Marketing Professors Report New Findings in Super Bowl Ad Success

EAU CLAIRE, Wis., Jan. 25 /PRNewswire/ -- A little goes a long way when it comes to companies talking about their products in advertisements aired during the Super Bowl, say University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire marketing professors who have studied Super Bowl advertising for a decade.

"More is definitely less," said Dr. Rama Yelkur, a lead researcher on the project, which she believes is the most comprehensive Super Bowl advertising study to date. "If you want to have a popular Super Bowl ad, don't talk much about your products. The more advertisers talked about their products on Super Sunday, the less the viewers liked the ads."

The finding is contrary to what conventional advertising wisdom suggests, but the "less is more" factor was a significant finding in their research, said Dr. Chuck Tomkovick, who worked with Yelkur on the project.

"How much or how little you say in the ad doesn't matter, but what you talk about matters a lot," said Tomkovick, noting that the project expanded research they published in 2001. "The amount of product information shared has a significant impact on ad likeability. Super Bowl audiences demand creativity in commercials and want to hear about new products, but they only want limited information about the product itself."

In their research, Yelkur and Tomkovick identified what variables within the ads cause viewers to rate them high or low in USA Today's ad popularity index, a widely recognized measure of Super Bowl ad popularity.

The researchers found the top five variables that influence Super Bowl ad likeability are (in order of importance): the presence of humor, animals, product information (very little), product category (food and beverages do best) and children.

The product information and kids variables made the top-five list for the first time in 2009. Celebrities and ad length were identified in their 2001 research as helping to determine ad popularity, but by 2009 were no longer relevant.

Tomkovick and Yelkur reviewed 462 Super Bowl ads that aired from 2000-09.

Their work is valuable to advertisers because interest in Super Bowl ads continues to grow, as does the cost to air ads during the game, Tomkovick said, noting that 30-second ads in the 2010 Super Bowl will exceed $2.5 million.

For details, contact Dr. Chuck Tomkovick at [email protected] or 715-836-2529, or Dr. Rama Yelkur at [email protected] or 715-836-4674.

SOURCE University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire