Why Do Brands Still Advertise During The Super Bowl?

With the release of Budweiser’s uplifting flash-mob ad to be shown in Canada during this year’s Super Bowl, we asked Carl Johnson, the CEO of the ad agency who made the commercial, why he still thinks that advertising during big events is still worth the focus.

What are the challenges a brand faces with advertising around the Super Bowl these days?

Resisting the all too familiar temptation to try and create gratuitious ‘attention grabbing’ ads in a desperate scramble to be noticed. The real trick is is power through relevance and engagement.

…and the real, real trick is to do that in a strategically smart way so that you also build the business.

There’s a whole discussion around the value of advertising around big events when digital media creates a different – and often more cost-effective – consumer interaction. What makes advertising at the Super Bowl still special these days?

The critical thing is to know why you’re doing it and what role the ad plays in the overall marketing plan.
For some brands… at some times… it is still a great idea to take advantage of the largest, most focused advertising audience there is.

It’s true that there’s probably as many people who are wasting their money as those using it wisely. However, even those doing the right thing need to amplify, dimensionalize or deepen involvement through the use of digital media.

Thanks!

Here’s the ad Carl Johnson and the Anomaly team made for Budweiser:

Anomaly