While Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen is truly a big winner in last night’s 43-8 Superbowl over the Denver Broncos, everyone wants to know who the winner is in the ad space.
The SuperBowl is the most sought after advertising time in America. At last count national ad time during the SuperBowl game cost $4 million dollars for a 30 second ad, that’s over 133,000 per second. Yes indeed, mighty expensive ad time.
That typically means that the advertising agencies of the world, who have a booking during the SuperBowl work their asses off to produce audience captivating spots. Most companies that advertise during the SuperBowl use it as a launching point for a campaign that may run for the entire winter quarter. But the SuperBowl is where they expect to make the most exposure.
According to AdAge magazine, the trade magazine for the advertising industry, two companies, both tech related, got the top 4 star rating.
T-Mobile, who used ex-Denver Bronco’s Quarterback, Tim Tebow, as their pitch man, got a four star rating in their contractless commercial. During the commercial, Tebow, who is currently without an NFL contract, talked about the things he could do since he’s not under contract. Those things included speaking at the United Nations, delivering a baby, shooting an action movie doing his own stunts and even walking on the moon. This ad fit T-Mobile perfectly because they’ve started the “uncarrier” revolution. It fits inline with a much larger branding strategy, and it seems to be working.
The other big winner during the Super Bowl was Radio Shack. The company, which was founded in 1921, rose to prominence in the late 70s and early 80’s. During that time there was a Radio Shack at every strip mall, indoor mall and most street corners. Their stores back then included transistors, capacitors, equipment for radio hobbyists, and a handful of consumer electronics, most of which were privately labeled for Radio Shack under the brands Realistic, Optimus and Tandy.
As Radio Shack evolved over the last 30 years, some of their stores still had the same feel as the designs of their heyday. Their product offerings have shifted. Radio Shack stores are now like mini Best Buys with a strong presence in accessories. They still sell police scanners and a smattering of parts but for the most part they are the goto small form consumer electronics store.
With that the company wanted to take a stand and make sure everyone knows they’ve gone through this makeover and to do that their spot featured a Radio Shack employee getting a call from “the 80’s” saying they wanted their decade back.
You can watch that commercial, below and the T-Mobile commercial here.