Super Bowl Advertising Research Articles

“I like the sound of that”: understanding the effectiveness of audio in ads

PurposeSports advertisements such as the Super Bowl showcase products and brands that have invested increasingly large sums financially to gain viewers’ attention. However, how audio features in advertisements impact viewers' behavior remains unexplored.Design/methodology/approachUsing the lens of signaling theory, this research uses advanced data analytics of voice and music audio in Super Bowl advertisements to examine its impacts on viewers.FindingsResults show that advertisement viewers prefer more voiced frames and have a greater liking behavior of voiced frames with a low intensity (less loud) and a higher F1 frequency, which is typically associated with male vocal tracts. A fast music tempo works better for longer advertisements. The model controls for various types of ad appeals. The research underlines the importance of voice and music in signaling successful brand features that are likely to increase the ad-liking behavior of consumers (positive effect).Research limitations/implicationsThe current research implies that brands advertising through sports ads must carefully select voice actors and music in order to provide the most positive signals for a brand to have the most significant effect and, thus, a greater return on the high sums invested in the ads.Originality/valueFirst, this research contributes in terms of a new research process for using audio analytics in advertising. The detailed research process outlined can be used for future research examining audio and music from advertisements. Second, our findings provide additional support to the important role of voice features (e.g. intensity and frequency) as signals in inducing responses from consumers (Biswas et al., 2019; Hagtvedt and Brasel, 2016). Third, the study surfaces a new theoretical association: the effect of tempo in moderating the relationship between duration and propensity to like an ad.

It’s Written on Your Face: How Emotional Variation in Super Bowl Advertisements Influences Ad Liking

While prior work has examined the effects of emotions on consumers’ attitudes toward ads, little research has explored how the joint presence of positive and negative emotions affects ad-related outcomes and to what extent such ads are common. This research leverages recent advances in emotion recognition technology to identify emotions based on the facial expressions of actors in Super Bowl ads aired over the past five years. We examine how the joint presence of happiness—a basic positive emotion—and sadness, disgust, anger, and fear—basic negative emotions—in these ads predict USA TODAY Ad Meter scores (the premier tracker of public opinion on Super Bowl ads). Results show that the joint presence of happiness and sadness enhances ad liking, the presence of happiness and fear reduces ad liking, while the presence of happiness and anger or happiness and disgust do not affect ad liking. We discuss the theoretical and methodological implications of these findings and future research directions.

Effects of Super Bowl advertising on online brand search: ten years of insights from 2011 to 2020

PurposeThis study aims to examine the cross-media effect of Super Bowl ads on online search behavior. Furthermore, the authors explored the role of ad likability in the effect.Design/methodology/approachThis study used a quasi-experiment method to test the hypotheses. The subjects of investigation are the brands advertised during the past ten years of Super Bowl from 2011 to 2020 (n = 389). Search volume index data were collected through Google Trends. The authors used Ad Meter ratings to measure ad likability.FindingsThe findings indicate that Super Bowl advertisements stimulate consumers' likelihood to seek information about the advertised brands via search engines. The search volumes for brands hit a peak right after the Super Bowl advertising exposure. Additionally, ad likability influenced the increase in search volume. Consumers tend to search a brand online if they liked its Super Bowl ad.Originality/valueThe study contributes to the literature on Super Bowl advertising effectiveness by examining the impact of Super Bowl advertising on online search behavior and the role of ad likability in the relationship. Marketers will be able to utilize the increase in search volumes after the Super Bowl advertising exposure to further enhance brand engagement.

The Market Responses to Super Bowl Advertising: The Role of Product Type and Multiple Executions

This study uses event study analysis to examine the impact of Super Bowl commercials on the stock prices of sponsoring firms by product type and the frequency of ad executions. By examining 272 Super Bowl advertisements from 142 firms that aired from 2010 to 2019, the results show that the execution of Super Bowl advertising was positively associated with excess returns. In particular, the abnormal return for the day after the event represents the largest gain in excess returns over a period of ±10 days around the event day. Further, cumulative average abnormal returns (CAARs) are consistently positive right after the event day. The findings demonstrate that Super Bowl commercials yielded higher returns for low-involvement and hedonic products. The number of ad executions is found to substantially enhance the effectiveness of Super Bowl advertising.

