Get Screwed At The Super Bowl and Receive March Madness For Free

Remember the CareerBuilder Super Bowl ad where everyone in the office was in their underwear?

Remember the Dockers ad right after it where everyone was similarly missing their pants?

Or maybe you thought they were the same ad?

CBS  screwed up when they placed the two commercials back-to-back.  Many viewers believed them to be a single CareerBuilder ad, thus potentially making Dockers’ $3.5 million dollar investment a waste.

Jennifer Sey, VP of global marketing for Dockers told Ad Age:

Executives at Dockers were somewhat disappointed that we ran immediately after the CareerBuilder spot, given the visuals were similar, though we definitely felt the spots were very different.

To make up for their blunder, CBS is going above and beyond the norms of customer service.  According to Ad Age, CBS gave Dockers three 30-second spots during March Madness.  For free.

And it’s not even like CBS was forced to extend the offer to fill ad space.   According to Sports Business Digest, companies have been fighting to get in on the action during March Madness:

CBS has [already] sold more than 90 percent of the available ad time for its coverage of the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s men’s basketball tournament. Both pricing and total sales are up compared to last year.

While CBS probably should have spaced the two ads apart, in the end, Dockers lucked out.  The clothing company has repeatedly stated that the Super Bowl ad, which reached 106.5 million people, was successful in improving sales.

And now, on top of that, they are receiving three 30-second ads that go for as much as $1 million dollars each.

Did CBS owe the three spots to Dockers after airing the commercials back-to-back?

Watch the ads and decide for yourself.

The Future of Super Bowl Ads

GoDaddy.com 2009 SuperBowl Ad (http://bit.ly/d4VEI10

The Super Bowl is one week away, and the majority of viewers are looking forward to the ads, not the football.

But this year, ads from traditional sponsors such as Pepsi and GM will be missing in action, while lesser known brands take their turn at the big stage.

This makes sense.  Ad prices dropped this year for the second time in history, making a Super Bowl spot more affordable.  And in the midst of a struggling economy, companies are assessing whether spending $3.4 million on a  30 second commercial is worth the investment.

For Pepsi and other infamous brands, it simply isn’t.  But for growing companies such as GoDaddy.com and Hyundai, the access to millions of viewers at one moment is well worth the money.

One thing to definitely count on is being directed to the internet.  Whether Anheuser Busch or E-Trade, companies are going to use their precious seconds on air to get viewers to check in online.

“The key is leveraging it beyond the game itself. More marketers are taking it to the online world,” says George Belch, who teaches sports business at San Diego State University, to Forbes.

And to get in the Super Bowl spirit, here is one of 2009′s most popular commercials.  Instead of taking the traditional route of conveying product information, Cadbury counted on its ad becoming a viral success.