Super Bowl XLI takes place this Sunday when the Indianapolis Colts take on the Chicago Bears, but the spending and the hype have already begun. With 90 million people predicted to be watching the big game, half of which are women, electronic stores, grocery stores and yes, even florists and jewelry stores can expect an increase in sales this weekend.
According to Visa, sponsor of the NFL since 1995, florists and jewelry stores alone saw a 30% increase in spending on Super Bowl weekend in both 2005 and 2006. Visa suspects it is either consumers getting a jump-start on Valentine’s Day gifts or out of guilt from all of the spending on electronics and food for the big game. If this is the case, honey I would like those diamond earrings I have been eyeing up and I like Tulips not Roses.
Commercials this year continue to increase in popularity, especially with You Tube offering continued viral marketing and buzz by hosting SUPERVOTE. Not only will those watching the game be able to talk around the water cooler about which commercials they loved or hated, but they will be able to vote at You Tube giving advertisers some tangible data as to who was successful with their advertising campaign. Sports blogs and advertising blogs are also sure to keep the buzz going about which brand was most successful with their commercial. It will be interesting to see if anyone is collecting data on how much a brand’s sales increase due to all of the above.
One ad to look forward to this year is Frito-Lay’s consumer-created Doritos commercial. I watched it last night on CNN’s Headline Prime and I thought it was pretty funny and well done. It has also been confirmed that “JP” will be proposing to his girlfriend in a commercial to be shown during the game. I posted about this a few months back and the mystery man has found brands willing to fork over the $2 million needed for the 30-second ad spot. “JP” is working on product placement in the commercial and will also get his girlfriend’s video taped response to play online at various sites. First time Super Bowl advertiser Phillips-Van Heusen will also be interesting to watch, most especially because fashion advertising is in the minority for Super Bowl commercials.
We want to hear from you! Tell us in the comments: How much do you plan to spend for the big game? Which commercials are you looking forward to the most?
Posted by Shannon Nelson on February 2, 2007 1:00 PM
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