusiastic response to advertisements placed on the programs contained in the alternative media buy. Comparatively, advertisements placed on the Super Bowl are, like the program itself, a special event. Consumers look forward to new, dramatic advertisements and often talk about the ads well after the Super Bowl is completed. People enjoy watching TV commercials on the Super Bowl, that is why brands such as Pepsi need to take advantage of this fact, and show its product throughout this way.