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Kim Johnson ReportingYesterday Americans watched a football game. Today they were second guessing the quarterbacks and of course rating the multi-million dollar commercials that aired during the superbowl.
Employees at Richter 7, a local advertising agency, held their annual adbowl. In fact this was adbowl was number nine. And as they do every year, they watched, booed cheered, and voted for their favorite.
They're what you call a tough crowd. Unlike the average superbowl viewers, these ad agency employees took in 49 different commercials with a critical eye and a lot of questions. Were the ads creative? What was the strategic thinking behind them? Did they deliver the message? Which was their favorite?
Scott Rockwood, Richter 7: “Probably the one with the referee. That's probably my favorite of the bunch."
Tim Brown, Richter 7: “7-UP rolling slam dunk. How come? You'll remember it. At the end of it you're going to remember it, you've got the truck, and all the visuals. It carries you all the way through and you're always kind of looking at what's next and you're surprised. He slams into the back of the truck. They missed the truck and hit the kid's lemonade stand."
Jeremy Williams, Richter 7: "I really liked the Anheuser-Busch little mule that started out small, then went and spoke to the clydesdales and develops into something great."
In a nationwide America Online poll, Bud Light's "sleigh ride" was voted the favorite.
Jeremy Williams, Richter 7: "Nike, for example, won't place any ads during the superbowl because the expectation is so high that they don't want to let any of their customers down by not meeting that really high expectation."
Imagine the pressure on the companies: An estimated 52 million viewers are said to tune in to Superbowl Sunday just to watch the commercials. A 30 second commercial cost companies $2.3 million people nowadays, because a superbowl commercial reaches half of all Americans at once.
