The Super Bowl promises a “winner” and “loser.” This is not just true of the rivaling teams, but also for companies who, this year, paid historic amounts to air commercials during the broadcast.
With more than 35 years of brand management experience as a professor and professional speaker, Michael Wien, founder of marketing consulting firm Specific Edge, uses his background to irreverently review Super Bowl advertising.
He offered some of that knowledge to Goizueta students the week after the game in a special review session of Super Bowl advertising.
“Who watched the Super Bowl for the game,” he asked.
All hands rose.
“Who for the ads,” he continued.
All hands remained raised.
Goizueta MBA students were invited to the interactive lecture about the “winning” and “losing” advertisements aired during this year’s Super Bowl. Quickly all realized just how popular the game is and how companies agree to pay such big amounts to make an impression on consumers.
The Goizueta Marketing Association organized the event.
“The goals are really to provide its members with career training, exposure to current marketing trends and opportunities to network and socialize,” said Brandan Stickland, Goizueta MBA candidate and coordinator of the event.“The Super Bowl Ad Review, which has been occurring at the business school for the past 16 years, really hits on all three of these.”
Displaying three advertisements at a time, Wien invited his audience to share their opinions. After students said what they liked and disliked about the commercials, Wien revealed and explained his score for each advertisement on an A-to-F scale.
Wien applauds the Audi, Doritos and M&M’s commercials for an appropriate use of humor. He is critical of Budweiser for straying away from its traditional marketing approach. He questions the presence of TaxACT.com in the line-up as it is a new and relatively unknown company. He referred to the Teleflora.com commercial as a “disaster” for alienating potential customers by being too “risqué.”
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For Wien’s full review, click here.
“Wien seems more in-tune with the true value and meaning of the commercials,” said Meghan McConomy, an MBA student and event attendee. “Many of the other critics base their judgments purely on entertainment.”
“All rules go away,” Wien said, comparing Super Bowl advertisements to everyday commercials. He stresses the need for firms to take risk in order to leave a lasting impression and generate “buzz.”
– Meredith Farahmand
