How well do Superbowl ads work? - CBS4 - WHBF Quad Cities, IL-IA News Weather Sports

How well do Superbowl ads work?

By: Kate Pabich
kpabich@cbs4qc.com

More than a hundred million people tuned in last night to watch the Superbowl and the famous commercials that go along with it. But how well do they work?

CBS 4 sat down with a communication professor to get the science behind the game plan.

It's a delicate balance between plot line and advertisement, and if you cross the line, it's a multi million dollar mistake.

Steven Klien is a communications professor at Augustana and says the goal is to be the talk of the water cooler Monday morning.
 
"The objective of advertisers isn't necessarily to sell the product, it's still something they want to do but it's to get talked about."

But centering the talk on the product or brand, is hard. Making it memorable but not overdoing it.
"The advertisers have the incentive to be memorable so presenting a really vivid story or something that's just outrageous gets attention but there's a problem is that overwhelms the identity of the product"

But the most memorable commercial folks told me about today just so happened to match up with a commercial Klien says was a recipe for success.
 
"The one that sticks out the most was the Anheusur Busch commercial with the Clydesdale horse."

"It's a touching story but it also says something about the identity of Budweiser
it was kind of a heart tugging commercial."

"So that's going to be an ad that works for them it's not just a random image or a heart tugging story, it says something about the brand."

And although Klein says it's hard to tell if there's a relationship between airing during the superbowl and selling more product, he says they wouldn't spend millions on commercials if it wasn't worth it.