When the topic of the Super Bowl comes up, for many people it is all about the advertisements and has been for you. If you’re not a devoted fan to one of the two teams, or a general close-follower of football, then you can always count on the Super Bowl ads to get you through. This isn’t at all a bad thing, as it keeps non-football fans fairly engaged.
One of the things I’ve noticed year after year is that largely the same companies are the ones running :30 and :60 spots. This isn’t surprising, really, since the ads aren’t cheap and typically require deep pockets. Who has the deepest pockets? Either big businesses or brands (beer companies, car companies, etc), or in some cases start-ups that are heavily funded (think Groupon). There are exceptions to this, but by and large, this is how it goes.
I would love to see some variation, to see some new advertising faces in Super Bowl ads. In other words, give the little guy a chance. Since there is so much money involved and at stake for the TV network broadcasting the Big Game, I doubt that will ever happen under the current structure.
But what if that network agreed to give away one :30 spot in the big game for a small or medium sized business, and use the ad revenue they would have received to give to a charity? In return, smaller business could compete for the spot (since there would likely be thousands of entries) and the network could post videos from the entrants and have regular people like you and me vote on the winner. The video entered would not be the actual spot they would run, it could be a representative of the company or business that gives a short monologue about why they deserve the spot or basically anything else other than the actual spot so the cat doesn’t get out of the bag so to speak.
From the TV network’s point of view, it would drive tremendous buzz, traffic to their site, and also involve a philanthropic component. The “competition” could run from, say, September to November, with a winner determined in early December, giving the small/medium sized business enough time to produce the spot. The network could even support the production of the spot to ensure quality. The network could even run the commercial during the 4th quarter, since that is less valuable inventory if the game turns into a blowout.
For one small/medium sized business, it would be a huge boon!
Again, I’m sure this will never happen. But it would be cool for the TV Network to combine online (with the competition) with broadcast, have a philanthropic aspect (since everyone knows these commercials are run by the almighty dollar), and create great positive buzz from a PR standpoint.
Just an idea.
I’m waiting for your call, CBS, for next year’s broadcast.