I think we all know what is coming up this weekend, and I’m sure you are just as excited as I am. The Super Bowl is on, and by this of course, I mean the commercials! To me, there is nothing like the advertisements that run during the big game, aiming for memory recall by providing completely out-of-the-box entertainment.

It’s not surprising that companies put extra effort into these commercials given the fact that the time slot is extremely expensive. In 1979 a 30-second ad cost $72,000; today, a 30-second spot costs over $5,000,000.

The question: is it worth spending that much money on just one advertisement? Yes. The reason for this is not only because companies can reach over 1,000,000, viewers, but also there is an opportunity to promote brand awareness and increase excitement.

One excellent way of promoting a brand is involving the public before the big reveal. Many companies are doing this by releasing teaser commercials: It gives people something to talk about, and when people are previously interested about a specific topic they are more willing to not only look for that specific ad, but to remember it after it’s aired.

In addition to releasing teasers, another great way to increase excitement about a company is to involve the public. Doritos is a company that always practices this; they allow the public to play a role in selecting the next Super Bowl commercial. Voters will specifically pay attention to the Doritos commercials to find out if their vote won. Chevrolet has also run a campaign in which commercials were submitted and viewers voted on a winner. Using the public is a great way to support a campaign, since the public is in fact the viewer and there is nothing like word-of-mouth to help promote knowledge and stimulate excitement.

So what do you think, are Super Bowl commercials worth it?