CMJR 350 Blog Post #1

CMJR 350 Blog Answer #1

(Response to Arianne Judy's Question #2)

On page 390 the authors discuss setting realistic goals for advertising and campaigning to be successful. They believe that in order for something to achieve its overall goal it should be “duplicated many times.” The idea that only once isn’t affective makes me think about television adds during the super bowl. The companies that pay millions of dollars for that airtime rely on the success of that one commercial to reach millions of people sometimes only once and for 30 seconds. In your opinion do you feel that companies are able to successfully send a message that sticks into consumers heads after only one viewing? Is there a particular ad you can remember and identify as sending a clear message to you while viewing the commercials during the Super Bowl?

I definitely agree with your observation of the "one-time" Super Bowl ads and their long-term effectiveness. This is probably one of the only exceptions I can think of to the statement of "duplicating [messages] many times" for a longer lasting affect. The Super Bowl has become a setting for advertising and is known for that now. People know that companies spend millions on 30 second commercials and are willing to watch them for that reason alone. It has become traditional to tune in to the game even if you are not a football fan, merely to watch the commercials. With this in mind, it is absolutely true that those commercials and messages can be extremely successful in the long run. There is an extra factor in this type of messaging, however- viewer participation. The viewers are proactive in watching the commercials during the Super Bowl in most cases, which brings an added level of effectiveness.

Personally, I think of many different ads that have caught my attention only from seeing them once during the Super Bowl. Surprisingly enough, it isn't always the polished commercials that stick with you either; the cheesier or funnier the better. I can remember almost every Pepsi Super Bowl commercial within the last 8 years due to their celebrity affiliations:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jt8uNG02ixA

but I can also clearly remember the recent ETrade commercials:

http://www.youtube.com/user/etrade#play/user/BFA9B4DA756BD26E

Typically I would have agreed with the fact that repetition allows for better recognition, but the Super Bowl provides a special case. I definitely believe that Super Bowl advertising has its advantages for the companies that take the opportunity- and to add to those advantages, today's networking capabilities allow for people to find the commercials that they most enjoyed seeing (even if they were only on TV once).

Therefore, messages, commercials, images, that are played only once (depending on the venue) have the potential to garner the same or even more success that repetitive advertising does.