Sheltered as we are from the actual event itself, anyone who spends any time online would have seen at least a few banners, feeds or articles relating to the Super Bowl that took place in the States this past weekend. On a personal level, I always look forward to the Super Bowl for the phenomenal showcasing of advertising that takes place during the most coverted TV time on the planet.. And this year, it is two aspiring film-makers that have felled the Goliath’s of the advertising industry…
Advertising during this years Super Bowl rounded out at about $100 000 per second of airtime. Pepsi running a 60 second slot, saw themselves handing over roughly $6million big ones! And they ran multiple adverts! This year NBC sold out the $206million worth of time that was available during the Super Bowl. And this doesn’t even scratch the surface of the production costs incurred by clients in making these high budget mini-films. To see a selection of all the adverts flighted during this years Super Bowl head over to http://www.youtube.com/adblitz
There are some great adverts shown, but the real story of the moment involves the Doritos spot. During the run up to the Super Bowl, chip maker Frito-Lay offered amateur filmakers the chance to submit their own Doritos adverts, and stand a chance of having their effort flighted during the Super Bowl. (Watch the winning submission here) As an amateur creative or film-maker, having your production shown on such a grand scale is a heighty enough achievement. But its doesnt end there for these guys. Every year USA Today runs a high-profile real time AD Survey, to determine which adverts consumers enjoyed the most. And this year it wasn’t Coca-Cola, Pepsi, or ten-times winning Bud Light walking away with the bragging rights (and $1000000 dollar prize money), but 2 unemployed brothers from Batesville, Indiana, with an advert that cost less than $2000 to produce.
Big up guys!! To the client’s out there! Take note, regular guys sometimes have great ideas, all it takes is the cajones to support them. To the agencies out there! In today’s economic climate, past achievements and credibility means jack, if amateurs are beating you in your own game!