Bud Light and Doritos commercials topped television ratings even though they aired late in the game, showing that viewer dedication penetrates further than an allegiance to the winning team, said advertising professor Dick Shoemaker.
"I challenge you to find another TV program where commercials are talked about and catalogued as much," he said.
Shoemaker had been contemplating for years how to engage his students in the multimillion-dollar business of making Super Bowl commercials. This year he came up with an idea.
Shoemaker asked students in his Journalism 354 classes to analyze four or five Super Bowl commercials and rate them on a Likert scale. Students examined various aspects such as how well the commercial held their attention, whether or not the message was clear and appropriate for the audience, and how persuasive it was.
During the course of four class periods, students came up with 10 aspects on which to rank the commercials.
Chris Rios, a sophomore advertising major, said working with a group was a good learning experience.
"You get mad at some points," he said. "Sometimes it's synergistic. Sometimes nothing is happening."
Rios said he analyzes commercials all the time, and his friends find it annoying to watch TV with him.
It costs $3 million for a 30-second commercial spot, a hefty chunk of change. But Shoemaker said, when a person considers the cost per thousand viewers, each commercial spot costs just $3.60 or $3.70. The reason for the juggernaut price is that the audience is so huge.
Viewership increased from 106 million last year to 116 million, Shoemaker said.
"Normally we look at commercials as invasive," he said. "It's a contract. Then you get to the Super Bowl, and the commercials are almost as important as the game itself."
The business of making major advertisements is changing, Shoemaker said. Students are learning how to stay on top of a competitive market where social media is gaining presence and amateur-created commercials are becoming major hits.
For the second time in a row, Doritos asked people to submit commercials, and they came off a huge success.
"It has the ad world turned upside down," Shoemaker said. "If an amateur can do that, where does that leave us?"
The business is nervous about audience-generated content, especially because it results in nothing but profit for the company. Doritos received $500 from the people who submitted the commercial, instead of dishing out the typical $250,000 to produce it.
Junior Sarah McVey, who is in Shoemaker's class, said it was interesting to analyze commercials and get feedback. She said there were some commercials that she was impressed with and others that didn't resonate with the audience.
The Chrysler commercial of Eminem driving down the streets of Detroit ranked No. 44 on the ad meter, but McVey said it had a powerful message.
"It reached an audience in a different way from humor."
Super Bowl 2011 by the Numbers:
106 million viewers in 2010
116 million viewers in 2011
33 percent of viewers of Super Bowl 2011 were women
$3 millions- cost for a 30-second commercial
$3.60 or $3.70- Cost per thousand viewers
Top 5 commercials according to the USA Today Ad Meter
1- Bud Light (tied for 1st)- Guy throws party while dog sitting
1- Doritos (tied for 1st)- Pug goes for chips
3- Volkswagen- Young Darth Vader practices the force
4- Doritos- Housesitter brings back grandpa from ashes
5- Pepsi Max- Love hurts
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