The Best Advert?

Advertising does not have to plug a product or service, simply sponsoring a message, can be more powerful in promoting a brand than a direct advert.

Budweiser's Supper Bowl XLVIII Commercial promotes pet adoption.

Watch it here: Budweiser Commercial 2014

Of course there are the haters repeating the usual nonsense form a century ago. But even then it does show that the massage has got through, people are watching and encouraging other people to watch. Spreading the message further that it would normally have reached. Making the advert viral and exposing it to a wider audience than the advertisers hoped for, spreading the message and building the brand.

One day when a member of this extended audience reaches for the beer in the supermarket they will put Budweiser in their trolley. If they decide to get a pet they will think of adopting. At this point the advert has achieved its aim. As I look at it this ad has had over 45 million views on YouTube alone. Estimates put the TV figures at over 100 million. If only one in 10,000 responds that is little short of half a million, would anyone like to then guess how many puppies find new homes? Or how many additional sales Budweiser makes over the next year?

Lets put it this way Forbes magazine estimates that this years crop of Super bowl adverts cost between $3.5 million for a 30 second slot in game time and about 1.5 million dollars to make. These figures have increase year on year since 2003. The companies advertising are not spending this vast sum without a reasonable expectation of a return on their investment. With a typical range of return on investment on a TV ad broadcast in this time slot, being around 170% to 300% I'll let you do the maths. I will tell you this no one invests that sort of money if they are not expecting to get their investment back and more!

Of course, multi million pound advertising campaigns are out of the reach of most businesses. Yet the return on investment of a properly produced and managed advertising campaign can be as great or greater with a much smaller investment. The key is to...

Ah, well, that's where I start earning my living ;-)

- Gavin Bryan-Tansley Owner Vid-FX+