Episode Transcription
Don Mock 0:19
All right, Episode 21. Rob, we’re back.
Rob Broadfoot 0:21
We’re back. And I’m going to speak directly into the microphone this time and I’m not gonna turn my head.
Don Mock 0:27
Okay. All right. My eyes are on you fixed. So by the time this comes out for the general public, I believe the big game will have already been played between the chiefs and the Eagles. Right? The Super Bowl, we are talking about the Super Bowl people, right? And I thought it might be interesting for us to sort of riff on Super Bowl advertising, thoughts, memories, you know, what stands out? What doesn’t stand out? You know, just all sorts of different topics. Is it worth it? Is it not? That type of thing, right? We don’t know who won the game yet. Because we’re recording this before the game.
Rob Broadfoot 0:59
Yeah. Well, let’s that let’s pause there.
Don Mock 1:01
Okay. And make some predictions?
Rob Broadfoot 1:03
Yeah.
Don Mock 1:03
Well, the Eagles beat my beloved 49ers and I was in a state of depression for probably a solid two days. To the point where some clients were like, Dude, are you okay? You know, which is pretty funny.
Rob Broadfoot 1:15
Yeah, you weren’t in a good way.
Don Mock 1:16
No, it was bad. Well, I think a really, really, terrible way to end the year is on an injury and losing to a team that you feel like you could have beaten right, or at least made it competitive.
Rob Broadfoot 1:26
And the injury happened, like, within the first few minutes of the games.
Don Mock 1:30
It was awful. So I’m between a rock and a hard place on this one, because the Eagles obviously beat my 49ers. But in a previous Super Bowl, the Chiefs beat my 49ers. Right? So I don’t really know what to do with this one here. Can both teams lose? You know, I think if I had to pick I’m gonna pick Chiefs because I think the Eagles are…
Rob Broadfoot 1:55
You don’t believe in the hype?
Don Mock 1:57
I’m not believing the hype.
Rob Broadfoot 1:58
You’re not believing the hype.
Don Mock 1:58
I’m trying to be nice, because there’s people listening to this, potentially right?
Rob Broadfoot 2:02
Ok.
Don Mock 2:02
So I think if I’m going to pick a team to win, I think I will pick the Chiefs, but we’ll see. You know, we’ll see what’s about to happen. What’s your money on?
Rob Broadfoot 2:11
I that my money would be on the Eagles.
Don Mock 2:13
Would it? Interesting.
Rob Broadfoot 2:14
I think my money would be on the Eagles just because…
Don Mock 2:16
You think the hype is real?
Rob Broadfoot 2:17
I think the hype is real.
Don Mock 2:19
Their defense is legit there.
Rob Broadfoot 2:21
And they’re injury free. I mean, Mahomes is still kind of hobbling around now.
Don Mock 2:24
That’s a good point.
Rob Broadfoot 2:25
They’ll inject him with all the good drugs, so he’ll be fine.
Don Mock 2:29
Team friendly doctors will come to his ankles.
Rob Broadfoot 2:31
Yeah, but I think they’re without injury. I think they are feeling very confident right now.
Don Mock 2:36
Yeah.
Rob Broadfoot 2:36
And I think that will lead them ultimately to their…
Don Mock 2:39
Their second Lombardi.
Rob Broadfoot 2:40
Their Lombardi.
Don Mock 2:41
Okay interesting.
Rob Broadfoot 2:42
To them hoisting the Lombardi I think. But I will say, fun fact, the Chiefs’ kicker went to my high school, Harrison Butker.
Don Mock 2:42
Butker?
Rob Broadfoot 2:44
Yeah. Now, I’m much older than he is of course.
Don Mock 2:52
Ya, ya, ya. You know, where he went to college?
Rob Broadfoot 2:58
Butker… no I don’t have any idea.
Don Mock 3:00
He went right down the street to Georgia Tech.
Rob Broadfoot 3:02
Did he go to Tech?
Don Mock 3:03
He is like the pride of Georgia Tech.
Rob Broadfoot 3:05
Well, he’s the pride of all of Atlanta then clearly.
