Super Bowl, the creativity black hole; and Ooh Media’s grand recovery

BY Tim Burrowes

February 12, 2024 9:50

Super Bowl, the creativity black hole; and Ooh Media’s grand recovery

Welcome to a Tuesday update from Unmade, on the morning after Super Bowl. The only thing that was remarkable about this year’s crop of ads was their celebrity-focused mediocrity. Below, we explore whether that even matters.

Also today in the Unmade Index: As it prepares to release its full year financial numbers next week, the share price of Ooh Media closes on a one-year high.

Today’s full post is for Unmade’s members only. Beneath the paywall is a coupon code for members-only pricing for HumAIn, Unmade’s exploration of how AI is changing the world of marketing. Upgrade today.

Not-so-Super Bowl

Shortly, the first ratings will come in for yesterday’s Super Bowl. Most commentators are expecting a big, big number, thanks to the cultural roar created by Taylor Swift’s partner Travis Kelce being on the winning team, along with a game that remained in doubt until the last.

Sport is the one content genre bucking the global downward trend in declining TV audiences. In the US, the Super Bowl broadcast rotates between CBS, NBC and Fox. This year it was the turn of CBS, and owner Paramount made the most of it, simulcasting it not just on streaming service Paramount+, but also doing a kids friendly version on Nickelodeon.

Over nearly 60 years, Super Bowl has become a black hole with the gravity it exerts making itself ever more massive.

For much of its life, advertisers booked Super Bowl in the knowledge that they were buying instant mass reach. Although the advertising inventory was expensive, it was worth it.

And the black hole began to suck in a whole new solar system around 15 years ago, when YouTube began to reach scale. Suddenly, it was possible to amplify those ads, by sharing them – initially after the game, and eventually beforehand.

Advertisers realised that they could pay once but amplify their message through free media.

While that includes some spontaneous sharing of the most viral content by consumers, in large part that comes through the ads themselves being treated as a news story.

The black hole grows a little larger again, as every news outlet dedicates some sort of blog to rounding up the ads. The outlets do so in the expectation of traffic. And over time, it becomes a standard part of the playbook.

Yesterday there were hundreds of online news articlea offering wrap ups of the best ads, all with the brand messages embedded, for no additional cost of course.

Depressingly, although the single biggest differentiator for what tops the buzz should have been the quality of the advertising creativity, there is a more risk-free short cut: celebrity.

Immediately that creates a sameness. Of the 40 or so celebrity Super Bowl ads I watched yesterday, many of them followed similar strategic arcs.

The celebrity pokes gentle fun at themselves in a risk-free way, in a script where all the sharp edges have been removed by the agents.

That’s enough for the brands. The heuristic they’re after is the “big” signal sent merely by employing the celeb.

In such environments, great advertising might be a differentiator, but it’s not the sort of multiplier it can be elsewhere.

As a result, most brands this year chose that safe route. Arguably the most talked about ad this year was Christopher Walken being teased about his unusual way of delivering lines. It could have been for almost any brand, but happened to be for BMW.

That was as edgy as it got.

It doesn’t matter. The brands still got what they paid for.

Ooh Media completes its price recovery

Out of home player Ooh Media moved back above a $900m market capitalisation on Monday, with a 3.05% lift in share price taking it close to a high point for the year.

How Ooh Media’s share price has recovered since last year’s profit warning

Ooh’s share price closed at $1.69, only just below last April’s high of $1.72 which was erased a week later when the market overreacted to a profit warning. The company, which follows a calendar year financial cycle, will release its full year results next week.

Among the larger ASX-listed media and marketing stocks, Ooh led the way yesterday. Southern Cross Austereo rose by 2.5%, while Seven West Media was up 1.85%.

At the top end of town, Nine lost 1.27% while ARN Media faded 2.04%