Local group will premiere ad amid Super Bowl spots that command top dollar

With thirty second spots costing advertisers over $3 million, the Super Bowl is some of the most expensive advertising real estate on television. The Martin Agency reveals some of the trends in Super Bowl commercials and how is one local rehabilitation organization utilizing their first spot this Sunday?

February 3, 2012; 1:03 PM • by Nathan Cushing

Imagine losing over $133,000…each second. Now imagine people desperately vying for the chance to do so. While this may seem like some sort of Bizarro episode of Jeopardy!, it is in fact an annual phenomenon—national and local companies eagerly spend money to advertise their product to one of the largest television audiences in the entire year: the Super Bowl.

Ranging between fifteen, twenty, and thirty-second spots (and even as high as a full minute) commercial space during the Super Bowl is recognized as the Christmas Day in the advertising calendar.

“It’s a cultural movement,” said Barbara DiMaria, Senior Vice President Director of National Broadcast Investments at the Martin Agency. “There’s a lot of eyeballs and a lot of judging.”

Ranging between $1.7 – $4 million (for fifteen and thirty second spots), DiMaria said that the rate is “continuing to increase” over the last several years due to increased ratings for the game that culminates the NFL season. She said “not many other places” provide advertisers with so many demographics in a single sitting. Moreover, there is a higher brand recall and awareness with Super Bowl audiences compared with those of typical television viewers. After all, as DiMaria points out, “people tune in to watch the commercials.”

With so much at stake, advertisers and their clients can spend between several months to a full year developing an advertisement that lasts less than sixty seconds. DiMaria said two of Martin’s clients will air commercials during pregame programming: Pizza Hut will be prior to kickoff, as well as Geico. She also said that CBS is already thinking about spots for next year’s game.

DiMaria also said that Super Bowl advertisers are using integrated social media components to supplement a particular campaign, as well as a push to extended, “longer form” ads that are a full minute long. National brands and organizations, however, are not the only ones who spend money on the Super Bowl. Local advertisers have the opportunity to get in on the action with commercial breaks (referred to as “pods” among advertisers) specifically allocated to businesses operating within NBC (who will carry this year’s game) affiliate territory. On Sunday, a local group will show their commercial to local Super Bowl audiences.

Sheltering Arms, a physical rehabilitation healthcare provider, will air a commercial specifically developed for this Sunday’s Super Bowl. “We’ve been doing a lot of new things lately,” said Stephanie Sulmer, Director of Marketing and Public Relations. “We don’t want to be the best kept secret.”

The thirty-second spot, made in partnership with Studio Center’s Richmond office, features audio of patient voices describing activities they are able to perform because of the rehabilitation Sheltering Arms has provided them. “It’s the patient’s perspective,” said Sulmer. “These are real patient quotes.” Sulmer said Sheltering Arms received a “favorable rate” and is “not going to be a huge impact on our budget.”

Last spring, Sheltering Arms launched iWALK Recovery Center, which continues to receive international attention. The organization has additional plans that they will roll out later this year. Sulmer said that the ad is the next “logical step” for higher exposure as the Super Bowl audience is comprised of “all ages, all demographics.” This, said Sulmer, was a natural fit as Sheltering Arms works with a large demographic of patients throughout their thirteen locations in Central Virginia.

“We help patients find the power to overcome.”

Disclaimer: Sheltering Arms has been an RVANews advertiser.

photo by dailyinvention