After three unusual years, it will be back to the basics for Super Bowl advertising. When the Oakland Raiders meet the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in a game televised by ABC this evening, ads with celebrities and plenty of laughs will be the order of the day.
Viewers who tune in Super Bowl XXXVII should see crooners Celine Dion (DaimlerChrysler), Willie Nelson (H&R Block) and Ozzy Osbourne (Pepsi Twist), not to mention the tag-team of Michael Jordan and Jackie Chan promoting Hanes underwear. Jordan will also play basketball with his younger self in an ad for Gatorade.
In 2002, some advertisers showed restraint. The nation was still reeling from the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 and the economy was sluggish. The previous two years featured the rise and fall of dot-coms. By one count, the Super Bowl in 2000 featured ads from 17 Internet companies, some never heard of before -- or heard from again. Just three dot-com companies ran ads in 2001.
The Super Bowl in 2003 is shaping up as a throwback, with familiar companies advertising familiar products.
"We'll see a lot of ads for cars, beer, soda, and a lot of Hollywood superhero movies," said Paul Allen, chief executive of Watertown ad agency Allen & Gerritsen.
"This year, we're back to 1999," said cofounder Seth Siegel of the Beanstalk Group, a licensing agency.
The 2003 lineup includes such Super Bowl regulars as Federal Express, PepsiCo and Anheuser-Busch Co. One Anheuser-Busch spot with the Clydesdale horses was created by Boston ad agency Hill Holliday.
Another Boston ad agency, Arnold Worldwide, created an ad for Monster, the careers Web site based in Maynard. This will be Monster's fifth Super Bowl.
Known for athletic footwear and apparel, Reebok International Ltd of Canton will be in the game for the first time since 1994. Quizno's, the submarine sandwich chain, ran its first Super Bowl ad last year and is making a return appearance this year.
While most other economic indicators are nowhere near the peaks reached at the height of the Internet boom in early 2000, the average cost of a 30-second Super Bowl ad has returned to the levels of three years ago.
Sixty spots and
86.8m viewers
According to AdAge.com, the Web site of Advertising Age magazine, the average cost of a spot is US$2.1 million, up 10 percent. ABC has said it is nearly sold out of the roughly 60 commercial spots in what is likely to be the most watched TV program of the year. According to Nielsen Media Research, 86.8 million viewers tuned in last year's Super Bowl.
Higher Super Bowl prices reflect a more optimistic outlook for the ad industry. In 2002, US ad spending rose 1.5 percent, estimated CMR. A media tracking firm, CMR projects a 3.3 percent rise to US$117.5 billion in 2003.
A year ago, Lisa Unsworth was part of an Arnold Worldwide team helping to create antismoking ads. Before purchasing Super Bowl air time, there was much debate over whether viewers would be receptive to a serious message.
"Over the years, ad agencies have experimented with a variety of genres and it's been found that entertainment spots work best," said Unsworth, now president of the Boston Idea Group.
"People are watching in a party atmosphere, and commercials need to speak to that," Unsworth said.
"Not a lot changes when it comes to getting people's attention," said Skip Pile of Pile and Co, a Boston firm that advises advertisers.
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