With a 30-second advert now costing a whopping $5 million to advertise at America’s biggest sporting event, the Super Bowl, Source Marketing Direct reviews whether the hefty price tag is actually worth it.
The Super Bowl is the annual championship game of the National Football League (NFL), the highest level of professional football in the United States. The game culminates a season that begins in the later summer of the previous calendar year and the day on which the Super Bowl is played, now considered by some an unofficial American national holiday, is called Super Bowl Sunday. It is the second largest day for US food consumption, after Thanksgiving. In addition, the Super Bowl has frequently been the most watched American TV broadcast of the year; the four most-watched broadcasts in US TV history are Super Bowls.
Because of this, the Super Bowl isn’t just a big game for NFL players and supporters, it is huge for advertisers that want national recognition. The game reaches a massive, live audience and this year’s adverts have reached a record high of $5 million per 30-second spot for brands wanting to advertise. And this is not including the cost of actually creating the ad or publicity surrounding the ad – it has been reported that in total, an ad used in the Super Bowl can cost more than $30 million.
There is a debate in marketing circles about whether the price tag is worth the return it generates. All the advertisers involved are going to be putting their best foot forward during the Super Bowl, which means it’s less likely for each individual brand to stand out. In terms of business, betting that an advert is received well by audiences (total $30 million for 30 seconds) is not a sound business strategy because marketing needs more reputation and longevity.
Managing Director of Source Marketing Direct, Hector Montalvo is a huge NFL fan and the Super Bowl is his favourite sporting event. Hector Montalvo attended last year’s Super Bowl in Phoenix because his home team was playing (New England Patriots). The game actually went down as one of the most exciting Super Bowls ever because it was decided with just seconds left after the Patriot’s Malcolm Butler intercepted Russell Wilson’s pass in the end zone. Unfortunately his team fell a couple points short this year and missed out on the Super Bowl or he would be in San Francisco right now!
Source Marketing Direct is an outsourced sales and marketing firm based in London. The firm increases their clients’ brand awareness through direct marketing strategies, which are extremely cost effective – in stark comparison to the cost of brand awareness that brands pay for an advert during the Super Bowl.