JUST HOW SUPER IS THE SUPER BOWL? Brand Keys Survey Shows Groupon and Skechers Will Score Best With Fans More Than Half of Advertisers Will Score Touchdowns New York, NY – February 1, 2011 - Not all programs are right for all brands—even if that program happens to be the Super Bowl. But the 9th annual Super Bowl Engagement Survey conducted by Brand Keys, Inc., a New York-based brand and customer loyalty research consultancy, reports that when it comes down to the return the advertisers will get on their sizeable investments, this year touchdowns won’t be limited to the playing field. Assessments show that this year more advertisers (55%) will see substantial ROI on their $3 million 30-second spots, than in past years. Groupon, Sketchers, Pizza Hut, GoDaddy, and Hyundai are the 5 advertisers who’ll get the highest return on their Super Bowl ad investments. Following an automotive theme, advertisers like CarMax, Cars.com, Chrysler, and Chevrolet are likely to see far fewer returns. “This is more than Monday-morning, creative quarterbacking,” said Robert Passikoff, founder and president of Brand Keys. “Day-after creative reviews are always interesting, have a high ‘Water Cooler Effect’ and elicit lots of chatter on Monday. But advertisers should remember that ‘buzz’ comes in two frequencies: positive and negative. ’Wasn’t that terrible?’ generally isn’t a phrase that appears in creative briefs,” noted Passikoff. And even setting aside the question of quality creative, the survey brings into harsh relief the more important question being more loudly articulated: does the ad buy actually do anything for the brand’s bottom line? “More and more, clients want to know more than they were just seen, and with 30-second spots selling for $3 million, this becomes a whole new ballgame for brands. Calculating ROI gets particularly complex when you need to work in consumer-generated content, social networking efforts, and contests,” noted Passikoff. “It helps to know that the foundation of your campaign is reinforcing your brand.” This year’s survey was conducted the 3rd week of January among a national sample of 2,000 men and women, 18 – 65 years of age, who indicated that they were going to watch Super Bowl XLV on February 6th. The research examines the 29 brands reported in industry publications as having purchased spots. The Super Bowl Engagement Survey, like the Brand Keys Customer Loyalty Engagement Index (www.brandkeys.com), is created to predictively measure respondents’ true reactions to brands within the context of the medium, “identifying how the media reinforces, or in some cases, degrades brand values – its brand equity, if you will” said Passikoff. A brand’s equity, as it relates to consumer behavior, is the degree to which the brand’s values are seen to meet or exceed customer expectations for the category in which it competes. When a brand participates in some marketing effort – like advertising on the
Super Bowl – those values can be either enhanced, remain unchanged, or can be degraded. “For the study, all brands have been calibrated to 100%. The return that you want to see for your investment is a minimum increase of 7 percentage points added to your brand’s equity to ensure you’re getting a real return on a very expensive investment.” Assessments for this year’s Super Bowl XLV advertisers are: Advertiser
Super Bowl ROI (%)
Anheuser-Busch Bud Light Audi of America Best Buy BMW Bridgestone Careerbuilder CarMax Cars.com Chrysler Coca-Cola Doritos E*trade GM Chevrolet GoDaddy.com Groupon HomeAway Hyundai Kia Mars Mercedez-Benz Paramount Pictures Pepsi Max Pizza Hut Skechers Suzuki Teleflora Universal Studios Volkswagen Walt Disney Pictures
+8 +5 +9 +7 +5 +7 -4 -3 -4 +3 +9 -2 -0+10 +12 +4 +11 +7 +8 +8 +2 +9 +10 +12 +8 +8 +2 +4 +2
Engagement assessments are separate and apart from how many eyeballs were watching and are a ‘reality check’ that lets advertisers know how super their media buys actually are. And it can be done before signing a check. “It has nothing to do with ‘being watched’ or of consumers ‘being aware’, and has everything to do with being emotionally engaged with the brand,” noted Passikoff. “That’s vastly different from just being entertained. A laugh or a tweet is not an acceptable return on an investment of this size.”
CONTACT: Robert Passikoff, President Brand Keys, Inc. 212-532-6028, x12
