The Super Bowl is just over two weeks away, but brands are already paying millions of dollars to run their commercials and ads during the Big Game.
Marcus Collins, a marketing professor at the University of Michigan, expands on the cultural significance of iconic advertising even if it “doesn't immediately become commercial” and says cultural relevance and talent recruitment are key drivers for companies. It is listed as a power.
“Advertising through the Super Bowl is a signal of what is culturally relevant today, because good advertising actually functions as a cultural product; it actually functions as cultural production. ” for culture the author says. “They're not just talking about a value proposition, they're showing what's normal for people like us. So expect a lot of celebrities, music and a lot of fun.” ”
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Editor's note: This article was written by luke carberry morgan.
video transcript
[AUDIO LOGO]
Akiko Fujita: Now, the big game is just over two weeks away, but CBS, the network hosting this year's event, has already sold all of its advertising space. A 30-second ad will cost businesses about $7 million in 2023, and prices are expected to stay in that range or even go higher.
Meet Marcus Collins, professor of marketing at the University of Michigan and author of the bestselling book For the Culture. Marcus, I'm always glad you're here. I did the calculations in my head. In 30 seconds, he made $7 million, which is how much per second. Are these brands still profitable?
Marcus Collins: Yeah, it's an expensive endeavor, but I think it depends on what success looks like. Depending on what you consider success, these ads can be very profitable. If this is to be culturally relevant, it is to be part of a discourse. This means demonstrating creative excellence in order to hire better talent, acquire better talent, and get better creative work from agencies. They have a lot of value.
Normally, we wouldn't expect Super Bowl ads to lead to immediate commerce, but they can be very beneficial because they add so much weight to our daily lives and cultural behaviors. . But it comes at a cost.
Rachel Akuffo: Obviously, this is a very expensive message to send out during the Super Bowl, as you mentioned. Talk about some of the big names we're going to see coming up and, really, some of the big names that are missing. Of course, we still remember when it was a year when cryptocurrency ads were everywhere. How will things change this year?
Marcus Collins: Yeah, they did some things for fun. There are a few things you can rely on. There will also be big celebrities and big names. And that will be the mainstay. We expect that from the Super Bowl.
There are some people we usually look for. Brands that usually participate in the Super Bowl, usually big players, like Doritos. Tide had great success a few years ago with “It's a Tide ad,” which had conquered other ads that Proctor had partnered with within his gambling portfolio.
As you said, there was a lot of talk about cryptocurrencies last year. why is that? Because cryptocurrencies were part of the cultural discourse of the time. I think there's this idea that advertising during the Super Bowl, like most advertising, is a signal of what's culturally relevant today.
Because good advertising actually functions as a cultural product; They're not just talking about the product's value proposition, they're also communicating what's normal for people like us. So expect lots of celebrities and lots of music. I hope it's a lot of fun.
You probably won't get a lot of witty manifestos like social commentary. It'll be light-hearted fun, featuring celebrities and using jokes we all know. It's normal and will work out fine. And some of these returning brands will be the tent poles of what we expect during the game.
Akiko Fujita: Marcus, where does the conversation around artificial intelligence, or AI, fit into all of this? Are we going to hear a lot of mentions of it?
Marcus Collins: oh yeah. I think we'll probably see AI as the butt of a joke. Not necessarily — OpenAI isn't going to be in the spotlight. Because I think the difference between AI and cryptocurrencies is that cryptocurrencies were about to become legal last year. They are trying to be normal, to be accepted.
AI is already being leveraged. AI is already part of our cultural behavior as a society. And the difference now is that we're trying to decide not whether or not to use it, but what it means to us. So there are two different issues with cryptography as a technology and AI as a technology. But I think we're going to see a lot of play with AI. Is the AI real? And will it be a nod or foil to some of the story that's going to happen during the big game?
Rachel Akuffo: Marcus, some companies that already have ads preloaded are already showing ads. Why would we do that? What's the benefit of doing that versus actually having them appear during the Super Bowl?
Marcus Collins: Yes, I'm very satisfied. Instead of betting on his 30 seconds to farm, he's going to play early. I'm going to play early so I can get more mileage out of that investment. And smart people use it to prepare for the future. That is, they don't bake everything in a short time frame. That is, when you're captivating your audience but there are too many attention-grabbing attacks that cause you to play the spot early.
In fact, some brands actually play their spots before the Super Bowl, which is a smart strategy in media investment. It's cheaper for him to run an ad an hour before the Super Bowl and say this is the Super Bowl spot and frame it that way. But these smart ways to get more value out of your media are smart ways to go.
Rachel Akuffo: it's true. Certainly, some of the costs there will be reduced. Office linebacker is still my favorite Super Bowl ad. I still remember it. Thank you for joining us this morning. Marcus Collins, University of Michigan marketing professor and best-selling author of For the Culture. Thank you very much.
Marcus Collins: Thank you very much.