The Super Bowl of Advertising
Like many North Americans, I invested a large part of my Sunday evening taking in Super Bowl XLI. While I enjoyed watching the game, as usual, the off-field circus surrounding the event proved just as fascinating as the big game itself.
This year I was particularly struck by how Super Bowl advertisements have merged traditional and non-traditional forms of advertising. With the rise of Internet videos, blogs, and online file sharing, some have suggested that the medium of television may be obsolescent technology. Well, in my opinion, Super Bowl advertisements are but one more example that this is not the case.
Super Bowl advertisements demonstrate the extent to which television and the Internet can function symbiotically. Snickers’ new advertisement is an excellent example. In the weeks before the Super Bowl, Snickers posted four versions of a commercial on their website. Visitors were offered the chance to view the commercials and vote online for their top choice, which then ran as a Super Bowl commercial. I’ll avoid the obvious pun about how it can be satisfying to choose your own commercial.
The massive interest in Super Bowl ads is also reflected in the online content dedicated to Super Bowl ads. Thanks to CBS Sports Line, new ads were posted online quarter-by-quarter, as if they were highlights. Those ads that don’t make the CBS highlight list will be posted on AOL, iFilm , Google Video , and YouTube where they can be replayed ad infinitum. Not to mention the many other blogs out there that will be devoting content to reviewing the best ads of the night.
I guess we are not in the last quarter of television after all.
Jason Allan
