The Super Bowl has always been thought of as a guy's thing. Perhaps that is why, despite 45 percent of the audience being women, almost all the ads run on the big game broadcast have been targeted to men.
This year, however, the game's advertising is taking on a slightly different tone with a number of advertisers running ads specifically created for the 41.85 million (give or take) women expected to watch the New England Patriots take on the New York Giants. Victoria's Secret, Procter & Gamble and Unilever are all running brand spots with the hope of seeing a quick lift in sales.
A couple of factors are given to explain why marketers are running Super Bowl spots for women during this year's game.
Rick Gentile, director of the Seton Hall University Sports Poll, told MediaPost's MediaDailyNews, "The Super Bowl is the most-watched show, and almost always the most-watched show by women and with the writers' strike, there is nothing else out there. Nobody's even sure if the Academy Awards are going to happen."
The popularity of the Super Bowl is unquestioned. Last year's game won by the Indianapolis Colts was the highest rated television show of 2007, according to Nielsen. This year's contest, involving teams from two of the nation's largest consumer markets (New York and Boston) is expected to attract a record number of viewers.
According to a study by the Marketing to Moms Coalition, 80 percent of mothers plan to watch the Super Bowl and 60 percent are doing it just for the commercials. As might be expected, more than three out of every four don't think commercials on the broadcast are created with moms in mind as the target audience.
"The Super Bowl is an all-American affair, and moms around the country not only organize their families' home-viewing parties, but are the segment of the market that actually purchase most of the products advertised during the game," Teri Lucie Thompson, a board member at Marketing to Moms Coalition, said in a press release.
Discussion Questions: Has the Super Bowl in the past been a missed marketing opportunity for brands seeking to connect with female consumers? What do advertisers need to keep in mind if they want to connect with women during and after the Super Bowl broadcast?