Ad houses suit up for big game

Minnesota's biggest contribution to the 2008 Super Bowl of advertising will come from Brian Tierney, in the form of a small red car, the streets of Paris -- and Napoleon.

Tierney and his client, Garmin International, are betting that as much as $3 million for 30 seconds of broadcast time is worthy of grabbing a leadership position in the world of GPS technology.

"For 30 seconds, that's a lot of eyeballs watching," Tierney said. "And people talk about these ads for days afterward."

Much of the Super Bowl activity elsewhere in the Minneapolis advertising community is more muted, limited to less pricey, regionally driven ads, but creative nonetheless.

ClearWay Minnesota, for example, will kick off a quit-smoking campaign with an ad created by Clarity Coverdale Fury. The 60-second spot is called "Down the Aisle," and shows a father and his about-to-be-wed daughter until the camera pans back to show it is only a TV show being watched by another father, hospitalized and wearing a breathing apparatus as his daughter sits at his bedside.

Minneapolis agency Olson is running ads for Cincinnati-based Fifth Third Bank in markets in Ohio, Michigan and Florida.

Periscope has developed a Super Bowl ad for the Minnesota Twins to kick off their 2008 advertising blitz and build interest in the team and create buzz about the new ballpark that's set to open in 2010.

Over the years, Super Bowl advertising has become as big as the game itself. There have been some dogs and some memorable spots -- Minneapolis-based Fallon's "Cat Herders" in 2000 for EDS falls into the latter category.

Much of the advertising is dominated by beverages (e.g. Anheuser-Busch), snack foods, cars and, more recently, dot-com companies that have new products.

"You have the largest single viewership in television," Fallon's Rosemary Abendroth said. "If you can balance that against the cost to be there, it's a great place to be."

The Twins moved up the start of their normal advertising season from early March to Sunday to stimulate fan interest and, maybe, ticket sales. The ad, called "Sandlot," features players Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau and Michael Cuddyer playing ball at the site of the new stadium.

"The idea is to get people excited about the new ballpark, and tying players in with the ballpark seemed perfect," said Charlie Callahan, Periscope's executive creative director.

The cost of a 30-second regional spot runs in the neighborhood of $30,000. But the cost nationally, $2.7 million to $3 million, can be prohibitive to many advertisers.

"That might shoot a good deal of the [advertising] budget for our clients," said Mike Lescarbeau, president of Carmichael Lynch. "That's putting a lot of eggs into one basket."

Placement of the advertisement is critical too, which is why big advertisers such as Budweiser will front-load their ads.

"If the game's a blowout and your ad is in the third or fourth quarter, you're dead," said Tom Moudry, chief executive of Martin/Williams Advertising.

Even activities outside the football event this year affect the advertising interest. The prolonged writers' strike, for example, has reduced the number of new television programs, where advertisers typically would be spending their advertising budgets.

David Phelps • 612-673-7269