Even Mars has gotten in on the trend, shifting its ad for
Snickers to the second quarter from the third after Fox came
a-knocking with the chance to run a commercial before the halftime
show, according to a statement from Debra A. Sandler, chief
consumer officer at Mars Chocolate North America.
"We are moving the airtime of our Snickers Super Bowl spot to
the second quarter of the game in order to capitalize on an
opportunity presented to us by Fox. We are excited for fans to
enjoy the newest iteration of the 'You're Not You When You're
Hungry' campaign, starring Richard Lewis and Roseanne Barr, during the
second quarter."
No doubt, shifts such as these may be more common than anyone
might suspect, and the Super Bowl ad-sales process has long been
known to lurch and stop as kickoff time draws closer. But the
rapid-fire jumping by advertisers is still, at the very least,
eyebrow raising.
TV networks may not mind the shifts. With so much of the ad
inventory in the game already accounted for, the network
broadcasting the event may have new leverage to ask for top dollar.
Indeed, CBS last year faced a similar situation when PepsiCo's
beverages unit opted to give up inventory in the Super Bowl that it
had reserved months in advance. CBS re-sold the time at a higher
price to other clients. Fox has been seeking between $2.8 million
and $3 million for a 30-second berth in this year's game between
the Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers.
Groupon got into the game at least a few weeks ago, according to
one person familiar with the ad-sales process, while Pizza Hut
dropped its ad berth earlier this week.
And not every advertiser discloses its presence in the Super
Bowl weeks in advance, and some forbid the TV network hosting the
game from revealing its participation. Last year, Google showed up
at the last minute in a clever commercial that managed to add some
emotion and sentiment to the very dry, algorithmic process of web
searching. No doubt, CBS likely knew of the web giant's
participation in advance -- all Super Bowl spots have to go through
a rigorous standards-and-practices check -- but the company's
participation wasn't known until just a day or so before the
initial kickoff.
Other surprises are likely to be in store this Sunday.
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Contributing: EJ Schultz and Rupal Parekh