Don Mock 3:07
Pretty much. I will say he is the superstar of Georgia Tech’s football Twitter account, because it seems like every time he kicks a field goal or does anything they are trumpeting.
Rob Broadfoot 3:17
Well good for them. They be they should be proud. That’s great.
Don Mock 3:19
He’s a great kicker.
Rob Broadfoot 3:20
He’s a great kicker.
Don Mock 3:22
And I love that his name is Butker. And I think his Twitter handle might be like buttkicker? I think it’s what it is?
Rob Broadfoot 3:29
If it’s not it should be.
Don Mock 3:30
Yeah, so there’s advertising and branding right there. Buttkicker.
Rob Broadfoot 3:33
Wow, that’s awesome. Good for him.
Don Mock 3:33
All right. Well, as we transition away from the actual game, advertising thoughts? You know, the Superbowl, it’s one of the biggest events, obviously, from a United States specific television media market. There’s always the Forbes report all the different money market reports on how much a 32nd commercial costs. Is it $5 million, is it $7 million? You know, we’ve always got the trusty dusties of there, dare I say Anheuser Busch, Frito Lay you know, the guys that advertise every single year, right? And then you’ve got the the onesie twosie is that pop up? So any initial thoughts on Superbowl advertising? Any any memories?
Yeah, it’s interesting, because it is absolutely the most expensive 30 seconds on television. From an advertising standpoint. It’s the most expensive year, over year, over year.
Yeah.
Rob Broadfoot 4:26
And so, to me, it’s always a reflection of society and what’s going on? Sign of the times. And we were talking a couple of minutes ago about, like, back when the.com craze was going on. Every single .com was any budget, you know. Go Daddy’s and all that. But but their strategy was, how do we create the most ridiculous spot we can possibly come up with?
Don Mock 4:53
Sure, sure, sure.
Rob Broadfoot 4:53
So that leads me to like, there’s a couple of different strategies that you see repeated. You have one which is the, you know, “we’re a well known and established,” Budweiser, obviously. We’re a well known, established brand. We’ve been around forever. We advertise all over the planet all the time, every day. Everywhere.
Don Mock 5:12
Yep.
Rob Broadfoot 5:11
We are going to put together. I think they do like a 90 second spot. They do a big long and it’s going to be the most beautiful Clydesdales prancing through the snow. So you’re gonna get the feel good sort of brand stuff. Now they’ve also along the way, had hits with the frogs. You know, Budweiser and all that stuff with the frogs and so they also do some of that sort of more comical stuff too. But I think you can always count on the Clydesdales showing up and making you cry.
Don Mock 5:12
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Budweiser, they’re an interesting one because they split their brands. And oftentimes, you’ll get like you mentioned the traditional Augustus Bush family Clydesdales, Dalmatian things happening right? Then Bud Light will do something wacky and…
Rob Broadfoot 5:57
More irreverent, right?
Don Mock 5:58
Exactly right. And then traditional Budweiser may make an appearance to with, you know, something wacky and zany. I think, you know, for my money, you know that that 90s .com boom era, I think was the most fun for Superbowl advertising. I don’t know what the returns were on any of those things. And I think as you mentioned, a lot of those companies probably were just VC funded, and just all about eye balls.
Rob Broadfoot 6:21
They knew what to do.
Don Mock 6:23
But those were the ones that had the most irreverence the most, you know, more chimpanzees burn per pound, right? In terms of the big game. A lot of monkeys back then. And just sort of fun, wacky, zany, the last, you know, few years. I want to say, to your point about is it a reflection of the times? Some of the fun has kind of been drawn out of the Super Bowl, it’s been a lot more serious.
Rob Broadfoot 6:49
Yeah. And people have tried all different kinds of things, right? Like Doritos always does a user generated spot.
Don Mock 6:55
Yeah, yeah.
Rob Broadfoot 6:55
Right? And they turn it into kind of a promo and a sweepstakes really. Which is kind of fun. So they always do some pretty wacky stuff.
Don Mock 7:04
You know, we were talking off air how last year there was a lot of cryptocurrency.
