Super Bowl Ads

by Rick Nason, PhD, CFA
Partner, RSD Solutions Inc

While waiting for my flight this morning I looked through the Super Bowl ads.  As a Canadian, we only get to watch a small number of them during the game due to broadcast restrictions and the various international rights.  While looking through the ads I also looked at some of the comments that people posted, and also at some of the rankings for the ads. 

Some of the ads that I thought were boring or unconvincing had the opposite reaction with a lot of people.  Other ads that I struck a chord with me missed the mark with many of the commentators.  The incongruence in opinions however is totally rational.  Many of the ads that appealed to me were those targeted at an older audience – as I am older.  They were not targeted at a younger audience, which also tends to be the audience that is more likely to comment on bulletin boards.

Ads are designed for a target audience.  Thinking about the ads that appealed to me, I realized that they were trying to impress me, and not some 22 year old.  Likewise, the ad creators that were targeting 22 year olds do not give a hoot what I think about their ad.  Of course, the ads that try to please everyone generally wind up pleasing no one.