~he miami Heralb11d'~SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2010 I EDITOR: JANE WOOLDRIDGE jwooldridge@MiamiHerald.com 305-376-3629 Al

COMPLETE STOCKS NEWS m CLASSIFIEDS: AUTOS, JOBS AND MERCHANDISE LISTINGS

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THE, HOME ECONOMIST

BY BRETT GRAFFSpecial the Miami Herald

Tonight, as you're watching some of themost highly anticipated commercials of theyear, get ready for a remake of the 1985Chi-

cago Bears' Super BowlShuffle.

Boost Mobile - aspart of its advertisingcampaign contrasting"things that are wrong'"with it's pay-as-you-goplan - will take us backto a time when musicvideos first debuted andrapping was simply

GRAFF clever rhyming to a. steady beat. That's

because the company's Super Bowl commer-cial features original Bears team members -Mike Ditka, Jim McMahon, Richard Dent,Otis Wilson, Mike Singletary and.Steve Fuller- once again declaring that they're not here

to start no trouble, they just came to do theSuper Bowl shuffle.

But like all of us who remember the origi-nal, they're 25 years older.

"The good thing about nostalgia is that it'reminds you of where you were at a certaintime and place," says Caralene Robinson,director of brand and marketing communica-tions for Sprint Prepaid Group in Irvine,Calif., which operates Boost. "It takes youback emotionally. We want to provoke mem-ories for those who remember it. We want totap into an emotional connection."

For South Florida boosters, Super BowlXLIV is a hometown event. But for advertis-ers, both the city and the game are just abackdrop for a high-stakes consumer court-ship ..

Yes, Super Bowl advertisers are spendingover $25 million each for 30, seconds of yourtime, and they're not interested in getting

'TURN TO AD BLITZ, 2E

the big game's no game

AP PHOTOS

STAR POWER: Sweet Betty White, above, will be pitching Snickers bars while the bad boysfrom Kiss, below, will be hawking Dr:' Pepper. ----

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THE HOME ECONOMIST

Fo~advertisers,from you a quick buck. Rather,both academics and executivessay that a truly successful cam-paign will create a lasting bondbetween you and the product -the beer, the snack, the car, theprepaid wireless; And that themost effective commercialswon't arouse your taste buds,your thirst or your desire tomake cell phone calls. Instead,they'll touch your most complexfeelings.

And you, perhaps evenunwittingly, will arrive particu-larly vulnerable: "

"The ability for advertising tosear into people's brains is veryimportant," says Joel Rubinson,a research officer at the Adver-tising Research Foundation inNew York. "And during theSuper Bowl advertisers canmake their best attempt to con-nect with people."

That's true thanks to a com-bination of activities in your'brain, beginning with your owninterest in the commercials.Rather than fast-forwardingpast them or doing laundry withthe television on, tonight you'llbe captivated by whatever Dori-tios, Audi, Pop Secret and Boostwill be telling you.

"We look at how much con-sumers pay attention," saysRobinson. "And we know that.people who watch MTV are lessengaged than people who watchthe History Channel. But SuperBowl is one of the highestengagement periods."

Ads that stir up feelings such, as guilt, nostalgia or even anxi-ety will burn deepest into your and as a result, causes the scenemind, says Joan Meyers-Levy, a - Which you better believe willmarketing professor at the Uni- include a brand name - toversity of Minnesota who has remain on your mind, says Mey-researched emotions and adver- ers-Levy.tisingc- even more so than than "It's the same reason we lovecommercials with positive mes- tear-jerker movies," she says. "Itsages. But that works only when doesn't have to be positive, butyou're paying attention. it's the complexity that mat-

That's because "happy" is a ters."simple feeling, explains Meyers- Also, advertisers can reachLevy, while "nostalgia," for you better tonight becauseexample, is made up of two while it's difficult to predictemotions: sweet feelings for the your mood on most days, it's apast and bitter ones because it's good guess for Super Bowlover. Processing that kind of you'll arrive in front of the tele-emotional push and pull vision pumped up. And com-requires more mental energy mercials are most believable.....•~ ..-

• AD BLITZ, FROM lE

Tonight'sad lineupThe following are amongbrands that will be vyingtonight for your attention:Anheuser-Busch InBevAudi of AmericaBoost MobileBridgestoneCars.cornCareerbutlderChrysler's DodgeCoca-ColaDenny'sDiamond Foods' Pop SecretDockersDoritos ,\Dr, Pepper Saapple GroupE-TradeElectronic ArtsFocus on the Family,GoDaddy.comHomeAwayHonda'Hyundai •IntelKiakgbMars' SnickersMonsterMotorolaNBC Universal's Universal OrlandoNFL Qualcomm's FloTVTelefloraTRUTVUS Census BureauUnilever's Dove Men CareUniversal PicturesViecom's Paramount PicturesVizio'Volkswagen of AmericaWalt Disney PicturesYurn Brands' Taco Bell

SOURCE:'Advertising Age