For ten years running, Anheuser-Busch had grabbed the top spot in USA Today’s much-hyped ranking of the most popular Super Bowl commercials. On Sunday, the brewer finally saw its streak end, coming in second and third.
But if you ask top A-B marketers, the broadcast was a big win for the company because it set up a great start to the year’s heavier selling season.
Whatever the poll results from Sunday’s game — audience: 98.7 million — they take a back seat to the sales that A-B hopes its splashy advertising will stir up. Airing an ad for Bud Light Lime, for example, was a bid to convince drinkers that the newish beer can be enjoyed year-round, not just in the summer.
"When you get to the Super Bowl," said Chief Creative Officer Bob Lachky, "You really have to try to not change your strategy to win a beauty contest."
For the record, Frito-Lay came in first in USA Today’s Ad Meter voting with a Doritos ad featuring an office worker using a crystal ball to free Doritos. About 300 volunteers voting in Virginia and Oregon gave the ad a score of 8.46 on a scale of 0 to 10.
In second place, only 4/100th of a point behind, was Anheuser-Busch’s commercial showing a Budweiser Clydesdale rescuing his circus horse girlfriend. A-B had 4 1/2 minutes of air time, ranking No. 2 behind PepsiCo, Frito-Lay’s parent company.
"You always give congratulations where it’s due," said Lachky. But with A-B claiming two of Ad Meter’s top three spots, Lachky said, "I’m very proud, and I think mission accomplished in putting those spots where we did."
In each of the three previous Super Bowls, Anheuser-Busch spent more than $20 million for the airtime, according to TNS Media Intelligence. That price tag doesn’t include the cost of making the ads.
Pundits had their own take on the performance of Anheuser-Busch, which invested those millions of dollars in the midst of wrenching change brought about by InBev’s takeover of the company no fax cash advance.
Innerscope Research, a media research firm, said there was a direct relationship between the "emotional state of the nation" and the ads that proved most emotionally engaging during Sunday’s game. Innerscope used biometric tests to measure viewers’ subconscious and visceral responses to ads. The gauges include hand sweat, heart rate, respiration and motion.
By that measure, a Bud Light ad that shows employees sitting around a room discussing cost-cutting measures — No bonuses? Cut marketing? Stop buying Bud Light? — came in fifth, outranking dozens of other national ads. This ad "reflected these uncertain times," Innerscope said.
But Derek Rucker, a marketing professor at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, said A-B’s overall lineup was a little weaker than usual. Kellogg’s Super Bowl grading event — 41 marketing students ranked the commercials according to a variety of criteria — put A-B’s ads in the "good" range. They usually rank in the "great" category. The grading criteria at Kellogg includes likability, brand retention and communicating the product’s utility.
Anheuser-Busch didn’t quite deliver its typically "very strong" execution this year, Rucker said. The use of three Clydesdale spots — an all-time high on the Super Bowl — may have diluted the effect, he said.
Anheuser-Busch executives reject that argument. In the Clydesdales, Anheuser-Busch has some of the "most-loved corporate symbols" in America, Lachky said. "We’re a very unique company. We’re a very unique brewer. This is the one icon that really does it for us."
jmcwilliams@post-dispatch.com
314-340-8372
South Africa’s central bank may cut its benchmark interest rate by 1 percentage point on Feb. 5, the biggest reduction in more than five years, to stimulate an economy heading toward a possible recession.
Reserve Bank Governor Tito Mboweni will lower the repurchase rate to 10.5 percent, according to 14 of 22 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The rest expect a half-point cut. Mboweni is scheduled to announce the rate decision at a televised press conference at about 3 p.m. in Pretoria.
Central banks around the world are slashing borrowing costs to boost demand amid the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. The Reserve Bank, which reduced its key rate by half a point in December, has room to cut rates further after oil prices tumbled and economic growth slumped to a decade low in the third quarter.
“The story isn’t about inflation anymore,” said Colen Garrow, an economist at Brait SA in Johannesburg. “It’s about economic growth and job creation. That’s what we have to protect. The Reserve Bank has to pick up the pace of rate cuts. If not, we’re pushing the economy into recession.”
