discuss Super Bowl Ad Observations

[garptrader]

It will be interesting to see how many of today's Super Bowl ads use .COM vs new TLDs vs social media profiles vs no mention at all - just the brand (quite often commercials will be entertaining but you cannot recall later what brand was being promoted). I read that CBS is charging $5 million for a 30-second spot to advertise to the more than 100 million US viewers and many more millions globally. Will brands spend that much money to merely promote a Facebook page or non-.COM domain? We will find out in a matter of hours...

 

[garptrader]

At halftime domains are not doing well. Most ads make no mention of the company's website domain. Many do very briefly flash a Twitter handle at the very end of the ad but that Twitter handle appears so briefly and is so small that one does not really have time to note the complete spelling. Consequently I would conclude that advertisers' attempts to tie social media to their brands has been a failure. Thus far I have seen no alt TLDs or new TLD domains (except IHaveADream.org before the Super Bowl began). Perhaps that may change in the second half. For local ads there was a 1-800 number advertised and some long local .COM websites. The global .COM domains I noticed thus far....

NFLShop.com
eSurance.com
SOFI.com
Apartments.com
SquareSpace.com
DollarShaveClub.com
QuickenLoans.com
NFLRush.com
OICisDifferent.com
WeatherTech.com
Jeep.com


The local ads were...
TheBristolPalmBeach.com
FPL.com
BMWSFL.com
BuyaToyota.com
ANewStartIncFL.com
SFLHondaDealers.com

 

[Manik]

I read that CBS is charging $5 million for a 30-second spot to advertise to the more than 100 million US viewers and many more millions globally. .

Majority will be .coms because it has a history and also if ngtld could afford 5 million for 30 secs, they probably could have bought .coms. :D

 

[WatchDogue]

Thanks for putting up the list of advertisers and their website URLs that you noticed up to the second half.

 

[garptrader]

Second half thus far...
#Doritos (Twitter handle)
#BolderthanBold (Twitter handle for Butterfinger)

MiniUSA.com
TurboTax.com
Pokemon20.com
Xifaxan.com (also used 1-866 number)
DeathWishCoffee.com
Showtime.com
Fitbit.com
Wix.com


local ads second half...
CityMattress.com
FortheInjured.com
Xfinity.com

 

[garptrader]

A few more...
IHaveADreamFoundation.org (long for an Alt TLD)

TheSecretLifeofPets.com (movie)

OnUp.com

 

[coconut]

Most ads make no mention of the company's website domain.

Maybe their research now shows most people will assume they are at whatever dotcom the product/brand being advertised is?

Thanks for the list of Superbowl domains.

 

[garptrader]

As I mentioned previously, many ads showed no domain name whatsoever and flashed a Twitter handle but it was barely recognizable. I did not catch any Facebook or Youtube references. Of the domains I saw, there were no new TLDs (even though we saw DollarShaveClub - did not advertise a .Club), not even one numeric .COM, no .Net or .CO or .TV domains but several short LLL or LLLL .COM domains. Many of the domains used were merely brand names which a domain investor could not have acquired for resale (trademarks). Notable domains that may have been aftermarket purchases at some point...

Apartments.com
SOFI.com
WIX.com

Brandables included...
Fitbit.com
SquareSpace.com
eSurance.com
WeatherTech.com

 

[DomainVP]

The new 'thing' is to get social engagement from large viewing events.

Brands want people to have conversations about their brand. Of course these conversations lead back to the overall online presence, but they see it as the best way to impact the audience.

It makes sense, someone sees your ad and then tweets a related hashtag to ALL of their followers & friends. Free contextual advertising tied with traditional TV media.

Advertising is rarely on the cutting edge of tech, and are always playing catch up.

The Ad World social guy right now is Gary Vaynerchuck. He gets social, and all of the other advertising dinosaurs sit back in awe over how to use SnapChat - it's absurd.