"Super Bowl Ad Placement Key to Brand Recognition"

From Sport Marketing Association

Analysis by Jessalyn Stone in KIN 501

The largest football game of the year, the Super Bowl, was played on February 2, 2014 and as always the cost for the advertisement slots were steep. On average the cost for a 30-second commercial to be aired during the Super Bowl cost $4 million. According to sports marketing researchers the companies whose commercials are aired earlier in the game, particularly during the first and last block of commercials in the first period, also referred to as pods, will have a greater likelihood of brand recognition. Accordingly the effectiveness of advertising decreases as the game goes on while it peaks in the earlier game quarters. Specifically the commercials during the first and last commercial breaks of the first quarter of the game, yield the greatest results if the goal of the advertisement is to increase awareness of brand among sports viewers. Based on this research advertisers can gain a better understanding of when the most ideal time is to place an ad in a commercial break of the Super Bowl to maximize brand awareness as well as knowing how to increase advertising rates during the prime “pods”.

From a sports marketing standpoint research provided in this article could be very beneficial to advertisement and the goals of those specific ads. With this particular research it discusses the goals of advertisements as a means to increase brand recognition. That could be a very beneficial tool for companies knowing how to place ads, especially during the Super Bowl. If however ad recognition is already very well known the company should instead focus on what quarter of commercials to place their ad. Although this research isn’t full proof it can provide valuable information to marketing agencies. This particular year however this research was proven to not be entirely true. The overall number 1 commercial of the Super Bowl occurred during the 2 minute warning of the last quarter of the game. There obviously are other factors to consider as well including the target audience and how the audience is being drawn in by the ad.

Throughout this course we talk about how to target specific populations and how to appeal to a variety of individuals. The Super Bowl obviously is a key example of a large variety of individuals that are viewing the same thing. People of all ages, ethnicities, incomes, regional areas and so on are all viewing the same event. Marketing is used to try and appeal to all kinds of people. Knowing how to target a variety of audiences while getting your branding to the audience is a very important component. Articles such as this one can be utilized in this class to try and focus on the goals of marketing.