Super Budgets, SuperBowl

Despite being what is (obviously) predominantly an American sport, the SuperBowl XLIX's global impact and reach was in evidence again over the weekend.

An estimated 115 million viewers tuned in last night to watch the New England Patriots defeat the Seattle Seahawks in Arizona, contributing to what is routinely the biggest televised event in American programming.

Social media and word-of-mouth conversations typically revolve around the event for days on end, turning the event into something more spectacle than sports; the half-time performers, generally huge names like Bruno Mars and this year’s Katy Perry, even perform free due to the returns they can expect a boost album sales which, according to Forbes, can be an increase as high as 92%

With that many bums parked firmly on seats in front of television sets – not to mention 2nd, 3rd and 4th screens such as computers, mobiles and tablets – the Super Bowl has serious attraction for advertisers.

This year’s broadcasters, NBC, were surely counting on that fact when they set the rates for advertising during the event. With a 12.5% increase on 2014’s pricing, a 30 second spot setting advertisers back a cool $4,500,000 for the media alone. The total event is reputed to have pulled in around $360m just in advertising revenue.

However, despite the staggering entry prices for advertising, having a spot at the Super Bowl can pay big dividends for advertisers. With millions of fans glued to screens around the world, Super Bowl commercials are generally the tour de force of each participating advertiser’s year, and the agencies involved generally try to come up with something pretty good for their spots.

So how did they go?

Other than the Patriots, one of the biggest winners this year was mobile game Clash of Clans, which had an entertaining spot featuring Liam Neeson in full Taken-esque personality: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuFebXDkI3k

As always, the airwaves were thick with a bevy of other celebrities, with big names including Kim Kardashian (T-Mobile), Kate Upton (Game of War), Bryan Cranston (aka Walter White) and Lindsay Lohan (both for Esurance),

Animals also featured strongly, with Dorito’s flying pigs and Budweiser’s horse-and-dog friendship providing both amusement and emotion to the masses.

The unanimous vote for this year’s worst commercial seems to go to Nationwide, who used the concept of a dead child to shock the audiences out of their sports-day festivity; whilst it was certainly effective in that context, the insurance company went a little too far in bringing the atmosphere down: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKUy-tfrIHY

Which do you think deserves the crown this year, and which the wooden spoon? Check out the full list of adverts here and let us know.

#PurePoint