In the last post, a case was made for why Super Bowl commercials can be a good investment, even at $4 million a pop. While the conditions exist for Super Bowl to be an effective advertising vehicle, there are no guarantees that merely having a presence during the big game will pay off for brands.
Sports Marketing's Mike Fetchko says that an effective Super Bowl ad is built on four cornerstones. Does a commercial possess these characteristics:
- Connects - Does the message resonate with the advertiser's target market?
- Compels - In style and visual content; Does the ad break through the clutter of competing messages?
- Clear- Is the message (and for that matter, the brand) distinctive?
- Concise - Is there a focus on one main point so as to be remembered?
The ads that perform well in terms of likeability among Super Bowl viewers are those that are anchored by these four cornerstones. Entertaining commercials may be fun to watch and have short-term benefit, but if the purpose of an ad is to advance the brand in some way the "4Cs" must be present.
