Purdue News

January 21, 2004

The Super Bowl: Advertisers spend big to win consumers' hearts

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - A Purdue University marketing expert says this year's

Super Bowl ads will be the most expensive of all time – an average of $2.25 million to buy a 30-second spot.

James Oakley, a Krannert School of Management assistant professor of marketing, says it's business as usual for the Super Bowl rollout of this year's ads in an economy finally pulling out of a three-year slump.

"It's pretty much standard male-oriented advertising, which might be a little surprising because of the female audience expected to be watching the game," he says. Some estimates put female viewership at 40 percent of the total audience.

Oakley says deep-pocket advertisers have already snapped up 54 of 62 slots for the Feb. 1 game.

He also says that pop culture historians may note that this is the 20th anniversary of what many consider the best Super Bowl ad of all time – the long, futuristic Apple Macintosh ad that ran during the 1984 Super Bowl.

"It only showed once," he says. "It's now only seen at film festivals and at film schools."

Oakley can discuss Super Bowl TV ads before the event and this year's contenders for the best ad after the Lombardi Trophy has been presented.

CONTACT: Oakley, (765) 494-4445, joakley@mgmt.purdue.edu