The Marketing Strategies Used in Super Bowl Advertisements.

Abstract: Companies depend on advertising and other marketing tools to support their business by increasing revenue (Schuman, Wangenheim, & Groene, 2014). During the increase of social movements in the year 2016 spiked by large influencers such as Colin Kaepernick kneeling during the national anthem in support of racial equity, the researcher analyzed whether or not large companies would begin to use social values such as women empowerment, racial equity, etc. in their advertisements in order to appeal to a larger audience. Thus, in this research paper, the researcher performed a content analysis of a series of advertisements released through the 2016-2019 Super Bowls using a mixed qualitative and quantitative method of coding to determine which variable was most often found in Super Bowl advertisements: conventional marketing strategies or social value strategies.

The relationship between consumer engagements with Super Bowl ad tweets and the advertisers’ official Twitter accounts: a panel data analysis of 2019 Super Bowl advertisers

This study aims to examine the influence of consumer engagement with Super Bowl ad tweets, on their engagement with the advertiser’s official Twitter account. Using Python, audience engagement data were collected from the Super Bowl advertisers’ official Twitter accounts on a daily basis from two days before the game until 10 days after the game; this procedure resulted in 351 cases for 27 advertisers in a balanced panel dataset. Overall, the results of panel regression analyses employing a feasible generalized least squares (FGLS) procedure and panel-corrected standard error (PCSE) estimates support the hypothesis predicting transference of engagement from Super Bowl ads tweets to the advertisers’ official Twitter accounts. In particular, of the three engagement metrics, the number of retweets of and favorites on the Super Bowl ad tweets significantly increased the numbers of followers and favorites on the official Twitter accounts of the Super Bowl advertisers. The theoretical and managerial implications of the findings are discussed.

Cross-Media Consumption: Insights from Super Bowl Advertising

When viewers engage in cross-media consumption—view television advertising and social media posts on another medium—how do stimuli from multiple screens influence their response? To address this question, we construct a comprehensive dataset to estimate the effects of Super Bowl advertising and the advertised brands' Facebook content on ad likability. The novel insights emerging from the analyses include that: both media directly and significantly impact the response, contributing 60% and 40%, respectively; thinking hurts liking; and an ad's serial position does not matter, which differs from the primacy and recency effects previously reported in advertising studies. This study contributes to the theory and practice by: (i) testing open research questions empirically regarding the complementary effects of two screens; (ii) extracting the formal, analytic, and narrative thinking styles from the actual words in social media comments; and (iii) demonstrating that divided attention across screens has negative consequences on viewer appraisals.

How Measuring Consumer Conversations Can Reveal Advertising Performance

ABSTRACT Generating “buzz” is a marketing objective for many Super Bowl advertisers, but “buzz” as a campaign objective should not be limited to big tent-pole events like the Super Bowl. It should be a key objective for all advertising. Fifteen years ago, researchers estimated word-of-mouth (WOM) could triple the value of advertising through a “ripple effect” (Hogan, Lemon, and Libai, 2004). The current study confirms the theory that there is a close and valuable relationship between WOM and advertising success, and it further examines that relationship as a reason to make it a campaign objective and a key part of the measurement of advertisement performance.

