Danny DeVito as a human M&M. A new way to eat Pringles. Avocados without chips. In between clips of the New England Patriots losing (for unless you were from Philadelphia, that was what really mattered, right?), the Super Bowl was merely an excuse for Madison Avenue to show what can be done when you have an unlimited budget, an audience that surpasses any other, and are willing to pay $5 million for a 30-second spot.
All the usual suspects were there. Vehicles (Jeep, Lexus, Toyota), beverages (Coke, Pepsi and several beers) and big name tech (Squarespace, Quicken and Intuit) dominated the between game action, supplemented by ads pushing Turkish Airlines and WeatherTech floor mats. But the category with the greatest number of entrants, counting for about 17% of the total number of spots and $32 million of screen time at rack rates, was that catchall of "Coming Attractions."
Ads for movies and shows proliferated, with screens big and small represented. From the theatre (Universal and "Skyscraper") to the TV (HBO and "Westworld) to your phone or iPad (Hulu and "Castle Rock"), studios trotted out their fastest editing and most mind bending visuals in an attempt to capture your eyeballs. About the only thing they didn't try was using Martin Luther King's words to promote "Black Panther," leaving that faux pas to Dodge.
In some cases it makes sense to spend that kind of money on marketing. After all, Amazon's "Jack Ryan" is a new series with no track record. And while it's based on Tom Clancy's character of "The Hunt for Red October" and "Patriot Games" fame, there's a new face (John Krasinski) stepping into a roll previously inhabited by Alec Baldwin and Harrison Ford. In that light, teasing an audience likely made up of at least some fans of CIA adventure movies is probably a smart spend.
In others it seems kind of a waste of funds. After all, is it really necessary to trot out a splashy commercial for franchises that have built-in fan bases that you know will go to see the film regardless of the trailer? If you're a connoisseur of Marvel super heroes, odds are you're going to see "Avengers: Infinity War" regardless of the teaser. Likewise if you were there with Tom Cruise five times before, there's a reasonable chance you'll be heading to see him in "Mission Impossible" number 6 no matter what you saw in the second quarter of the game.
Then there's the one for "Solo: A Star Wars Story." The second entry in the so-called "Anthology" of stories based on the nine-part George Lucas "Star Wars" saga but not part of that series, it tells the origin story of the Hans Solo character. It will be released on the 41st anniversary of Harrison Ford's first appearance in the original movie, whose full title was "Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope." And yes, if you can't tell a Wookiee from an Ewok, we are already way too deep into this world.
But then you're not the audience. Folks to whom this movie will appeal not only know those species, but also Jawas, Bathas and Hutts. And so the need to spend $7.5 million (it was a 45 second spot) on promoting it was probably not needed. Even stranger, the commercial wasn't promoting the film itself: it was promoting the trailer for the film.
If you watched closely, the spot didn't end with the traditional release date for the movie. Rather it ended with the release date for the trailer. It was a Coming Attraction for the Coming Attraction. It recalls an old Saturday Live sketch where a movie audience is held captive for the movie they are seeing ("This is the story of a crazed audience that cannot survive such a vicious onslaught of stupidity. UNLESS they – 'Escape From Escape From New York'"). Or more recently the "shoe shoes" that fashion label Sankuanz created to protect the shoes of the models walking down the runway.
Some might call it meta, that obsession with things referencing themselves. Others will see it as yet another example of the latest proclamation of the death of irony. Whatever you call it, we've done it to ourselves. Or as essayist Lewis Hyde put it, it is "the voice of the trapped who have come to enjoy their cage."
-END-
Marc Wollin of Bedford didn't really care who was playing. His column appears regularly in The Record-Review, The Scarsdale Inquirer and online at http://www.glancingaskance.blogspot.com/, as well as via Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
All the usual suspects were there. Vehicles (Jeep, Lexus, Toyota), beverages (Coke, Pepsi and several beers) and big name tech (Squarespace, Quicken and Intuit) dominated the between game action, supplemented by ads pushing Turkish Airlines and WeatherTech floor mats. But the category with the greatest number of entrants, counting for about 17% of the total number of spots and $32 million of screen time at rack rates, was that catchall of "Coming Attractions."
Ads for movies and shows proliferated, with screens big and small represented. From the theatre (Universal and "Skyscraper") to the TV (HBO and "Westworld) to your phone or iPad (Hulu and "Castle Rock"), studios trotted out their fastest editing and most mind bending visuals in an attempt to capture your eyeballs. About the only thing they didn't try was using Martin Luther King's words to promote "Black Panther," leaving that faux pas to Dodge.
In some cases it makes sense to spend that kind of money on marketing. After all, Amazon's "Jack Ryan" is a new series with no track record. And while it's based on Tom Clancy's character of "The Hunt for Red October" and "Patriot Games" fame, there's a new face (John Krasinski) stepping into a roll previously inhabited by Alec Baldwin and Harrison Ford. In that light, teasing an audience likely made up of at least some fans of CIA adventure movies is probably a smart spend.
In others it seems kind of a waste of funds. After all, is it really necessary to trot out a splashy commercial for franchises that have built-in fan bases that you know will go to see the film regardless of the trailer? If you're a connoisseur of Marvel super heroes, odds are you're going to see "Avengers: Infinity War" regardless of the teaser. Likewise if you were there with Tom Cruise five times before, there's a reasonable chance you'll be heading to see him in "Mission Impossible" number 6 no matter what you saw in the second quarter of the game.
Then there's the one for "Solo: A Star Wars Story." The second entry in the so-called "Anthology" of stories based on the nine-part George Lucas "Star Wars" saga but not part of that series, it tells the origin story of the Hans Solo character. It will be released on the 41st anniversary of Harrison Ford's first appearance in the original movie, whose full title was "Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope." And yes, if you can't tell a Wookiee from an Ewok, we are already way too deep into this world.
But then you're not the audience. Folks to whom this movie will appeal not only know those species, but also Jawas, Bathas and Hutts. And so the need to spend $7.5 million (it was a 45 second spot) on promoting it was probably not needed. Even stranger, the commercial wasn't promoting the film itself: it was promoting the trailer for the film.
If you watched closely, the spot didn't end with the traditional release date for the movie. Rather it ended with the release date for the trailer. It was a Coming Attraction for the Coming Attraction. It recalls an old Saturday Live sketch where a movie audience is held captive for the movie they are seeing ("This is the story of a crazed audience that cannot survive such a vicious onslaught of stupidity. UNLESS they – 'Escape From Escape From New York'"). Or more recently the "shoe shoes" that fashion label Sankuanz created to protect the shoes of the models walking down the runway.
Some might call it meta, that obsession with things referencing themselves. Others will see it as yet another example of the latest proclamation of the death of irony. Whatever you call it, we've done it to ourselves. Or as essayist Lewis Hyde put it, it is "the voice of the trapped who have come to enjoy their cage."
-END-
Marc Wollin of Bedford didn't really care who was playing. His column appears regularly in The Record-Review, The Scarsdale Inquirer and online at http://www.glancingaskance.blogspot.com/, as well as via Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
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