SUPER-BOWL ADS: DATA POINTS

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"Adverstisers should consider doing strong digital marketing during that period" — Anne Lewnes

There is a guaranteed, built-in audience that will be not only watching the game, but talking about the advertising. Consumers recognise that, historically, advertisers have upped their game during the Super Bowl, that they will pull out all the stops to try to entertain them and that they’ll get to see something new. This year 40 brands will be doing just that, having bought airtime from CBS for a slot in Super Bowl 50 and they will all be jostling for the public’s attention. “Culturally, the Super Bowl may be the one time a year when advertisers are actually invited to the family rooms of American households. Ads become central.

Consumers knows the ads will be new and entertaining and also understand the high costs for each commercial creating added interest,” added Bill Tucker, executive vice president at the Association. “The Super Bowl serves as the centre of gravity and grand finale of extensive integrated cross platform marketing programs that includes promotion, in store marketing, advertising and social buzz with huge extensions leading up to the game. The return on investment continues to be heavily analysed by advertisers and is paying off for them.”

Some data points about Super-Bowl ads (*):

. $10 million for one minute. When is 30 seconds worth $5m? That is the question facing Super Bowl advertisers as they gear up for February 7, the biggest day in US marketing. The price tag that broadcaster CBS is charging for a television commercial for this year’s National Football League championship game is double the average $2.5m price a decade ago, according to Kantar Media.

. $5.9bn spent. According to Advertising Age companies have spent $5.9 billion on commercials since the first Super Bowl in 1967.

. 110 million viewers expected. Last year’s clash, where the New England Patriots snatched victory at the death from the Seattle Seahawks, attracted the biggest television audience in American history, 114.4 million viewers and was watched in 71 per cent of homes. By the time of the winning touchdown, there were more than 120 million people glued to their screens.
 
. 114 million viewers in 2015. But the game regularly breaks US TV viewing records, with 114m people tuning in last year. This Sunday’s pie will be even bigger, as CBS will for the first time make its livestream of the game and all national commercials available over internet TV boxes including Apple TV and Roku. Advertisers are already teasing their ads well before game day, using digital channels to extend their reach.

. 14 million hours of Super-Bowl ads. YouTube touts its metrics which show that advertisers that put up their ads early on its AdBlitz site get twice the views and three times the social shares as those that wait to release their ads during the game. Last year, people watched 14m hours of Super Bowl ads on YouTube, with 60 per cent of viewers tuning in on mobile phones. “We have stopped thinking about the Super Bowl as a one-day event. Our campaign starts when the NFL season starts,” says Ram Krishnan, chief marketing officer at PepsiCo’s Frito-Lay, maker of Doritos and other snacks.

. 60% jump in website traffic. Adobe, the software maker, estimates that brands that advertise during the Super Bowl see traffic to their websites jump more than 60 per cent, a boost that can last for more than three weeks after the game.

. 25 days of viral afterlife. “Advertisers should consider doing strong digital marketing in that period,” says Ann Lewnes, chief marketing officer. The most popular Super Bowl ads have a viral afterlife on social media that lasts on average 25 days, she added.

 

(*) Shannon Bond: "Super Bowl ads capitalise on bumper day with new angles", Financial Times, 6-7 February 2016. David Millward: "Superbowl: the biggest advertising show of all", The Telegraph, 7 February 2016.
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CME Group Ads

CME Group ads

THE TWITTER IPO: CROSS-SELLING!

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently joked at a conference that he would be the last person to advise Twitter executives on "now to make a smooth IPO". Before Facebook's IPO, executives increased the size of its offering and the price, despite some internal concerns about the strength of its ads business. While the offering was also haunted by technical challenges on the Nasdaq market, some critics blamed the stock's challenges on greed among Facebook's management.

Twitter chose Goldman Sachs as the lead underwriter for its offering, over the Morgan Stanley team that advised Facebook, according to people familiar withe the decisions. Twitter is in the process of discussing which additional banks will be involved in the process. A number of other banks are already in the mix, including Morgan Stanley, Bank of America's Merrill Lynch and JPMorgan, who had leading roles on LinkedIn's IPO in 2011.

The discussions with the banks also include possible extension of credit to Twitter, people familiar with the talks said. Twitter would use the loans for general working capital and to pay taxes related to employees' stock options. In this respect, Twitter's IPO process appears tto mirror that of Facebook, which secured similar credit lines ahead of its own IPO last year.

By all external indications, Twitter's ad revenue continues to grow, particularly on mobile devices. Twitter's revenue is sealed inside its confidential filing, but analisyst firm eMarketer expects its ad revenue growth to a little under $1 billion next year, up form $583 million this year. It also purchased MoPub last week for $350 million, a mobile advertising firm.

NOTE:  investment (and commercial) banking "products" involved. Cross-selling, anyone?

[From the Wall Street Journal, September 2013].
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[SPONSORSHIP] UBS & FORMULA 1

. From a 2010 article (*). Swiss financial services company UBS have signed an agreement to be a global partner of Formula One. The company, whose previous major sports sponsorship was with the Alinghi America's Cup team, joins LG, Mumm and DHL as Formula One global partners. Just Marketing International (JMI), the specialist motorsports agency, brokered the deal on the company's behalf, negotiating with Formula One Management's Bernie Ecclestone. No official financial details were released, but well-placed sources have indicated the initial five-year deal is worth up to US$40 million annually, roughly the equivalent of a Formula One team title sponsorship.

Oswald Grubel, UBS group chief executive, said of the deal: "UBS has been searching for a global sponsorship platform that has appeal to our clients, promotes our brand globally and makes good commercial sense. Our new partnership with one of the largest and most popular sporting organisations in the world will fulfil all these criteria, and it constitutes a key element of our newly launched branding activities. The global reach of F1 complements the many local activities we support." UBS has just rolled out a new global advertising campaign and it is understood that it's Formula One sponsorship, which will begin in September, will feature extensive trackside advertising, including unique positioning.

“All of us at JMI are delighted that UBS has chosen Formula One as a global sponsorship platform," added Zak Brown, the founder and chief executive of JMI. "The partnership has strong alignment to UBS’s truly international stature and strategic business objectives, particularly in key growth markets. We are proud to add UBS to our cherished portfolio of clients and privileged to support another fine brand in its introduction to and ongoing presence in the sport.” The deal will officially begin with the Singapore Grand Prix, Formula One's night race, on September 26th. It is understood that the deal is for five years, with options beyond that.

(*) Tom Love: "UBS sign US$200 million Formula One partnership", SportPro, 23 August 2010.
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