TBWA/Chiat/Day who last week lost their US Levi's account to Bartle Bogle Hegarty, are running an interactive sweepstake to determine which 30-second spot the brand airs on the second quarter of the game on Super Bowl Sunday (February 3).
Last Monday, TBWA/Chiat/Day unleashed SuperVote on the worldwide web, mimicking Pepsi's strategy last year, which saw the company allow viewers to pick their all-time favourite Pepsi spot.
This year, the average American consumer will be able to choose between Up And Down, directed by RSA's Chris Cunningham; Crazy Legs, directed by MJZ's Spike Jonze; and Bull, directed by the Directors Bureau's Mike Mills.
While Bull has already aired in the US, neither Crazy Legs nor Up And Down have broadcast previously.
The vote runs at http://www.levis.yahoo.com until January 27.
Up And Down (by copywriter Susan Treacy, art director Tom Gilmartin and creative director Chuck McBride) would be the first spot to target a specifically female audience, should it win the online poll.
Crazy Legs was written by McBride and art director Jon Soto.
Bull was written by McBride, Soto, Gilmartin, Treacy and copywriter Stephanie Crippen.
With 30 seconds of airtime on Fox's Super Bowl costing an estimated $2 million a pop, advertisers are wise to seek off-air methods of maximizing that price-tag. Approximately 20 percent of airtime remains unsold for this year's event, whose broadcast, in America's multi-channel landscape, is an advertiser's only chance of capturing the eyeballs of a mass audience. John Rash, senior vice-president and director of Broadcast Negotiations at Minneapolis agency Campbell Mithun (see Coens story) confirms that Fox's trouble this year in selling the media space reflects problems in the economy at large.
"The unsold time is indicative of the challenges facing both the macro economy and the micro advertising economy," Rash told shots.net. "Marketers still realise and appreciate the unprecedented marketing and media platform that the Super Bowl offers. Yet many are on the budget sidelines, and those who are playing often limit the investment relative to more robust years. Look for the game to eventually sell out," he advised. "Although Fox may not be able to leverage as many additional dollars for pre and post game programming as in past years."