Portrayals of Minorities and Women in Super Bowl Advertising

Portrayals of women and minorities advertising have long been of interest to advertising scholars. While research has found that the overall representation of these groups has increased, some stereotypes persist, and so do questions about the quality and prominence of portrayals. This study examines portrayals of minorities and women in Super Bowl advertising, the main “pop culture” showcase for US advertising. A content analysis of 10 years of Super Bowl ads is conducted and a multinomial logit regression model is employed to delve deeper into the content analysis results. Findings show that while the overall representation of women and various minority groups is strong, a deeper analysis shows that these groups are seldom depicted as primary characters by themselves and that some subtle stereotypes persist. We also find that ads featuring female principal characters are more likely to feature home settings, sexual appeals, emotional messages, and music as a major element and that it is less likely for female (vs. male) celebrities to be used. Minority principal characters are more likely to be celebrities and be included in ads with music or for technical products but are less likely to be included in ads featuring corporate social responsibility messages.

The Impact of Airing Super Bowl Television Ads Early on Social Media

ABSTRACT Every year, executives debate whether to release their Super Bowl advertisements early on social media, or whether this early release will hurt the surprise and impact of being seen for the first time during the most viewed televised sporting event in the United States. This research examines the impact of prior social-media engagement with a Super Bowl advertising campaign on consumers9 moment-to-moment affect traces and retrospective evaluations of television advertisements. Benefits include affect traces characterized by a higher peak, final moment, and linear trend as well as higher retrospective advertisement and brand evaluations. Reflecting the positive influence of social media on attitudes and processing, this research also examines the drivers of social-media interaction. Findings include that watching an advertisement on social media was driven mainly by how engaging, serious, or humorous consumers believed an advertisement would be. Liking or sharing an advertisement on social media was driven primarily by consumers9 cognitive thoughts about the advertisement or brand.

"I only watch for the commercials": Messages about weight, eating and race in Super Bowl advertisements.

Health experts and communication experts assert that the media influence individuals' health. Yet, incongruously, the public, policy-makers and the media themselves appear reticent to accept that the media could have extensive negative influence on health. The current study examined all ads that aired from Super Bowl XLVI through Super Bowl XLIX (N=241) using a detailed, multistep coding process. Ads had similar racial/ethnic diversity in the full sample and food/beverage ads. A minority (14.5%) of advertisements contained actors with overweight/obesity, who were more likely to be White and less likely to be Hispanic compared with race/ethnicity in all ads. Humour and tone were similarly present whether or not the ads included actors with overweight/obesity. Findings are striking given the high prevalence of overweight/obesity in the USA, particularly among Black and Hispanic populations, and the comparatively low representation of actors with overweight/obesity in Super Bowl advertisements. Surprising weight findings may signal a change in how the media portray body-size norms (away from exclusively thin), although representations remain disproportionate from actual body-size distributions in the USA.

Effects of offline ad content on online brand search: insights from super bowl advertising

Individuals watch TV shows while simultaneously and/or immediately searching online. Thus, the content of offline TV ads can affect online brand search, a key predictor of sales. Yet there are few insights on the effect of offline ad content on online brand search. We develop hypotheses relating the informational and emotional content of TV ads on online brand search, independently, and in conjunction with two attentional content elements of the ad campaign, prior media publicity and brand website prominence in the TV ad. We test the hypotheses using a quasi-experimental study, the telecast of TV ads on the annual Super Bowl event between 2004 and 2012 (n = 293 observations). We measure online brand search by online brand search lift, i.e., the growth in online brand search following the telecast of the brand’s ad on Super Bowl. The findings indicate that the informational content of the TV ad increases online brand search, while both attentional content elements decrease this effect. We find no support for the effect of emotional content of the TV ad on online brand search. Our findings extend marketing theory on online search and generate managerial implications for designing TV ads to increase online brand search.

Popular music in Super Bowl commercials 2005-2014

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to quantify and qualify the commercials in the Super Bowl. Design/methodology/approach This study is a content analysis of the placement of popular music in Super Bowl advertisements over a ten-year period (2005-2014). Findings More than a quarter of the commercials analyzed contained popular music. Although the use of popular music in commercials vacillated from year to year, popular music was most often observed in the product category of beverages; the music treatment most often used was original vocals; and song lyrics were most often relevant to the narrative of the commercial, rather than the brand. Originality/value This study extends the growing body of Super Bowl advertising research to popular music in commercials and provides a benchmark for all future research in this area.

Are Super Bowl ads a super waste of money? Examining the intermediary roles of customer-based brand equity and customer equity effects

Prior research on the impact of marketing activities such as Super Bowl advertising on firm value has produced mixed results. Drawing on the marketing productivity chain, this study introduces hitherto neglected customer-based brand equity effects as indicator for investors' expectations about future customer equity effects (i.e., expected future cash flow deviations) and find that customer-based brand equity mediates the relationship between Super Bowl advertising and abnormal stock returns. Using event study methodology, the authors analyze a sample of 62 ads for which data is available on both measures that represent brand equity and stock price from the Super Bowls from 2008 to 2012. This study finds that Super Bowl ads can be worth the large investment, but only if they enhance customer-based brand equity. The reverse also holds in that a negative impact on stock return is expected when a Super Bowl ad reduces customer-based brand equity. Furthermore, empirical evidence suggests a ceiling effect, that is, for brands with high pre-Super Bowl brand equity the relationship between change in customer-based brand equity and stock return is significantly smaller.

Super bowl XLVII TV advertising in the USA: male and female impressions among college students

The Super Bowl is one of the highest profile sporting events in the USA. Each year, over 100 million American consumers watch the Super Bowl. Its popularity is driving marketing forces such as TV commercials, corporate sponsorship, publicity, social media, entertainment and economic activities at the host cities. This research paper analyzes the impressions of XLVII Super Bowl Advertising among college students to determine what characteristics of the ads were significant what implications there may be for Super Bowl advertisers. Among other things, our probit model indicates that a commercial that is perceived to be sexier, other things being equal, has a 30 % higher chance of convincing the consumer to try it regardless of whether the consumer is a male or female. Furthermore, our results show that disappointing commercials have about a 24 % less chance of persuasion. Moreover, the likelihood of trying a product whose commercial was disappointing, not perceived to be sexy, cool, or funny is about 41 % less than a product whose commercial was perceived to be otherwise.

How Digital Conversations Reinforce Super Bowl Advertising

The current study investigated the interactive relationship of social-media conversation and brand television advertising during the 2011 and 2012 U.S. National Football League Super Bowl championship games. The Super Bowl often is the most-watched yearly U.S. television broadcast. Results indicated that pre-game and game-day social-media conversations for advertised brands enhanced audience engagement. Television advertisements played a significant role in amplifying social-media conversations about the advertised brands. Overall, the study found evidence that the relationship between traditional television advertising and online social-media conversations was reciprocal, with both media platforms working in tandem to enhance brand engagement.

The Secret Sauce for Super Bowl Advertising

This study investigated the relationship between Super Bowl advertising and advertisers' market valuation, identifying several factors that influence the financial rewards of this media-placement strategy. Specifically, the authors examined the impact of each commercial's featured characters and appeals--and the product benefits promoted--on abnormal stock returns for sponsoring companies that appear in Super Bowl advertising. Event study results showed that Super Bowl advertising is positively related to abnormal stock returns for advertisers. Cross-sectional regression analyses also indicated that market value of Super Bowl advertisers is positively related to likeable characters, emotional appeals, and approach messaging. The combined use of likeable characters with either emotional appeals or approach messages is positively associated with firm valuation.

Super Bowl ad likeability: Enduring and emerging predictors

US advertisers love the Super Bowl because it reaches a huge and highly receptive audience. One metric that Super Bowl advertisers watch closely is ad likeability as this is correlated with sales success. Tomkovick, Yelkur, and Christians (2001, Journal of Marketing Communications 7: 89–108) studied ad likeability for Super Bowl ads in the 1990s. In this paper, we replicate and extend their research using USA Today's measurement of Super Bowl ad likeability in the decade of the 2000s as our dependent variable of interest. Our findings on 438 Super Bowl ads show that humor, animals, and product category were enduring predictors of ad likeability. Product information and the presence of children in Super Bowl ads were found to be emerging predictors of ad likeability. Most notably, the amount of product information provided in Super Bowl commercials was inversely related to ad likeability. Implications for advertisers are presented, as are conclusions, study limitations and directions for future research.