Inflation eased to a nine-month low of 10.3 percent in December from 12.1 percent in the previous month, the statistics office said on Jan. 28. The Reserve Bank forecast in December inflation will drop into the 3 percent to 6 percent target range in the third quarter.
Inflation Changes
The inflation rate may have dropped further in January when the statistics office reduced the weighting of food and transport costs in the consumer price index. Statistics South Africa will tomorrow publish 2008 inflation data based on the overhauled consumer price index, showing the impact of the changes for the first time.
“We could see inflation at 7 percent or lower in January, and hitting the middle of the 3 percent to 6 percent target range by mid-year,” said Arthur Kamp, an economist at Sanlam Investment Management in Cape Town.
Six interest rate increases in the year through June 2008 pushed the retail industry into recession, while the global credit crunch curbed gold and platinum exports, cutting economic growth to an annualized 0 credit score.2 percent in the third quarter.
Vehicle Sales
Vehicle sales data for January is due to be published tomorrow, giving a further indication of consumer demand. Investec Asset Management is also expected to publish the Purchasing Manager Index later today.
In political news, President Kgalema Motlanthe will deliver his first state-of-the nation address on Feb. 6, when he is expected to announce a date for South Africa’s national and provincial elections. The poll must take place by mid-July.
In corporate news, Harmony Gold Mining Co., Africa’s third- biggest gold producer, may say on Feb. 6 that fiscal second- quarter profit excluding one-time items surged almost fourfold, according to the median forecast of four analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Profit probably rose after the rand weakened against the dollar, benefiting Harmony, which pays most of its costs in the local currency and sells gold for dollars.
DRDGold Ltd. is due to publish quarterly profit on Feb. 6, while Northam Platinum Ltd. and Aquarius Platinum Ltd. are scheduled to release earnings on Feb. 5.
Markets
Last week, the rand closed little changed against the dollar. Government bonds advanced, with the yield on the benchmark 13.5 percent security due September 2015 dropping 11 basis points to 7.43 percent. The yield on the 13 percent note maturing in August 2010, which is more sensitive to interest- rate expectations, fell 23 basis points to 6.9 percent. Yields move inversely to bond prices.
The benchmark FTSE/JSE Africa All Share Index advanced 5 percent to close the week at 20,570.05. BHP Billiton Ltd., the world’s largest mining company, rose 7.2 percent to 174.25 rand while Anglo American Plc, the fourth largest, climbed 5.2 percent to 185.97.
The following is a list of important events taking place in Southern Africa next week:
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama issued a withering critique today of Wall Street corporate behavior, calling it “the height of irresponsibility" for Wall Street employees to be paid more than $18 billion in bonuses last year while their financial sector was crumbling.
"It is shameful," Obama said from the Oval Office. "And part of what we're going to need is for the folks on Wall Street who are asking for help to show some restraint, and show some discipline, and show some sense of responsibility.''
The president's comments, made with new Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner at his side, came in swift response to a report that employees of the New York financial world garnered an estimated $18.4 billion in bonuses last year. The figure, from the New York state comptroller, drew prominent news coverage.
Yet Obama's stand also came just one day after he surrounded himself with well-paid chief executives at the White House. He had pulled in those business leaders and hailed them for being on the “front lines in seeing the enormous problems in our economy right now.''
The president said the public dislikes the idea of helping the financial sector, only to see the hole get bigger because of lavish spending no fax payday loans. The comptroller's report found that Wall Street employees got paid about the same amount of bonuses as they did in the boom time of 2004.
Obama said he and Geithner will speak directly to Wall Street leaders about the bonuses, which threaten to undermine public support for more government intervention. The House just approved an economic stimulus plan that would cost taxpayers more than $800 billion; the Senate is considering its own version.
Separately, Congress also passed a $700 billion plan last year to shore up the financial sector.
"We're going to be having conversations as this process moves forward directly with these folks on Wall Street to underscore that they have to start acting in a more responsible fashion if we are to, together, get this economy rolling again," Obama said.
"There will be time for them to make profits, and there will be time for them to get bonuses," Obama said. "Now is not that time.''
Powered by WordPress -- XHTML 1.0