$7,000,000 for 30 seconds. That’s the going ad rate for commercial airtime for Superbowl 59. In all, $31.5 million and change going to just ad spots, just air time. This doesn’t include the revenue from on-field ads, banners, online streams, pregame spots, sponsored content, etc.
“I’m only here to watch the commercials,” was the line from years past uttered by people who were invited to the party but didn’t care for the game. Fried food, chips, dip, beer, and watching what was supposed to be the most clever and creative output of the year.
The high-water mark was in 2000 with this gem from eTrade:
We may as well have packed it in and gone home. Nothing has, nor ever will, top this ad. Perfect, no notes.
Advertising has never been great, and they’re only getting worse as they get louder and more obnoxious in an attempt to tear our attention away from, well, other ads. Once they reach peak loudness, they jump to nostalgia (what other songs from our target market’s youth can we do a horrible parody/ cover of?), and when all that fails you may as well just pile on some celebrities.
I can’t say exactly when the whole idea of “Superbowl ads are the pinnacle of creativity in advertising!” jumped the damn shark, but I’m sure this ad was a bellwether moment (circa 2012):
How much more crap can we jam into 30 seconds to engineer some kind of “viral video moment”? Cringe before cringe was a thing. Shut it down.
And just as the Christmas season begins as soon as the Halloween costumes go on clearance, the Superbowl ad spend starts earlier every year. Agencies wanting to maximize the exposure by advertising the ad – getting people excited about seeing an ad. Tune into the game to see our 2nd quarter spot to get the punchline to a joke we tried to set up in January!
The long and the short of it, brands are spending more than ever for the chance to make more noise on a chaotic platform. yay. Furthermore, it’s not like they’re even trying anymore. Duracell is jumping into the big game with an ad (and a celebrity!) around the concept of, I shit you not: “Built Different.”
Built Different – likely the output of a copywriter who thinks Apple is brilliant and can never do wrong. Can’t wait.
The thesis: Advertising sucks and it’s getting worse and the major players are too afraid to try anything different.
A proposed solution: Level the playing field and force these overpaid creatives to do something completely unique. Try it as follows:
- Lottery Buy In: Assuming the airtime spend needs to be covered at $31 Million, sell lottery tickets for 30 seconds of airtime at $5,000 a ticket. This opens up the playing field to about 6,200 different potential advertisers. Don’t be a dick, don’t cheat – one ticket per advertiser.
- Lottery Draw – X number of tickets are pulled for how many spots are for sale, +/- a handful of standbys for overtime commercials, etc.
- If your number is pulled, congrats – you get 30 seconds off airtime (for only $5,000!). The catch: your overall production budget for your ad, in its entirety, is $20,000. From concept to shooting to editing, special effects, spokespeople, etc – $20K. That’s it.
- And no, you cannot get a celebrity to be in your ad “for free” and then slip them company equity under the table. That sucks, and we’re trying to make this not suck.
- Whatever runs, runs.
OR, since there will likely be a lot of new arrivals who have no idea how to make a good commercial will be aired and the NFL is terrified of their ad rates plummeting (because these commercials will likely be bad), the alternative.
- Sell the airtime to the usuals at the going rate ($7m for 30 seconds or whatever).
- The production budget is still limited to $20K. Independent audits will be essential. Yes, I volunteer.
The point being: limit the budget that goes into the creative. Because when you have theoretically unlimited cash and can theoretically advertise to absolutely everyone, you’re effectively selling to no one.