Culligan discusses Super Bowl ads
By CECILIA OLECK
News Writer
An estimated 46 million people watched the Super Bowl this year and not all of those people were paying attention to the game. The Super Bowl is as important to advertisers as it is to football fanatics.
The unveiling of new commercials has become a much-anticipated event, becoming competition for the game itself. There are the good ones, there are the bad ones and there are the forgettable ones. So what actually makes a Super Bowl ad successful?
Sponsored by the department of Business Administration and Economics, Executive-in- Residence Beth Culligan addressed that issue Tuesday and Wednesday at various speaking engagements at Saint Mary's. Currently the chief operating officer of A&P, a grocery chain on the East Coast, Culligan began her career with a strong interest in marketing.
As the executive-in-residence for 2001, Culligan will spend most of this week speaking to and working with business classes and clubs.
At her lecture Tuesday night, Culligan highlighted 30 ads that aired for the first time during this year's Super Bowl on Jan. 28. Because a 30-second Super Bowl spot costs a company at least $2 million, not to mention the cost of developing an ad, Culligan maintained that the "stakes are really high for advertisers." In 30 seconds, a company needs to promote its product in such a way that viewers are able to see its value, be able to distinguish it from other products, and remember it.
Commercials from a variety of businesses won Culligan's approval, including Snickers, Staples, Federal Express, e-businesses and investment companies, among others.
The ad that caught Culligan's attention and won her vote for the best Super Bowl ad was a series from Verizon Wireless. The ads featured 2 young people at a Woodstock-like concert. Unable to hear each other over the noise of the crowd, they pull out their cell phones are able to page each other. "In my opinion, based on marketing and advertising principles, this is the best. It's directed to the target audience, it has news to talk about, and it's creative and captures interest," evaluated Culligan.
Also receiving high marks from Culligan were the commercials from Anheuser-Busch. Culligan estimated that the company spent around $21 million on ads. The goal was to bring awareness of Budweiser to its highest level. One of the ads was a spoof on last year's popular "Wazzupp?" commercial, showing the preppie counterparts asking the question "What are you doing?" Another featured a man accidentally spraying his date with a Bud Light. A third was also a reminder of the "Wazzupp?" ad, with an alien returning to its planet to tell what it had learned while on earth. The final spot was a public service announcement discouraging underage drinking starring boy band N*Sync. Culligan applauded the ads for looking at the company from different angles.
Not all the ads featured received such praise. Some of the more popular ones seemed to baffle Culligan. Pepsi, which purchased four spots, was at the top of Culligan's list for vague marketing strategy. The commercials depicted a young man drinking Pepsi on a subway who was transported into a picture of Hawaiian beauties; Bob Dole performing a back flip after drinking a Pepsi; a Pepsi machine being taken captive by
inmates at a state correctional facility; and a Pepsi machine taking revenge on a cocky chess champion. Culligan reasoned that although the ads were amusing, they actually did nothing to sell the product, and she was not sure Pepsi had received its money's worth on the ads.
In the end, Culligan expressed that as a marketer, the goal is to keep focused. "A commercial is meant to sell a product. Yes, it can be entertaining or provocative, but the bottom line is to communicate the product."
All News Stories for Thursday, February 15, 2001
