Kogod School of Business faculty weigh in on the top takeaways from Super Bowl XVIII in Las Vegas.
Kogod School of Business
The Super Bowl has long been a pinnacle of American sports, entertainment, and culture: a game featuring two teams squaring off in front of a televised audience of millions, a halftime concert featuring one (or several) of the top stars in music, and commercials that might just entice viewers to look up from scrolling on their phones during lulls in the action.
In many ways, though, the anticipation around this year’s game reached a new level—and not just because the game was the longest in Super Bowl history, with the Kansas City Chiefs topping the San Francisco 49ers in overtime.
For starters, there was the record-setting audience: the 123.4 million viewers that tuned into the game on CBS made the telecast the most watched in history.
Add in the fact that the game was in Las Vegas, a capital of American tourism, entertainment, and food—and the fact that the event was the first-ever Super Bowl held in a LEED Gold-certified stadium powered by a solar farm in the Nevada desert—this year’s event proved to be memorable for a variety of reasons.
And that’s before you consider the excitement around a certain Chiefs player’s world-famous significant other—Taylor Swift—herself amid a year that has, in many ways, defied comparisons.
Now, with Super Bowl XVIII in the rearview mirror, Kogod School of Business faculty are weighing in on some of the lasting takeaways from Sunday’s frenzy in Las Vegas.
Let’s talk commercials.
Just like every year, there was an array of memorable commercials, from New England icons Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, and Tom Brady joining forces in Dunkin’s “Dunkings” ad, to the world premiere of the trailer for the motion picture adaptation of the Broadway hit Wicked.
But the ads come as the media industry has faced declining advertising revenue, leading to cost-cutting (in fact, Paramount Global, the parent company of CBS, which televised the game, has reportedly laid off hundreds of employees since Sunday’s game).
And yet, a commercial during the Big Game seemed as prominent and pricey as ever: as much as $7 million for a 30-second spot, noted the Wall Street Journal.
Do Super Bowl ads still matter as much as they once did?
We asked Benjamin Wright, Kogod professor in the Department of Management.
“The Super Bowl and its commercials continue to be highly popular and can still impact brand recognition, consumer sentiment, and sometimes sales," said Wright. "It remains one of the few events where millions of viewers actively tune in to watch both the game and commercials and often remember more about the commercials."
Although there’s a large focus on digital advertising and social media marketing today, there’s something special about the Super Bowl."
Benjamin Wright
Professor of Management, Kogod School of Business
Kogod: It’s interesting how performers, athletes, and brands use the ads as something of a launching pad. For instance, Beyonce used a spot to hint at an upcoming album and then dropped two new singles during the game.
Wright: Super Bowl commercials have become a part of popular culture as many viewers anticipate and discuss them before, during, and after the game. Memorable commercials can generate significant buzz and media coverage, extending their impact far beyond the initial broadcast.
So, does all this advertising money—not to mention effort—ultimately pay off?
Although it is tough to attribute direct sales to Super Bowl commercials historically, the blending of digital elements like QR codes and website landing pages promoted in the commercials have been used in recent years. Additionally, companies may see a spike in product inquiries, website visits, Google searches, and store visits following the airing of a successful Super Bowl commercial.
Of course, the commercials weren’t the only prominent “sideshow” to the game on the field.
Usher’s halftime show featured a carousel of other performers, from Alicia Keys to Ludacris and Lil Jon.
The pre-game festivities included a rendition of The Star Spangled Banner by Reba McIntire, Post Malone singing America the Beautiful, and Andra Day performing Lift Every Voice and Sing.
And, of course, the event proved to be the culmination of a season’s worth of excitement over the romance between Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift, from fans following her Tokyo-to-Vegas journey, and the excitement over the cast of stars assembled in her stadium box during the game.
For more, we turned to John Simson, director of Kogod’s Business and Entertainment program, and a music industry veteran of more than 50 years.
"The Super Bowl is always just this massive cultural and commercial event," said Simson.
There’s a premium being paid for the songs and the recordings that do get used in ads. It can be six-figure or seven-figure money, depending on the ad and how popular the recording was or the artist."
John Simson
Business and Entertainment Program Director, Kogod School of Business
Simson: And of course, you have your halftime show, which is also just an amazing experience. A lot of artists use it to announce the release of a new tour. Obviously, Usher’s going on a world tour following his performance and his residency in Vegas. And he certainly showed off why he’s a top-rate performer and why he’d be fun to see in concert: great dancing, great singing.
Kogod: Ironically, though, Usher was probably the second most talked about musical performer in the stadium.
After all the excitement surrounding Taylor Swift over the last year, it seemed like it reached new heights (no pun intended) with the Super Bowl … all in the midst of her record-setting Eras Tour now continuing overseas, the box office success with the Eras Tour Film, and an upcoming album…
When was the last time we saw excitement surrounding an artist or group like this?
Gee, you’ve got to go all the way back to Beatlemania, which was at a completely different level than this.
There’s probably as many young women and young girls who are playing guitars now and writing songs, and who want to have careers like Taylor Swift, as when the Beatles came out.
I saw the Beatles at Ed Sullivan, I was in eighth grade, and I started a band the next day. Within a year, we were actually very good. And we all ended up with careers in the music industry.
It was life-changing. And I’m just the tip of the iceberg.
So, it’s the Beatles and Taylor Swift?
I think that’s probably where you have to go. I think it is kind of unprecedented in that respect. She’s really created an avalanche that I don’t know that people would have expected. We all knew she was going to be a star, 10 years ago. But I don’t think it could have been anticipated that it would explode like this.
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