Denny’s won’t be appearing at this year’s Super Bowl. Not that I don’t see the value excitement and enormous reach that some Super bowl commercials certainly bring to some companies’ brands.
At roughly $3.5 million a commercial a 2012 Super Bowl ad is a marketing decision that I hope companies have truly thought out this year – does it reach their segment; is the spot unique memorable and differentiating; does it make an emotional connection that is lasting with their audience? With such a high profile advertisement you can be certain there will be significant critique and commentary on all Super Bowl ads in the days and weeks to follows. There may be no worse fate to advertisers than to have one of their Super Bowl commercials deemed a “failure” or “irrelevant” from the chorus of advertising “critics” who seem to appear on morning talk shows and the like each year.
As a marketer my philosophy on the Super Bowl is the following – yes it’s worked in the past for Denny’s (in fact we advertised in both 2009 and 2010) and does work for some companies – but if it does not achieve a specific goal within your marketing plan don’t spend the money. Any marketer can spend a fortune on ‘Superbowl’ spot and not be taken to task – kind of like The Enron Syndrome from the late 90’s “if so many people are doing it and it’s accepted practice how can I be blamed?”
But making a marketing impact today is about courage and innovation about taking a risk with something new and different that really makes your target audience take notice. To repeat one of my guiding marketing principles – Always keep your product offering and marketing fresh and relevant. Today the best way to become irrelevant is to be the same as everyone else.
My marketing goals for Denny’s are focused on reaching a number of key market segments in new and different ways. For example starting last year we created a series of videos called Always Open (one of our taglines) replica chopard linea doro watches hosted by the comedian Dave Koechner that were aired on CollegeHumor.com. They have been a big success helping Denny’s reach the millennial audience a growing segment particularly important to us.
Earlier this week we launched a Spanish language video on Funny or Die starring Cesar Millan the famous host of ‘The Dog Whisperer’. The goal here is to help Denny’s reach the fastest growing consumer group in the US – Hispanic families who are dining out more.
Right now replica watches in a still challenging economy replica bvlgari watches it’s all about making good decisions that get the most for your marketing dollar. That involves looking for new different and unique ways to reach your audience across a number of different medium.
I’m looking forward to this year’s Big Event as I’m sure are millions of potential Denny’s customers including millennials Hispanics and good old fashion football fans. I’ll be one of them – watching and enjoying both the game and the advertisements with an estimated +100 million viewers – despite coming from the UK where football generally means players in shorts a round ball and 1-nill scores.
