Looking to offer companies Rolls Royce exposure for a VW price, one ad agency has gotten creative with its pitch to NBC.
According to a representative of ad agency Cesario Migliozzi, it is in discussions with the network about buying a co-op ad in the Super Bowl which may be the first of its kind.
The agency is attempting to line up enough advertisers (eight) at $395,000 a pop so that it can cover the cost of a 30-second spot in the Super Bowl Feb. 1 that will feature all of them. NBC is said to be amenable to the idea, according to an agency spokesman. An NBC Sports spokesperson was not available for comment at press time.
The spot would include logos from the eight companies visible during the entirety of the spot, which the agency estimates would give each nearly 100 million viewers. As a value-added, they also get a year's worth of visibility on a Web site, www.superbowlglory.com, which will feature outtakes from the commercial shoot packaged as viral videos.
“Co-op ads have never been sold on the Super Bowl," claims agency partner Michael Migliozzi in announcing the effort. His agency recently gained attention for a campaign that used the devil to market a rebrand of The Prayer Channel as NET (New Evangelism Television). "In today’s tough economic times, however, the idea makes a lot of sense. It’s a chance for marketers who are priced out of the Super Bowl to get their 30 seconds of Super Bowl fame. It gets them in for one eighth the cost of a stand-alone spot, and it is bound to be part of the feature story on Super Bowl advertising, which is as big a story as the game itself – and they will make marketing history”
The spot offers category exclusivity, meaning they are looking for eight different products or services. At press time there was no word on whether anybody had been lined up yet.
Andy Donchin, director of national broadcast for Carat, says he had never heard of anything like that before, but adds "nothing surprises me anymore. I wouldn't shoot down anything these days…. But I just don't know how you put a price on a logo. Is that really getting your message across? I can see that if you have an advertiser so well known—say, on a Coke level. But if you are trying to get product qualities across, it could be kind of tough."
The agency says it is targeting "hip" marketers like Virgin Mobile, Facebook, Smart Cars, Vespa, and Hard Rock Café.
Donchin says the key will be the creative: "It's not really a CPM buy." The agency has until Jan. 6 to come up with enough advertisers to make the buy.