Down-to-the-Minute Effects of Super Bowl Advertising on Online Search Behavior

Online consumer data presents new opportunities for measuring the effects of advertising. We combine search query data with the commercial schedule for the 2011 Super Bowl to measure the causal impact of TV advertising on consumer search behavior. Examining 46 of 67 Super Bowl commercials, we generally find large spikes in search behavior related to the advertiser or product within 15 seconds following the conclusion of the TV commercial. We present results for four categories of Super Bowl advertisers: movies, online services, cars, and other consumer goods. We also consider the economic and statistical feasibility of scaling this analysis to use search data to measure other TV commercials.

Using 21st Century Technology In Online Business Education

<p class="Default" style="text-align: justify; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: 9.5pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">The challenges for education in the 21<sup><span style="position: relative; top: -4pt; mso-text-raise: 4.0pt;">st </span></sup>century are fundamentally the same as they were in each of the past centuries – holding on to what is of value while discovering and developing what adds value to both teaching and learning. While the future is difficult to predict, the seeds of the future can be seen in the behaviors of the present. Obviously technology will play an even greater role in future education no matter how much and how quickly technology changes. Of greater importance than technology is the thinking needed for knowing how to use technology for advancing education for both students and instructors. Identifying the shifts in behavior that people are experiencing today provides clues on the practices that will be common tomorrow. Basic changes in education include the following: (1) moving from an instructor-centered paradigm focused on teaching to a learner-centered model focused on learning; (2) shifting from an emphasis on textbooks as a preferred source of knowledge to the use of technology as the primary tool for acquiring information and ideas; (3) advancing from knowledge to know-how exemplified in the differences expected from the cognitive, behaviorist and constructivist approaches to learning; and (4) sharing responsibility for learning through increased interaction and continuous communication between and among all individuals engaged in becoming educated persons. Technology, though it may be the key tool for facilitating these changes, has its limitations as well as its advantages, as any instructor knows when comparing face-to-face classroom lecturing with virtual asynchronous online discussions. Today’s students are techno-savvy and may be considered the “Wi-Fi Generation.” In the School of Business at National University, the second largest not-for-profit university in California, a blended approach to learning has been adopted in the accelerated one-month format used for its online education program. This paper explores the effects of some new technological options which were recently provided to marketing students in order to make their online learning experience more exciting and meaningful. National University’s online classes are offered on the eCollege platform. Students interact with each other asynchronously through discussion boards and synchronously in weekly chat sessions. Chat sessions had been offered in a text-based format, but the School of Business has invested in iLinc software which provides Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) capability. In iLinc, students can see and hear each other as well as the instructor in real time. The system allows application sharing, group web-browsing, the display of PowerPoint</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">® </span><span style="font-size: 9.5pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">slideshows, voting, and independent group work. Using this technology, the instructor acts as both a discussion moderator and a live lecturer. The traditional text-based chats are no longer used due to the high student acceptance and delight with the iLinc system. Outside of the virtual classroom, the marketing students were tasked to analyze and comment on the content of selected television shows. National University’s students are adult learners who grew up passively watching television from an early age. These assignments were designed to get them to think beyond the surface entertainment to the underlying marketing and business messages given in these shows. For example, a graduate advertising class was assigned to comment on the reality show, The Apprentice, while an undergraduate class critiqued the Super Bowl advertisements. In both classes the students were told to look at these programs critically and share their comments with the class. The use of these current mass media presentations, (which afforded live action cases that demonstrated the immediate consequences of managerial actions), was shown to be very powerful. </span><span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">Overall, the students appear to thoroughly enjoy this addition of topical and “live” learning tools to their online learning experience. While not tested empirically as yet, these new classroom tools seem to increase student comprehension and retention of the course material. </span></span></p>