As someone who doesn’t watch football, and barely understands it, I typically end up watching the game more for the advertisements than anything else. This year in particular I found that the Super Bowl provided a platform for political messages, and thus proved to be a very potent indicator of the current American sociopolitical climate. In this way, an event as essentially American as the Super Bowl can serve as a window into the ethos of our society.

Prior to the start of the game, there was a discussion about the cost of advertisements and general decline in viewership of the Super Bowl in recent years. In terms of viewership, it seems quite plausible that the progression of modern society has played a role in decreasing attention spans and encouraging individuals to check scores or video highlights the day after rather than watching the game real time. This also speaks to the declining social component of American life, as technology renders many forms of face to face interactions unnecessary and often discourages social gatherings. On the topic of advertisements, those found during the Super Bowl are often extravagant, and in past years have relied more on shock value than entertainment. This year, however, I found the sheer volume of political messages astounding. As a result of the last election, politics has come to the center of American media in a way it hasn’t for many years. This was incredibly visible in these advertisements, as even private companies feel both a. strongly enough about the current political situation to present an opinion, and b. that presenting this opinion is still relevant and accessible to the average viewer. Specifically, advertisements such as those for Budweiser, Coca Cola, and 84 Lumber presented potent imagery in response to the current immigration controversy. While this essentially differs from the expectation of the Super Bowl as a purely social and entertainment-oriented event, it is evident that this American tradition is just as much at the mercy of the current political atmosphere as anything else. In fact, it seems quite appropriate that these messages of unity were presented using the platform of an event which at its core represents both camaraderie and Americanism.

This past Sunday I attended the “Football, Marketing, and Money” Rose scholars event to watch the super bowl and analyze the advertisements.  I came into the event in anticipation of a great football game between two great teams that would be complimented with some great advertisement commercials.  However, while the game was great, the ads fell short in my opinion.  In fact, I personally think that the ads have been on the decline the last few years in terms of recall from viewers.

In other words, the ads don’t seem to be memorable as of late.  Statistics from the recall rate of viewers of these adds were just 29-39% depending on the add.  As a company, I think a successful recall rate would be over 50%.  At the same time, the cost per ad for just 30 seconds has been on a steady rise.  Back in 2002, the cost for such an add was $2.3 million.  Flash forward 15 years, commercials of just 30 seconds cost a company $5 million.

I believe that such an investment is important for many companies due to the strong viewership of the Super Bowl.  However, I think these same companies need to spend more time on their marketing capabilities in order to make their commercials more memorable and thus lead to more commerce in their company.  Also being from the Atlanta area, I was a little sad to see the hometown lose; however, there’s nothing you can do when the clutch Patriots do what they did so late in the game.

Last Sunday I attended a discussion about the Super bowl, which made me think about the marketing and advertising of the Super bowl.  Most international students understand the important role that sports play in American culture. Since, more often than not every country has a sport that majority of the country’s population follows and identifies with. Therefore, the importance of the football in American culture is similar to all other nations in the world. The Super bowl is the most significant football event of the year. However, something that baffles many international students including myself is the amount of money a super bowl advertisement is worth. Is it really worth spending 5 million (or more) on a 30 second spot?

The super bowl reaches an audience of approximately 110 million viewers. The biggest cinematic blockbuster from 2016, Rogue One, only sold about 55 million tickets. In terms of cultural reach, football’s championship game is twice the size of the biggest blockbuster. Therefore, maybe it is worth it to spend $5 million on a 30 second spot. However, this does not benefit all companies that advertise during the super bowl. Personally, I would argue that new companies and products that people haven’t heard of before would get the most return on the $5 million dollar investment, because millions of people are hearing about them for the first time.

However, if a reputed company uses the Super bowl to advertise their current products and services this would not provide them a good return on their investment since millions of people watching the Super bowl have already heard and seen their brand promotions before. Thus, the $ 5 million dollar investment would not benefit the firms that already have a certain reputation and stature.

The Super bowl’s remarkable reach definitely benefits the new companies and products that are advertising for the first time since it allows you to reach such a large proportion of America’s population. Yet for established brands and firms the Super bowl is not worth spending $5 million dollars on in the long run. Therefore, it is only worth spending $5 million dollars if you’re a company that’s never been heard of before, if you’re an established brand it is not worth spending $5 million.

On Feb. 5, I attended “Football, Marketing, and Money.” The group conversation was particularly insightful for me personally, as I don’t follow football. So, although I knew about Fantasy Football, I didn’t realize how big the business actually is. Fantasy Football was brought up as a possible contributing factor in the decline of football viewership. Someone made a very interesting point about how maybe another reason viewership is declining is because culture is changing – the communal aspect, particularly. As a result, in general, maybe  people aren’t really gathering in big groups anymore, as humans tend to seem more isolated (physically) because of technology.

Personally, I don’t watch football because I never grew up around it. So, as viewership continues to decline, I wonder how that will impact the future growth of the NFL. Additionally, it’s going to be interesting to see how the NFL combats the issue of declining viewership through marketing. Because, in the long run, if revenue decreases, salary of players may decrease, possibly influencing the talent that comes in, as some athletes may be turned off by football and pursue other sports.