Super Bowl Advertisers Stock Up on Celebrity

Four in ten Super Bowl XLIV ads feature celebrities or pop music, with familiar icons and music from the likes of Kiss, Bill Withers, Stevie Wonder, Abe Vigoda and Betty White scoring with consumers

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GreenLight

Feb 08, 2010, 03:06 ET

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- GreenLight (www.greenlightrights.com), a global media licensing, talent negotiation and rights representation consultancy, today released the results of its GreenLight Ad Gauge for Super Bowl XLIV, revealing that more than 40% of TV commercials aired during the big game featured celebrities or pop music, a similar amount to the past two years. The full report can be downloaded at www.greenlightrights.com/blog

The GreenLight Ad Gauge analyzes TV advertising during the Super Bowl -- the world's biggest television event every year -- as a barometer to identify trends in how brands are using celebrities and pop music in their TV commercials.

Key findings from GreenLight's 2010 Super Bowl analysis include:

34% of Super Bowl ads had celebrity endorsements from the worlds of sports, film, television or music - many featuring older icons like Betty White, Abe Vigoda, Jim McMahon, Mike Ditka, Stevie Wonder and Chevy Chase
20% of Super Bowl ads featured pop music, with both contemporary artists like Beyonce and will.i.am to retro icons like Bill Withers and Kiss in the spotlight
41% of 2010 Super Bowl ads included either celebrity endorsements and/or pop music
Just one brand -- Intel -- used a branded jingle, sung by a chorus of employees

"Retro is the new contemporary as advertisers tapped into pop culture ranging from Kiss to Abe Vigoda in their quest to make an entertaining and emotional connection with consumers," said David Reeder, Vice President, GreenLight. "This is a smart move by brands because they can leverage the familiarity of these icons to get attention and generate some laughs without breaking the bank."

The 2010 Super Bowl averaged a 47.2 rating/69 share, with an estimated 100 million viewers watching in the U.S. alone. Super Bowl ads this year cost an estimated $2.6 million.

Twenty brands featured celebrities in their ads including Snickers, Boost Mobile, Sketchers, Coca-Cola, Taco Bell, Motorola, Volkswagen and HomeAway.com. Twelve brands incorporated pop music into their ads including Papa John's, Dr. Pepper, Flo TV, Kia and Audi. Some brands scored, and some fumbled, according to GreenLight expert David Reeder.

"Snickers scored big right off the top with Betty White and Abe Vigoda getting pummeled in a game of weekend warrior football," said Reeder. "This is another solid entry in the series of Snickers' subversively funny commercials over the last year -- which have been effective and given new life to little seen or somewhat forgotten -- read cheaper -- celebrities.

Boost Mobile was among the brands that fumbled.

"Boost tried to reinvent past magic with Jim McMahon and Coach Mike "Da Bears" Ditka and a spoof on their oh-so-awful 1985 Chicago Bears Super Bowl Shuffle music video," said Reeder. "Despite faithful production values, the selling proposition of this spot was lost in an 80's era music-video-smoke and bad choreography. Lesson to Boost Mobile -- not everything gets better with age."

To download the complete GreenLight Ad Gauge of Super Bowl XLIV, visit www.greenlightrights.com/blog

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About GreenLight

GreenLight is a global media licensing, talent negotiation and rights representation consultancy providing corporate, advertising and media clients access to music, film and other entertainment content and celebrities. GreenLight works with the world's leading advertising agencies and multinational companies to create innovative advertising, packaging and products. GreenLight's rights representation group manages the personality rights of iconic personas including Albert Einstein, The Wright Brothers, Steve McQueen, and Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash. A Corbis brand, GreenLight is based in Los Angeles and serves clients in more than 50 countries. For more information, visit www.greenlightrights.com.

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