Super Bowl Ad Costs Up 36%

Last year over 100 million people tuned into the Super Bowl providing a huge audience for advertisers and as a result a 30-second TV commercial is going to cost roughly $3 million (up 36% from last year).

Advertisers this year include Super Bowl regulars such as BMW, Daimler, Kia, General Motors, Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Doritos, E*Trade and Budweiser.  In addition there will be a sneak peak of the up-coming film “Cowboys and Aliens.”  Advertisers that are new to the Super Bowl this year include Best Buy, Groupon, Pizza Hut and it is expected that we will see the debut of Motorola’s Xoom as well as Kim Kardashian helping to promote Sketchers.

This year advertisements will be joining the digital age by going beyond the 30-second TV commercial to include online features, social media and mobile media. Advertisers are incorporating Facebook and Twitter as well as contest sites such as http://beonthefield.com/.

After last year’s successful Old Spice campaign became a viral online phenomenon, this year Mercedes-Benz launches “The World’s First Twitter-Fueled Race,” which gives cars to a two-person team that gains the most Mercedes-Benz tweets and Facebook “likes.” Audi’s spot will include Audi Inner Circle social-media contests. The carmaker’s companion ad airs prior to the Super Bowl – called “Goodnight,” it is about the trappings of luxury: