What makes a good Super Bowl ad?

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – For some people, it’s the reason why they watch the Super Bowl.

For decades, viewers have been glued to their screens to catch the ads that populate the time in between the plays. But from the hilarious to the heartfelt, what makes a good Super Bowl ad?

“You’ve got to try to appeal to a pretty broad section of Americans. It’s not like you’re targeting, you know, only women over 40 or guys of, you know, athletic interest. So it’s got to have broad appeal. It’s got to cut through all the clutter because everybody and their dog is spending $8 million for 30 seconds, and they’ve got celebrities, and they’re licensing big pop songs from the past. So you’ve got to be able to cut through that clutter and make your point,” said David Vawter, co-director of Imagewest on the campus of WKU.

This year, companies spent around $8 million for advertising during the Super Bowl, reaching around 130 million viewers. But just because an ad is funny, or tugs at your heartstrings doesn’t necessarily translate to success.

“This year, they won the USA Today ad meter again, which they seem to win every year, but at the same time, Budweiser sales are down 75% over the last 30 some years. So being entertained is not necessarily the same thing as a great commercial. And I think sometimes these brands and their agencies get that a little bit confused. It’s not all about likability, although that is important. It’s about what’s the story that you’re telling about this brand that’s going to make me change my mind about it enough to get up and go to the store and choose it instead of the competitive brand,,” Vawter said.

On the campus of Western Kentucky University, Imagewest, a student powered advertising agency, utilizes those commercials, both good and bad, to learn more about successful ad creation.

“This semester, we always ask them to watch the game, you know, pay attention to the spots and, give us a little paragraph or two about which spots they thought worked well and which or which ones didn’t. Not necessarily that they liked them, but what do they which ones did they think actually were doing a good job for the brand, telling a story that was persuasive. You know, hopefully make them think differently about a brand,” Vawter said.

Artificial intelligence has increasingly played a role this year in ad making as well. We’ve seen companies use AI to create commercials and advertisements at an increased rate, to a mixed review from views. Vawter said though that artificial intelligence will continue to see a rise when it comes to its use in ad creation whether the public likes it or not.