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Barking "Star Wars" dogs. A return from one of Hollywood's most famed school ditchers, Ferris Bueller. Animated polar bears. Vampires. More dogs. And, yes, some racy shots of models and athletes.
That and more is what's in store for tonight's advertising mega bonanza, which you also know by another name: the Super Bowl.
But let's be honest — for many of you, some of the ads aren't going to be much of a surprise, are they?
That's because this year, unlike Super Bowls of years past, many advertisers opted to unveil versions of their big game ads ahead of time online to give extra time for buzz and anticipation to percolate. The early-viewing tactic isn't new this year, but it has become more widespread as advertisers look to expand the influence, and value, of their ads. Rather than just a 30- or 60-second slot during the Super Bowl, they're hoping to get views from Internet outlets like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and their own websites.
They're aiming for more types of screens and longer exposure, local advertising experts say.
"Now, because of the different online channels, they're turning them into campaigns," said Robin Donovan, owner and managing principal at Omaha's Bozell.
A year ago, a Volkswagen ad featuring a kid version of the "Star Wars" antagonist Darth Vader was posted online and aired during the game. It continues to attract views, reaching almost 50 million last week as the automaker was busy rolling out this year's ads.
Some of this year's spots, like Volkswagen's crew of pooches barking out the well-known "Imperial March" — Darth Vader's theme song — have already aired on television as a preview for what's to come today. Many others have been posted on YouTube, where millions of Internet surfers have viewed them.
The Volkswagen ad alone already had more than 11.3 million hits a full two days before the game. Others, like Honda's CR-V ad featuring actor Matthew Broderick in a spoof performance as Ferris Bueller, and an Acura commercial featuring Jerry Seinfeld, were viewed more than 10 million times apiece before the weekend even started.
Since the previewing strategy is relatively new, it's unclear how much more influence the expanded campaigns will have. But according to a survey from the research firm BIGinsight, adding social media and interactive elements to the advertising equation will only help the commercials, which are already very influential.
"Television's influence on consumers' purchasing decisions is clearly not suffering from Web, social and multichannel influencers — in fact, it seems to be more important than ever before," said Pam Goodfellow, consumer insights director at BIGinsight. "Though commercials are king on Super Bowl Sunday, we'll likely also see many companies use more cross-channel methods to draw viewers' attention, including drawing viewers to their own website and social media."
In a survey conducted by BIGinsight for the National Retail Federation, 73 percent of those polled said they watch the commercials for entertainment. And of the 9,317 respondents, 8.4 percent said the ads influence them to actually go out and buy the goods featured in the commercials. That figure was considerably higher, 14.3 percent, among young adults ages 18 to 24.
That's a big deal, said Greg Ahrens, vice president and co-creative director at Omaha's SKAR agency. Usually, TV viewers want to skip or mute the ads they see, so the fact that corporations have a captive audience of people excited and anticipating their commercials makes the hefty price tag worth it, if the commercial is done right.
"It's the only broadcast show that people actually look for the commercials," Ahrens said. "There's no other show anywhere where people actually do that, and there's a value in that. Usually during the commercials, you're getting up to make a sandwich."
The one thing that social media brings to the table that TV can't offer, said Jonna Holland, a marketing professor at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, is that consumers can watch the ads on their own terms, their own time frame.
"If you're at a Super Bowl party, you might be distracted and miss it," Holland said. "But online, advertisers can really get people who are focusing on it."
Additionally, she said, there's a level of interactivity that's come on in recent years that really draws consumers in.
Companies like Doritos take submitted commercials and let viewers vote on the ads they like best. After rounds of voting online, the best ad is shown during the game.
Chevrolet is planning to invite fans to search for clues in the automaker's commercial for a chance to win a new car. Coca-Cola's polar bears will prompt fans to upload photos to a Facebook page.
"Generating involvement is a powerful tool," Holland said.
On average, advertisers this year paid NBC a record average price of $3.5 million to air a 30-second spot. And after a number of commercials last year that were a minute or longer gained high marks from the rating agencies, more advertisers this year opted to make their spots lengthier.
That $3.5 million is just the start. Commercials with celebrities and robust production budgets can cost millions more. Production alone for the Acura and Honda ads, Donovan estimated, were at least $1 million each, not including the contracts for the big-name stars.
But some of the best ads are those that opt to keep it simple, said Marty Amsler, vice president and creative director at Bailey Lauerman's Omaha office. He said his favorite Super Bowl commercial of all time is the 1998 ad from FedEx that featured 30 seconds of color bars — the ones that flash when there's a cable outage or a lapse in programming — and a scrolling ticker that said the broadcast network didn't get the actual commercial because the ad agency didn't send the tape using FedEx.
"A great ad doesn't have to cost a bazillion dollars to produce," Amsler said.
What did the companies pay to get a head start posting their videos online? Not a dime.
"It's all about trying to break through the clutter," Holland said. "The Super Bowl has the largest viewing audience of any program, but the number of ads and buzz makes it hard for any one ad to stand out."
What remains to be seen is if the viewers who watch the Super Bowl solely to see the commercials — estimated to be more than 21 million people — will still tune in even though some of the ads have already been revealed.
With more than half the ads remaining to be revealed, Omaha advertising experts said they doubt the online spoilers will deter how many people watch the game.
"People aren't going: 'Oh, gosh you've revealed the surprise!'" said Jerry Stoner, the executive creative director at Bozell. "They're still going to watch. It's not just 30 seconds anymore and companies know they can get a lot more bang for their buck."
For those who can't catch the game on television, there are actually two more options this year to view the game, and the ads. NBC, which is owned by the cable giant Comcast, is streaming the Super Bowl online for the first time ever. And Verizon Wireless, which is an official partner of the National Football League, has rolled out its NFL Mobile application that will give Verizon customers the option of watching the game on their smartphone.
Both of those feeds will feature some of the same ads that are playing during the TV broadcast, which will only increase the advertisers' total exposure.
This year, more than any other Super Bowl, the mainstream buzz leading up to the game is as much about the advertisements as it is about the football, said Bryan Gottula, a copywriter for SKAR.
"The ads are a part of pop culture," Gottula said. "Even after the Super Bowl, the commercials have a longer shelf life. They live online forever. Compare that to an ad during a game in the World Series. You're probably not going to remember that."
Contact the writer:
402-444-1414, ross.boettcher@owh.com
twitter.com/rossboettcher
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Watch more 2012 Super Bowl ads at superbowl-commercials.org.
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