MSU professors evaluate Super Bowl commercials for 15th year

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The New York Giants and New England Patriots headlined Sunday’s Super Bowl action, but when the two teams took the field, attention shifted to other matters at advertising professor Bob Kolt’s home.

For the past 15 years, Kolt and other advertising faculty — along with their spouses, friends and other guests — have gotten together to rate and judge the commercials during the big game.

“When the game is on, the sound goes down, and we’re talking and going to the bathroom,” Kolt said. “When the ads come on, the sound goes up.”

At halftime of the game, Kolt said the highest ranked commercials came from Sketchers, M&Ms, Pepsi, Doritos and Volkswagen, which were all within fractions of a percent away from one another.

“In general the auto sector had some strong spots, (and) the beer ads have been kind of flat,” Kolt said. “I think it’s a good year for the ads. The ads overall have been as good or better than the game.”

Using iClicker technology, attendees rate each advertisement on a scale of one to five based on factors such as production quality, humor, message delivery and creativity, Kolt said. At the end of the game, the data is sorted into a list by a computer to determine the most popular ads.

“It’s a great, regular Super Bowl party except we really focus on the ads and not the game,” Kolt said.

The Super Bowl presents a unique opportunity for advertisers because there are more people watching across all demographics than any other American event, Kolt said. The ads are a huge investment for companies, with 30 seconds of air time costing $3.5 million, Kolt said, with some ads spanning two minutes.

Kolt said the political advertising during the game — including U.S. Senate candidate Pete Hoekstra’s spot — received flat ratings as people generally want to be entertained and laugh during the Super Bowl.

While some MSU fans tuned in to watch former Spartan standouts such as Giants linebacker Greg Jones or Patriots quarterback Brian Hoyer display their skills on the field, others preferred the spectacle of the advertisements between plays.

Marketing junior Scott Tousley said the commercials are the most compelling part of the Super Bowl.

“Typically the (Detroit) Lions aren’t in the Super Bowl, and that’s the only team I care about,” Tousley said. “The ads give me more entertainment than the game itself.”

Media arts and technology senior Raleigh Cooper said Super Bowl commercials are so interesting because they’re fresh and haven’t been seen before. Humor coupled with the fact that they are brand-new are important aspects of creating an effective ad, Cooper said.

“Usually, they set a bar for how funny I like commercials to be,” he said.
“I don’t even usually watch that much of the football. I actually enjoy the commercials more.”

That one important day each year gives advertisers their shot to make an impression on an estimated 150 million viewers, bringing out the best of what advertising departments have to offer said Kolt, who likened the event to the Oscars in the movie industry.

“Last year Chrysler launched their ‘“Imported from Detroit”:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKL254Y_jtc’ campaign with Eminem, and soon after sales soared,” he said. “They can directly point to the Super Bowl ad as being a defining moment in their corporate profitable history.”

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