Rob Broadfoot 7:08
Yeah.
Don Mock 7:08
And sort of, you know, funny money floating around out there, right?
Rob Broadfoot 7:12
Not this year.
Don Mock 7:14
No, no, I mean, how quickly we went from Matt Damon Fortune favors the bold to the collapse of FTX. And everybody associated with that, and things like that, which is kind of interesting. So I wonder what will happen with this year’s Super Bowl? It’s kind of where, you know, where the high benchmarks will be?
Rob Broadfoot 7:33
Yeah, well, so you’ve got the one strategy, which is, you know, for Budweiser. It’s not a we almost have to be there, but for a brand that’s that big, it’s not obligatory, but it kind of feels like you kind of need to be there. You gotta be at the big dance if you’re one of the top brands in the world. And it kind of feels like you belong there.
Don Mock 7:55
Yeah. If you’re spending hundreds of millions of dollars globally all the time. I mean, that 5 milllion, that’s a drop in the bucket. Yeah, and they’re buying so much on their upfront spread across so many networks and so many things, you know, their cost per 30 seconds is probably…
Rob Broadfoot 8:08
Yeah, they’re not paying what GoDaddy paid for their spot.
Don Mock 8:11
Yeah, exactly.
Rob Broadfoot 8:12
But that’s the flip side, right, is you’ve got these brands that no one’s ever heard of them.
Don Mock 8:16
Yeah.
Rob Broadfoot 8:16
This was the.com strategy, which was no one’s ever heard of us. So we’ve got 30 seconds, with arguably one of the largest television audiences there is. To have everybody immediately know our name.
Don Mock 8:30
Yeah.
Rob Broadfoot 8:30
And we’re gonna do that by creating the most ridiculous idea that we can come up with just to try and shock and awe everybody or entertain them one way or the other, to try and remember the name to kickstart, really to kickstart the marketing.
Don Mock 8:44
Do you think that’s successful? Or is it a case by case basis?
Rob Broadfoot 8:47
I think it depends. I mean, my non answer is that I think it depends. But I also think part of it depends on the company and how well the company does. In other words, that spot doesn’t make or break that company. But if you look at when, like, GoDaddy came onto the scene of Super Bowl advertising. Nobody knew about them correct? Well, they’ve stood the test of time.
Don Mock 9:15
Yeah, and they weathered the bad PR too. They got in a lot of hot water with Danica Patrick and ran hot models and those sort of things you know? I mean, outside of the wacky and zaniness there was a kind of should they be doing this? Is that a good refelection for the brand?
Rob Broadfoot 9:29
Well who was it… was it Carl’s?
Don Mock 9:30
Carl’s Jr?
Rob Broadfoot 9:31
Carl’s Jr. leaned into the twins.
Don Mock 9:34
Yeah, and it was Paris Hilton maybe washing a car.
Rob Broadfoot 9:36
Yeah, yeah.
Don Mock 9:38
Maybe I’m totally making that up. But it was pretty sexist in regards to like, just flaunting, you know, women in bikinis and eating hamburgers.
Rob Broadfoot 9:46
Point being people try all different strategies. And so sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t. I don’t think that alone… I think you can waste a lot of money. I think you can fail miserably.
Don Mock 10:00
Well it’s interesting, during Adweekyou know, in previous years and things, there used to be something about the recall. Like, oh, do you remember this commercial what was the brand it was for? And it’s all about the recall right? So I think my non answer, answer to the question that I asked you would be, I think it depends on what category you’re in. And here’s what I mean by that. There are always a lot of car ads during the Superbowl right? I am reminded of there was a car ad where it was Van Halen is running with the devil, no music, just the vocal tract. You remember that? was ringing a bell? That was the perfect lease?
Rob Broadfoot 10:32
I remember the isolated vocal track, but I don’t remember the spot.
Don Mock 10:35
It’s just David Lee Roth going. Yaaaaaahhhhhh.
Rob Broadfoot 10:36
Hahaha, yeah, exactly.
Don Mock 10:37
I couldn’t tell you what car I ad that was for. Because I think. Excuse me, car company, because cars are so saturated.
