The Super Bowl is just over two weeks away and brands have already paid out millions to have their commercials and ads featured in "the big game."

Michigan Marketing Professor Marcus Collins expands upon the cultural significance of iconic ads even when they "don't turn into commerce right away," listing off cultural relevance and talent recruitment as key drivers for companies.

"Advertising through the Super Bowl, they are signals of what is culturally relevant today because good advertising actually acts as cultural product, actually acts as cultural production," the For The Culture author says. "They're not just talking about the value proposition, but they are signaling what's normal for people like us — so expect a lot of celebrities... music... expect a lot of fun."

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Editor's note: This article was written by Luke Carberry Mogan.

Video Transcript

[AUDIO LOGO]

AKIKO FUJITA: Well, the big game is just over two weeks away, and CBS, the network hosting the event this year, has already sold all of its ad slots. A 30-second ad cost companies about $7 million in 2023, and the price is expected to stay in that range or push even higher.

Let's bring in Marcus Collins, Marketing Professor at the University of Michigan, and bestselling author of "For the Culture." Marcus, always good to have you on. I was trying to do the math in my head. $7 million for 30 seconds, how much that breaks down per second. Is the return still there for these brands?

MARCUS COLLINS: Yeah, it's an expensive endeavor, but I think it depends on what success looks like. Depending on what you deem successful, these ads can be quite beneficial. If this is about having cultural relevance, this is about being a part of the discourse. This is about just actually signaling creative excellence to get better recruits, to get better talent, to get better creative work from your agencies. There's a lot of value to them.

I don't think that Super Bowl ads typically turn into commerce right away, but they have such a gravitas to our daily lives and our cultural behaviors that they can be very beneficial. But it is costly.

RACHELLE AKUFFO: So clearly, this is very, as you mentioned, expensive messaging that comes out during the Super Bowl. Talk about some of the biggest names that we're going to see, and really, some of the ones that are missing. We still remember, of course, when it was the year of crypto ads everywhere. How is this year going to be different?

MARCUS COLLINS: Yeah, so they did a couple of things at play. There are some things you're going to count on. There's going to be big celebrities, big names. And that's going to be a mainstay. We expect that of the Super Bowl.

There are some people that we typically look for, some brands that are normally a part of the Super Bowl like Doritos, typically a big player. Tide had a big year a few years ago with "It's a Tide ad" when they were conquesting other ads that they had partnered with within the Procter Gamble portfolio.

Like you said, last year, lots of talk about crypto. Why is that? Because crypto was kind of very much a part of the cultural discourse at the time. I think the idea is that advertising, like most ads-- but advertising during the Super Bowl, they are signals of what is culturally relevant today.

Because good advertising actually acts as cultural product, actually acts as cultural production. They're not just talking about the value proposition of the product, but they're signaling about what is normal for people like us. So expect a lot of celebrities, expect a lot of music. I would expect a lot of fun.

You're probably not going to get a lot of sappy sort of manifestos like social commentary. There's going to be lighthearted fun using big names, using jokes that we know. They're going to go over well because of what is normal. And some of those returning brands are going to be the tentpoles of what we expect during the games.

AKIKO FUJITA: Marcus, where does artificial intelligence-- the conversation around AI fit into all of this? Are we going to hear a lot of mentions of that?

MARCUS COLLINS: Oh, yeah. I think you're going to see AI probably as the butt of jokes. Not necessarily-- I don't plan to see OpenAI doing a spot. Like because I think the difference between AI and crypto is that last year, crypto was trying to become legitimate. They're trying to become normal, to become an acceptable.

AI is already being used. AI is already a part of our cultural acts as society. And the difference now is us trying to decide what it means for us, not whether or not we're going to use it. So crypto as a technology versus AI as technology have two different problems. But I think you're going to see a lot of play on AI, like is it real-- and that being the nod and the wink of the foil of some of the stories you're going to see happening during the big game.

RACHELLE AKUFFO: And Marcus, for some of these companies that already sort of preload the ads, you already see them. Why do that? What is the benefit of doing that versus having them appear like actually during the Super Bowl?

MARCUS COLLINS: Yeah, bang for your buck. Instead of betting the farm on 30 seconds, I'm going to play it early. I'm going to play it early, so I can get more and more mileage out of that investment. And the savvy ones use that as a setup for the future. So they're not baking everything on a small window of time, where though you have a captivated audience, there's so much attack on their attention that they play the spots early.

In fact, some brands actually play their spots before the Super Bowl, which is a wise play on a media investment. It's cheaper to play your ad an hour before the Super Bowl and say, this is our Super Bowl spot, and frame it as such. But these savvy ways of getting more value out of the media is a smart way to go.

RACHELLE AKUFFO: That's true. Certainly, reduce some of those costs there. Office linebacker is still my favorite Super Bowl ad. Still sticks in my memory. Appreciate you joining us this morning. Marcus Collins, Marketing Professor at the University of Michigan, and bestselling author of "For the Culture." Thank you so much.

MARCUS COLLINS: Thank you so much.