Pressure is on to make Super Bowl ads

The Super Bowl used to be all about football.

But for many of the 110 million-plus viewers tuning in Sunday, the game is as much about the ads as it is about the Pittsburgh Steelers or Green Bay Packers.

With all of those eyeballs watching, corporate marketing executives and advertising agencies running ads during the game, like their gridiron compatriots, are tossing and turning at night waiting for kickoff and the reaction that comes from showcasing the work during such a high-profile event.

"We're feeling some internal pressure," said Michael Reeder, director of broadcasting for Goochland County-based CarMax, the nation's largest used-car retailer, which is running its first national Super Bowl ads Sunday.

Reeder, and several CarMax executives, even joked recently that they would begin stocking up on Tums as game time neared.

The people behind Super Bowl ads, which this year cost an estimated $3 million for 30 seconds, have much at stake Sunday as they wait to see how the ads they have painstakingly created hold up. The Super Bowl is where hundreds of millions watch, critics judge and reputations are made — or broken.

"Do something awesome, and the feeling is unexplainable," said Terry Taylor, creative director at Richmond ad agency Big River who worked on Budweiser's Bud Bowl campaign in 1989. "If it sucks, however, it sucks in front of the whole world."

Steve Sage, vice president, creative director and art director at The Martin Agency in Richmond, said the pressure is intense not only because of the number of people watching the game, but because of media coverage and industry interest.

"There's a lot more scrutiny than with a typical spot," Sage said. "We put a lot of pressure on ourselves. This (ad) represents us and our client."

Just as players on the field don't want to make a mistake on such a large stage, the people behind the ads know how much is at stake both in dollars and the company's reputation.

"There's nothing worse than manufacturing cultural toilet paper," Big River's Taylor said.

* * * * *

Super Bowl commercials have created as many memories as the games have — from Farrah Fawcett spreading shaving cream on Joe Namath's face and "Mean" Joe Greene gulping down a young fan's Coca-Cola to Budweiser's talking frogs and Betty White getting tackled in a Snickers ad last year.

"It's the only TV show where people watch for the commercials," said Barbara Lippert, a media consultant and former longtime critic for the industry publication Adweek.

And as the game has grown in stature, Super Bowl ads have grown in cost.

The first Super Bowl, played in 1967, was seen by about 50 million people on the NBC and CBS television networks. A company running a 30-second commercial during the game forked over $42,500 to be on CBS and $37,500 to appear on NBC's telecast, according to Adweek.

This year's game, which is being shown on Fox, is expected to draw about 110 million viewers.

One of the few similarities between 1967 and 2011 is the Packers, who won the first game and are making their fifth Super Bowl appearance this year.

For advertisers, buying air time during the game can be risky given the number and types of people watching.

The game "gets a huge and very diverse audience," said Derek D. Rucker, a marketing professor at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, which studies and reviews the ads for its annual Kellogg Super Bowl Advertising Review.

Having a wide audience across many demographics presents an interesting dilemma for advertisers and their ad agencies, who have 30 seconds or a minute to entertain viewers while delivering a targeted message that resonates with most of them.

"Not only do they have to like your (commercial), but they have to identify with your brand," Rucker said. "If I saw your ad but didn't remember your name," the spot would be a failure.

John Norman, chief creative officer at The Martin Agency, said a good Super Bowl ad needs to find a way to grab viewers' attention while being inseparable from the brand.

He points to Reebok's 2003 campaign, "Terry Tate: Office Linebacker," in which a linebacker enforces policy in a fictional office. "There was an unexpectedness to that spot. (The linebacker tackling office workers) came out of left field," he said.

What made the spot successful as a commercial was that people who watched it were entertained yet came away knowing it was for Rebook.

Norman was executive creative director behind one of the most discussed Super Bowl ads of all time — Coke's "Happiness Factory" — during his tenure at Wieden + Kennedy.

* * * * *

The benefits of a successful Super Bowl ad can make it a worthwhile investment.

"We've seen nothing but upside," said Scott Keogh, chief marketing officer for automaker Audi of America.

The German luxury carmaker is running its fourth Super Bowl ad this year — a 60-second ad to be aired during the first quarter.

Last year's spot, "Green Police," featured the Audi A3 TDI. The spot featured environmental police cracking down on polluters and kids drinking from plastic water bottles to a soundtrack from the band Cheap Trick.

The spot, which got 115.6 million viewers, was the second-most-watched commercial in Super Bowl history, according to Nielsen ratings.

Audi said 3.1 million viewers also saw it on YouTube. The automaker said the spot received more than 1.5 billion media impressions — the total number of readers or viewers who saw or read about the spot.

That type of attention and excitement among Audi's dealers and customers is why the investment is worthwhile, Keogh said.

When the company needed to get attention for its products, it turned to the Super Bowl because "it is the single biggest media platform in the U.S.," he said.

* * * * *

At CarMax's headquarters in the West Creek office park, executives hope Sunday's ads generate national buzz for their company.

"The Super Bowl is a great platform," said Laura Donahue, vice president of advertising, public affairs and communications for the automotive retailer.

CarMax is running two ads during this year's game — one in the first half and one in the third quarter.

It's the first time the chain has run national ads. In previous years, CarMax had aired spots in selected markets where it has stores.

It decided to go with the bigger buy this year because it could reach many more viewers for a bit more money than it would have cost to buy in regional markets, said John Montegari, CarMax's assistant vice president for media. The company declined to say how much it was spending on the ads.

And with CarMax.com and social media, the chain can reach customers in markets where it doesn't have stores, the company said.

The retailer won't give out details about the content of ads, which are being created by its new ad agency Amalgamated.

"I think they're going to fit in (with what viewers expect from) Super Bowl ads," Donahue said.

Martin's Norman said one of the best ways to deal with the demands that come with creating a Super Bowl spot is to forget about when it's running.

"There is almost too much pressure, which can hurt the creative process," he said. "You can't get caught up in it."

But Big River's Taylor said executives and ad people waiting for their commercial to air are in for an excruciating wait and are not as likely to enjoy the game as other fans.

"Obviously, every day for every client, you want to do great work," he said. "But the pressure on a spot specifically shot for the Super Bowl is not unlike the pressure for the players on the field. And if you're fortunate enough to get several spots on there, you're drinking Maalox by halftime."

LLLovio@timesdispatch.com

(804) 649-6348