Rob Broadfoot 10:47
Right.
Don Mock 10:47
So I think if you’re in a category that doesn’t have any other competition, right, doing the wacky, zany, get the name out, get the name out. Like Coinbase for me last year was the one, there was crypto happening, but that was the one that kind of did the the bouncing QR code. You know, get your free money. We’re basically giving away free money, right? Fifteen bucks if you zap this QR code and open a Coinbase account and make a trade within a certain amount of time. Whatever the case may be, right? So I think that they kind of stood out. But you know, it kind of depends, right? You know, in terms of to your point established brand. Brand new brand. Do people know who you are? Do people even know what the category was? I mean, we could go back and argue like web hosting, buying URLs, what? I mean, there was a time when people didn’t even know really what that category was.
Rob Broadfoot 11:39
Right.
Don Mock 11:40
You know, so that’s kind of interesting to think about, too.
Rob Broadfoot 11:42
I think it’s also you know, used to be that you didn’t know who was going to advertise and you had to watch and it was like, I mean, people had watch parties. It was like, Oh my gosh, we’re gonna sit down and watch. At least among advertising people.
Don Mock 11:56
Yeah.
Rob Broadfoot 11:56
It was like, oh my gosh, we’re gonna watch it for the commercials.
Don Mock 11:59
Totally, totally.
Rob Broadfoot 12:00
But you didn’t know in advance what you were gonna see. Now. You kind of know. And not surprisingly, they milk it for everything they can, and now all the spots are released. Or a teaser for the spot or a something. They draw it out.
Don Mock 12:16
Yeah, there’s a pre spot spot. So you know, Mr. Peanut is going to be in the thing, it’s what’s Mr. Peanut gonna do?
Rob Broadfoot 12:21
So they do all the PR around the spot that’s upcoming. Some of them just out and release the spot so you can see it.
Don Mock 12:28
Absolutely.
Rob Broadfoot 12:29
Others tease it in various ways. But then after the game. It’s okay. Now we’re voting.
Yeah, exactly.
No we’re voting on who did the best. So I mean, rightly so they’re trying to drag it out and get the most value for it.
Don Mock 12:42
Yeah, we had, I mean, back in the watch party days, we had some fun. It was like nobody talked during it, it was the opposite. No, you can’t talk during the commercials. You can only talk during the game.
Rob Broadfoot 12:51
Yeah.
Don Mock 12:51
Because we want to listen and pay attention to what’s happening with the commercials and figure out what the brands are. And you know, was it funny and things like that?
Rob Broadfoot 12:57
Well, if you think about it, in terms of, you know, the pre internet, right? Or when the internet was young. You didn’t have as many eyeballs. Now it’s, you buy the spot and then you hope CNN or Fox News or one of the big media outlets is going to just run it on their site and throw a promo on it. That’s major, major eyeballs and major audience, too.
Don Mock 13:19
Any standouts over the years that you think are funny, or that stood the test of time? I’m kind of putting you on the spot here.
Rob Broadfoot 13:25
Yeah, I don’t know. I mean, I was thinking about your car. You know, you mentioned some of the car ones get deleted. I do remember Kia.
Don Mock 13:31
Okay.
Rob Broadfoot 13:32
Was that last year that they had the two? Were they hamsters or gerbils or what were they?
Don Mock 13:36
They had hamsters in cars.
Rob Broadfoot 13:38
I always liked those. I thought those were pretty good.
Don Mock 13:40
That’s a few years back I think?
Rob Broadfoot 13:42
But I go back to the heyday of the I love the Budweiser frogs. Yeah, that stuff, was you know, that was good stuff.
Don Mock 13:48
Yeah.
Rob Broadfoot 13:48
And I’m a sucker for a sappy Budweiser Clydesdale.
Don Mock 13:50
Yeah
Rob Broadfoot 13:51
Beautifully shot.
Don Mock 13:52
Yeah.
Rob Broadfoot 13:53
We’re running through the snow.
Don Mock 13:54
Yeah.
Rob Broadfoot 13:54
Doing the thing.
