Super Bowl Marketers Better Mind Moms

By Brandweek Staff

January 23, 2008

NEW YORK With some 100 million people expected to watch Super Bowl XLII Feb. 3 on Fox, it is small wonder that marketers are not flinching at the $2.7 million asking price for a 30-second spot.

However, one large and influential consumer group feels that most ads that will run during the Super Bowl do not speak directly to them: the moms of America.

According to a new survey, 80 percent of moms plan to watch the big game and 60 percent say they will watch just to see the commercials. But 76 percent say they don't think the ads are targeting them.

"The Super Bowl is an all-American affair, and moms around the country not only organize their families' home-viewing parties, but are the segment of the market that actually purchase most of the products advertised during the game," Teri Lucie Thompson, a board member at Marketing to Moms Coalition, Chicago, which fielded the survey, said in a statement.

Thompson, who is vp, marketing at Safeco Insurance, said that moms are responsible for the majority of purchases in this country, more than $2 trillion. "Whether it's a snack food or a car, American women dominate consumption in virtually every consumer product category," said Thompson.

When asked what they wanted to see in an ad, 76 percent answered "humor that they can relate to," 67 percent want to see ads that acknowledge their feats in multitasking every day and 62 percent want to see families interacting together as part of commercials.

According to the survey, 61 percent of moms will watch the Super Bowl and the ads with their children. But a word of caution to marketers: while 54 percent say they are OK with the content in most Super Bowl ads for their children, 44 percent of moms say the ads are not kid-appropriate.

"Even when products are geared specifically for men, marketers should keep in mind that it's often the women in their lives that are actually picking the product and buying it," said Thompson.