It’s that time of year again, when speculation runs rampant around which brands have abstained, which submissions are too risque or too conservative, and which have sunk a production budget that would make Cameron Crowe blush. This, of course, is Super Bowl season and the game is what happens in-between these breathlessly anticipated spots.

Agencies and industry thought leaders will be polling and prodding consumers to determine the ad winners – the funniest, the raunchiest, the greatest spectacle, the dud.

But is that really the point of our industry? Are we just making clever ads for ourselves, or are we trying to accomplish something greater? Being outrageous simply isn’t enough. Now, we’re not making the claim that advertising shouldn’t entertain. It should, while honoring both the brand (ROI) and the end consumer (transparent messaging).



Over the last 6 years, Allen & Gerritsen has asked consumers to rank the Super Bowl ads that are most meaningful – meaningful defined as provoking sales. Now entering our 7th year of the survey, we have discovered a significant gap between meaningful and entertaining.

This got us thinking, in an era when world events have heightened our collective skepticism, there is very little that we “buy” or believe to be credible. Bringing this skepticism to the biggest advertising opportunity of the year - the Super Bowl – the big question is, what do people “buy” figuratively and literally? What do consumers believe in and what converts a laugh to a sale?

We want to open the conversation beyond industry insiders congratulating or mocking each other next Monday. We want to know whether or not you, as the consumer, buy it.

Do you buy that Weird Science, Flashdance, and Danica Patrick have anything to do with registering a domain name? Does it matter?
Do you buy the phenomenon of wise-cracking babies championing E-Trade?
Do you buy Bridgestone’s adventure vignettes, including whale-whispering and MadMax like encounters on the road?
Do you buy the ref’s call?
Do you buy the hype?
Do you buy it?

We want to know, tell us at #dybi