Don Mock 13:55
Nothing delivers ice cold, delicious beer. Like humongous horses.
Rob Broadfoot 13:59
Like a giant horse.
Don Mock 14:00
Yeah, exactly. clip clopping along. So I’m a fan of, and these are rare. But I just jotted a note down so I wouldn’t forget it. I’m a fan of the ones that are sequential, meaning there’s an ad in the first quarter then then it follows up in the third quarter.
Rob Broadfoot 14:00
Yeah.
Don Mock 14:16
I feel like Tide, Procter and Gamble, Tide had done something where the guy’s shirt is dirty. And then it gets clean. You know what I mean? And they had like, that misdirection of fake ads, and then you clean the ad or whatever the case may be right? And again, that’s terrible, because I don’t really remember exactly how it works. But, I think that’s kind of fun. If you’re gonna sit down and watch the whole game.
Rob Broadfoot 14:36
Yeah.
Don Mock 14:36
To not see the same ad three times in a row, because that was your placement. It’s like, oh, you’ve got three placements, you know, build on what the story is for that brand. I always thought that was smart.
Rob Broadfoot 14:45
mmhmm.
Don Mock 14:45
But then there’s also the avocados of Mexico, for example, it seems like I only see an avocados from Mexico commercial once a year and it’s during the Super Bowl. And I don’t see any other communication whatsoever the entire year, right? But they always have some fun ones too.
Rob Broadfoot 15:03
Yeah, I think generally speaking for me, the ones that are most memorable aren’t the one offs. The wacky for the sake of we’re in a Super Bowl commercials let’s be wacky, I think they’re fun to watch and entertaining at the time.
Don Mock 15:14
But they kind of just melt away.
Rob Broadfoot 15:15
They don’t really stand out for me. I like the ones that are more campaign driven, or you see the idea elsewhere, too. And it just happens to be the best execution of the of that particular campaign. Yeah, whenever that happens to me, those tend to be I think, probably my favorite.
Don Mock 15:31
Do you have any plans for the Super Bowl this weekend? Or I’m sorry, because this already happened. And we’re playing this after the Super Bowl.
Rob Broadfoot 15:37
Yeah, I don’t know. We’ll sit and watch. Yeah, we’ll definitely sit and watch. I’m not that vested in it. Just because I don’t have a team but yeah, I’ll watch it and watch the spots and do all the fun stuff. What are you doing?
Don Mock 15:52
Same thing? I mean, nothing special.
Rob Broadfoot 15:54
With fam?
Don Mock 15:55
We’ll watch the game with family. Yeah, I mean, the kids will stay up. It’s funny. One of my Facebook memories was the Atlanta Super Bowl, and how everybody tried to stay up. So the Facebook memory that my wife sent me was pictures of all the kids passed out on the couch, basically trying to make it through the game but couldn’t make it because it went to long.
Rob Broadfoot 16:14
They were smart.
Don Mock 16:14
They were smart.
Rob Broadfoot 16:15
They were smarter and much better, hahaha.
Don Mock 16:16
They quit while they were ahead.
Rob Broadfoot 16:16
20 – 3 I think is what they were.
Don Mock 16:20
Yeah.
It was like this games done were going to bed.
Yeah, so. All right, everybody. Well, I think that’ll probably wrap it up for some Super Bowl ad thoughts.
Rob Broadfoot 16:23
Yeah
Don Mock 16:25
Where can people find us Mr. Rob
Rob Broadfoot 16:30
They can find us on the interwebs of course at mocktheagency.com and then on all the socials @mocktheagency Of course and drop us a line, drop some feedback, give us ideas to talk about go Phillies go Chiefs.
Don Mock 16:44
Phillies?
Rob Broadfoot 16:44
Right? Eagles!
Don Mock 16:45
Eagles.
Rob Broadfoot 16:46
What’d I say? Phillies?
Don Mock 16:46
Fly the wrong sport. Fly Eagles fly.
Rob Broadfoot 16:48
Fly Eagles fly.
Don Mock 16:49
Never hear me say that again. Ever.
Rob Broadfoot 16:51
May the best team win Absolutely.
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