View From the Phlipside - Super Bowl ads

My name is Jay Phillippi and I've spent my life in and around the media.  TV, radio, the movies and more.  I love them, and I hate them and I always have an opinion.  Call this the View from the Phlipside.
You know I just looked up going into last weekend and realized that it was Super Bowl weekend.  And I hadn't given it a thought.  Not the Super Bowl.  As a born and raised Pittsburgh boy the football game has been center stage in my thoughts for weeks now.  As one friend put it, we are climbing a stairway to seven.  At least I hope so as I write this just prior to the game.

No what I'd not given a thought to was the question of Super Bowl advertising.  Let's face it some years the ads are better than the game.  If you're a dyed in the wool media junkie like me the Super Bowl is every bit as big an event as it is if you're a football junkie.  This is the, well, Super Bowl of advertising.

And I'm really underwhelmed.  Not underwhelmed with the early word on the ads.  Underwhelmed by the whole concept.  Then it occurred to me that I may not be the only one because I didn't hear the kinds of chatter about the ads that I have in the past.  Surfing around on the web I do find some coverage but again I don't detect the kind of breathless anticipation that used to come with the Super Bowl ads.

I can tell you that you are about to watch at least 45 minutes of ads and promos during the game broadcast.  The record is from last year at just shy of 48 minutes.  I can tell you that ad time has risen from only 40 minutes back in 2001.  A 30 second spot?  This year's price was right around 3 million dollars.

And I just don't care.  Looking at the list of sponsors it's largely the usual suspects with a tilt this year towards car ads.  I anticipate the Star Wars VW ads will score pretty well with the fans.  The HomeAway ad where the test baby is thrown into a window will get its share of criticism.  Bud Light, GoDaddy, Pepsi, Doritos...

Yawn.

Once upon a time this was something I got up for, researched, prepped for and looked forward to the breaks in the action.  These were ads that were going to enter the popular culture zeitgeist.  We'd be talking about them, comparing notes on what we liked and hated.  Now it's just the launch of the newest ad campaign.  I find myself confronted with a rather astounding situation headed into Super Bowl 45.

I may actually want the ads to get out of the way...of the football game.



Call that the View From the Phlipside.

"The View From the Phlipside" airs on WRFA-LP Jamestown NY.  You can listen to WRFA online HERE
Copyright - Jay Phillippi 2011