Super Bowl Ads Without a Super-Sized Budget

 

Did you know that small businesses can advertise profitably on the Super Bowl?  At a cost of $7 million for 30 seconds of airtime, the Super Bowl may seem out of reach and a poor investment for most of us marketers without deep pockets. But according to Statista, only the moon is bigger than the Super Bowl. The 2024 edition of the "big game" was watched by more than 123 million people, making it the second most-watched U.S. television broadcast ever, behind the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969.

In this episode, Josh Wilson, Senior Vice President of Marketing at Whitefish Credit Union, demystifies the Super Bowl advertising challenge and shares how to leverage and exploit regional advertising against national players. Josh has made financial services marketing not only effective but fun. Big news: His company won a Regional Emmy Award for their 2023 commercial series. Ever heard of Hooky Bobbin? Take a listen. Josh shares these three takeaways:

• Be authentic with your brand by using real people and real locations in your ads. Your customers and prospects will recognize and appreciate the familiar scenes, versus stock photographs.
• It's helpful to be a regional business. Broadcast can be cost-effective in a hyper-local market where media owners are willing to negotiate fees, and viewership can be as high as 50%.
• Measure incremental awareness in addition to cost/impression. And don't discount Word of Mouth as a key metric.

About our Guest:

Josh Wilson is an award-winning marketing professional with more than 10 years of experience in financial institutions and government. He is passionate about combining data-driven marketing strategies with authentic content to provide measurable success.

He currently serves as Senior Vice President of Marketing for Whitefish Credit Union, the largest credit union in Montana. Prior to that, he was Director of Advertising & Market Research for a regional financial institution based in Southern California. His positions have concentrated on crafting integrated multi-channel marketing campaigns with a focus on marketing attribution.

Wilson holds a master’s degree in Data Marketing Communications from West Virginia University and completed his undergraduate at Chapman University. Over the course of his career, he has held positions in marketing, finance, and government. His campaigns have received multiple awards, including the highest marketing honors from the Marketing Association of Credit Unions and the Credit Union National Association.

Wilson believes community engagement is essential to success. He has served on various volunteer boards, and he has also been elected to public office.

WVU Marketing Communications Today: Horizons is presented by the West Virginia University Reed College of Media, which offers renowned online master's degree programs in Marketing Communications.