GRAND HAVEN, Mich. — An advertising company owner in Grand Haven is hosting a Super Bowl watch party Sunday, but instead of focusing on the score of the football game, he and his peers—professionals and students—will be "scoring" the iconic ads.
Advertising and marketing professionals and Grand Valley State University (GVSU) students will gather at a concert venue, Seven Steps Up, at 6:30 p.m. to judge the $5.6 million commercials on a three-tier scoring scale. The scores are touchdown (delivered in the big game), safety (good, but pretty "safe" for the Super Bowl) and delay of game (an advertiser really spent $5.6 million to show this ad?).
The 75 to 100 event attendees—10 of which will be GVSU students—will be split up into two panels: "pros" and "bros," according to the event organizer, Bill McKendry. The "pros" are advertising and media professionals, and the "bros" are the GVSU students.
The two teams will compete against each other to determine which ads will be dubbed as the top three ads that are aired during the biggest TV event of the year by USA Today's Ad Meter Poll on Monday morning.
Ad enthusiasts will judge the commercials on how memorable it is, whether it's compelling and grabs the viewers' attention, and how well it differentiates the product or service being promoted.
However, the event organizer, Bill McKendry, owner of HAVEN | a creative hub, said the watch party is just as much about entertainment—from the game and commercials—as it is about learning from the ads, critiquing them and teaching the students and professionals at the event.
During the watch party and workshop, he wants "everyone to observe clear, concise messages that drive home [the advertiser's] point," he said.
He started the event 18 years ago mostly for professional development because "sometimes advertising people can get out of touch with what America really likes," he said.
As an example, he referenced Burger King's 2019 Super Bowl commercial starring the late pop art icon Andy Warhol. He and his peers voted it the worst ad of the show last year because he said aside from art professionals, the majority of the public don't know who Warhol is.
McKendry said advertisers need to be smart about the Super Bowl's audience.
"If you're smart about [it], you can be very strategic. It's a great place to advertise," he said. "People are watching the [Super Bowl] as much for the ads as the game."
He said differentiation is his biggest recommendation for a successful commercial. "When I teach, I always say: remember marketing is not about throwing a bunch of information out into the market place. It's about differentiation. Different is actually better," McKendry said.
After 18 years of hosting the Super Bowl ad watch party and just as many years in the advertising business, McKendry said aside from producing "different" ads, he has observed five aspects of a commercial that make it successful. One that has kids, babies, animals, mild violence and "male stupidity" always wins, he said.
He acknowledged three ads that will air on the biggest stage for commercials Sunday night that follow his differentiation rule: Amazon's "What Did We Do Before Alexa" commercial, Walmart's commercial "Famous Visitors" and Jeep's "Groundhog Day" commercial.
He said the Alexa commercial is reminding its viewers that it really is a different product since it's among the first smart speakers that have transformed people's lives. He said Walmart is telling its shoppers about everything that can be found in its store at low prices, like toys, food, household devices and more. And finally, actor Bill Muray driving in a Jeep with a groundhog shows people that Jeep's cars are different than others on the market.
More than 10 Super Bowl LIV ads were released before the game. There were 42 commercials that aired during Super Bowl LIII, but it fluctuates every year.
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