Advertisers aim for the 'water cooler' effect as Super Bowl Sunday nears

Media & Marketing: While last year's Super Bowl competition came to be dominated by singer Janet Jackson's embarrassing "wardrobe malfunction", advertisers hope this year's post-match discussions are dominated by their productions.

Advertisers and the National Football League are nervous about such an incident - Ms Jackson revealed part of her breast during half time entertainment - being repeated this year.

No wonder. It is reported there were a staggering 542,000 complaints to the Federal Communications Commission (the US equivalent of the BCI) about the incident last year.

The game is watched by about 145 million Americans and advertisers regard the event as one of the most effective showcases for their work in the world. As one commentator explained this week: "This is advertising as an art form."

While most people are there to watch the game, a significant portion are there to catch the advertisements. "The Super Bowl is a good fit for clients who want to make a statement," said Mr John Osborn, president of the BBDO New York agency.

However, the standard of work on view has been declining over recent years, according to some observers. One leading industry figure last year described the work as "frequently crass and sophomoric".

This year the tone is likely to be different and wardrobe malfunctions are unlikely - Paul McCartney is providing the musical entertainment.

The US media reported this week that Fox rejected an advertisement from Airborne, a natural cold remedy, that showed a few seconds of Mickey Rooney's backside. The 84-year-old Rooney was angry, but Fox said the advertisement was not appropriate.

Last year, 30-second spots were costing about $2.3 million (€1.7 million); this year, such spots are fetching about $2.4 million. American's fourth network, Fox, is showing the game between the New England Patriots and the Philadelphia Eagles live from Jacksonville, Florida, this Sunday. In Britain and Ireland, the game is available on Sky Sports 1.

Because families tend to gather at home for Super Bowl parties, food and drink companies have traditionally taken considerable air time during the event. This year is no exception. Anheuser-Busch, the beer company, has booked 10 30-second slots, more than any other sponsor. This might have something to do with the fact that more beer is consumed on Super Bowl Sunday than on any other day with the exception of July 4th.

Other less traditional Super Bowl brands are also attracted to the event because of its "water cooler" effect. If you can produce an engaging advertisement, everyone will be talking about it the next day, although this year's conversations are likely to be a lot more sedate.

Pearl & Dean move

Carlton Screen continues to dominate the selling of advertising in cinemas, holding contracts with most of the large multiples in the Dublin area.

But now British screen sales house, Pearl & Dean, which entered the Irish market over two years ago by winning the contract for Dublin's UGC chain, has taken another small slice of the market. The company has been awarded the screen contract for the new nine-screen Edwards centre in Galway.

According to Dublin agency Saor Communications, there were 17.3 million cinema ticket sales during 2004 and, while the sector remains a poor relation to press and television, Carlton Screen and Pearl & Dean will hope rising ticket sales will open a few more doors in 2005.

Ogilvy win

The Irish Blood Transfusion Service board has awarded its advertising account to Ogilvy Mather. The account is worth about €2.5 million over three years. The losing agency was Hunter Red Cell .

Ogilvy said the win was an important one because the agency was trying to gradually build up its presence in what is known as the "social marketing" sector. These are essentially public education campaigns. Ogilvy already holds accounts for drug awareness and safe food campaigns.

CPA campaign

The accountancy profession suffers from what some people might call "image issues". While the profession provides a more than decent living for thousands of people, getting this message across to young people has been challenging for advertisers over the years.

Now the Institute of Certified Public Accountants (CPA) in Ireland has launched its first advertising campaign targeting students in third-level universities and institutes of technology.

A series of 30-second radio advertisements have begun on 2FM and on 10 regional radio stations, most of them youth services like Spin FM and FM104 in Dublin and Beat FM in the South East. The CPA is also trying to entice students via a poster campaign.

So how are the accountants selling the profession to the high fliers? Well according to Mr David Fitzgerald, business development director of the CPA, the campaign "highlights the key advantages of a CPA qualification for potential entrants. These are flexibility while training, the ability to work overseas and the option to work in practice as auditors."

Emmet Oliver can be contacted at eoliver@irish-times.ie