The Four Million Dollar Ad

“Those ads unquestionably worked. They ran the first one in 2004, with no idea if it’d be brilliant or a colossal waste of money. But the company was paying for it out of cash flow, not venture capital, so why not? Go Daddy had 16 percent market share at that point, and the week after the ad, it jumped to 25 percent — and stayed there until the next year. The next Super Bowl ad got it to 28 percent share and the next one got it to 32 percent share. Even when one of the racy ads was preempted by the station, the numbers just kept growing.”

While most people don’t like what GoDaddy.com has done on the Super Bowl there’s a reason the brand keeps coming back. And it’s the same reason why Century 21 will advertise on the Super Bowl for a second year in a row after their first appearance in 2012: company web traffic was up 40% this year whereas their industry was only up 4%.

This year’s Super Bowl ad inventory is already 95% sold out and the cost for a 30-second spot is now $3.8 million, up from $3.5 million last year.

The game will be in New Orleans on Feb 3^rd and of the top five advertisers over the last 10 years, only General Motors is yet to sign on. But expect to see Anheuser-Busch, Disney, Coke and Pepsi return, the last of which will also sponsor the half time show with Beyonce.

Last year 111.3 million people watched the game, beating the record of 111 million in 2011. The last two Super Bowls featured some of the league’s most popular teams—the Giants, Patriots, Packers and Steelers. Teams do have an affect on ratings, from their individual brand popularity to the media market they represent, so watch who the final teams are to see if viewership surpasses 112 million this year.

M&M’s won the AdBlitz contest last year, a smart buy for the brand and an example of the second of three key reasons to consider advertising on the Super Bowl:

1. It’s a new product that many could find value in. Such as this in 1999.

2. It’s a household name, who’s a category leader, and wants to gain more market share or expand the way people think about them. Like the M&M’s spot.

3. It’s a household name that has an important message to say. Such as this in 2002.

CBS probably won’t sell out the inventory before Thanksgiving, like Fox did two years ago, but look for it all to be gone shortly thereafter.