The Super Bowl: Your Preview for Hot Tech?

Joel Strauch, special to PC World

Twenty years ago, the Super Bowl was sent down a path that would forever redefine it as the largest marketing vehicle in history. One ad was all it took.

We're talking, of course, about the 1984 Macintosh ad where the Brigette Nielsen look-alike athlete went all Thor and brought down "Big Brother" with her big ol' hammer.

Apple was rumored to be running an homage to that ad in this year's Super Bowl, but will most likely be involved only via Pepsi's commercial featuring the 16 teenagers sued by the RIAA and a promotional giveaway of 100 million downloads from Apple's ITunes network.

"[The 1984 advertisement] completely shocked the market," says Lloyd Taylor, vice president of technology at Keynote Systems, a Web performance measurement company.

It's a moment in technology advertising that has been often imitated, but never quite duplicated, although many technology commercials since have earned their laurels.

"There haven't been any quite as memorable as that one," says Greg Clausen, executive director of media at Cramer-Krasselt, one of the largest independent ad agencies in the country--and responsible for the "Master Lock getting shot" Super Bowl commercial in 1974. "Certainly there have been some interesting campaigns, but 1984 forever changed commercials by raising the bar on the creative side."

Creativity for Its Sake

Technology companies using the Super Bowl to showcase their wares hit a peak during the dot-com heyday in 2000.

"All of these people with buckets of money were bidding up the price, and then they ran a lot of ineffective advertising," says Clausen. "There was a lesson learned there--besides the fact that businesses need to bring in revenue. It's all about solid advertising principles, not just ego. It has to be something about your brand."

One of the best examples from that year would probably be the cowboys-herding-cats commercial. Sure, you remember it--but what company was it for? (Answer: It was EDS. To see it and other classic Super Bowl commercials like 1999's Monster.com "When I Grow Up" or the myriad Budweiser frogs and lizards exchanges, check out superbowl-ads.com.)

The going rate this year is $2.3 million for a half-minute ad. That's a good chunk of a lot of companies' annual budget for marketing, so they don't take this opportunity lightly.

"Marketers have a lot of pressure to bring their 'A' game to the Super Bowl because the following day, there are going to be a lot of critiques," Clausen says.

Use Your Time Wisely

Many companies, like America Online, use the spots to introduce new products. AOL will be showcasing its new Top Speed technology, which promises to improve dial-up browsing and download rates.

"It's a good way to launch a new campaign or product. Gillette is also back in the Super Bowl lineup with a new razor brand product," Clausen says. Nope, it's not a five-bladed hydra of a razor--to find out, you'll just have to watch.

Monster.com will use this year's Super Bowl to introduce the design of their new logo, a monster from Ren & Stimpy creator John Kricfalusi.

Movie studios also use the commercials to build anticipation for films that won't be out until summer. And it's a place for heated competition as well.

"There will be two if not three pharmaceutical companies advertising their erectile dysfunction drugs," Clausen says.

Watercooler Chat

In addition to the watercooler buzz the next day, companies need to worry about surges on their Web site immediately after running their ads as well, Taylor says.

"In the last several years, most of the advertisers have realized that even Joe Six-Pack watching the Super Bowl is Web enabled," he says. "You can get immediate feedback on the mechanism, but the whole infrastructure has to be equally reliable as the nexus by which the ads are delivered."

But that's only if the commercial really nails it. And lots of tech companies, like AOL, Expedia.com, and IBM, are hoping their ad does. IBM will run an ad for its Linux Prodigy campaign in this year's Super Bowl, starring Mohammed Ali. The ad was designed by Joe Pytka, creator of that 1984 ad for Apple.

Could it be the next big ad? We'll have to wait until this weekend and see.