The critic for Ad Age has covered Super Bowl advertising for 24 years, and in a recent interview huffed over the Rolling Stones’ participation in the big game as halftime entertainment.
So let’s ask the question again. Bob Garfield? Does Jim Davis’ cat have a first name?
Whoever he is (he’s the weekly Ad Critic columnist in Advertising Age), he’s not real pleased that the Rolling Stones have signed on to be part of the majesty and spectacle of Super Bowl XL. You might call his comments snarky:
“It was a surprising choice but [the Rolling Stones] obviously have appeal to all demographics because they’ve been around since the early Jurassic period.
“For them as a band, this is the last surrender to commercialism,” he said. “Next stop is Hollywood Squares. Any pretensions they have to art are gone and now they are just the ultimate commercialized pop act.”
Pretensions to art? The Rolling Stones? This is the band that would glare its screaming fans into crying submission in the streets. It’s more likely fans will be trading copies of Beggars Banquet or Let It Bleed in 20 years than issues of Ad Age.
That seems to be Garfield’s point, though. The ABKCO days were a long time ago, maybe not Jurassic as he states, but close to 40 years distant now.
if the very prosperous National Football League feels the best way to advertise its message is with a band that can be called “venerable” with a straight face, why shouldn’t it do so? Marketers should use whatever advantage they have available to punch their message through a crowded media world.
We’ve touched on brand recognition regarding the world’s foremost search advertising company here and here and here too. In Internet time, the Google homepage may be Jurassic too.
But it serves its purpose: brand reinforcement. The NFL went away from the golden path two years ago, and the repercussions of that halftime choice are still being felt, mostly through Howard Stern’s departure from the terrestrial airwaves.
Sometimes a shakeup is needed for a brand, no matter what its reach may be. But for many brands with good, hard-won recognition, change should be viewed very carefully. If at all. Ok Bob?
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David Utter is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business.
