1 Consumption Behaviors and Sources of Influence Associated with the Super Bowl
MBA 626
Adam M. Iwaszuk
Saint Martin’s University
2 Consumption Behaviors and Sources of Influence Associated with the Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is an extremely popular event as it is the most watched American
television program in the history of the United States, and is the second most watched event
around the world. It is an incredible annual event that dramatically influences the behavior of
consumers and marketing efforts made by corporations around the world to capture the
consumer’s attention and influence their behavior. The Super Bowl is the last National Football
League (NFL) game of the season played as the championship game for the title of World
Champions and prize of the Lombardi Trophy. This championship game is established after a 16
game regular season of 32 teams in the NFL, and a single elimination playoff tournament
amongst the top six teams from both the National Football Conference (NFC) and the American
Football Conference (AFC) that comprise of the NFL. The top remaining team of each
conference then travels to a previously selected city in the United States as the host city of the
Super Bowl, and the rest of the nation watches and celebrates on what is commonly thought to be
a National Holiday (though it is not) referred to as Super Bowl Sunday.
The attention the Super Bowl draws is like no other event in the United States as well as
for the rest of the world. According to the Nielson Company, Super Bowl XLVII (2013) drew
108.7 million people to their television as the third most watched telecast in U.S. television
history, and Super Bowl XLVI (2012) drew 111.3 million viewers as the most watched telecast
in the history of U.S. television. Of the top ten most watched telecasts in the history of the
United States television, nine of those programs were the Super Bowl. The only other televised
program to make it into the top ten of the most watched telecast in U.S. television history was the
final episode of the popular show that aired for 11 seasons from 1970 to 1983 called M.A.S.H.
3 Not only does the Super Bowl draw an unbelievable number of viewers, it draws a tremendous
amount of business from all consumers of football and entertainment.
The Super Bowl is not just a football game against the top two NFL teams of the year,
but it’s also the top entertainment event of the year for everyone interested in football, television
commercials, halftime shows, and or socializing with friends and family. Most viewers will
watch the telecast for the game, but a growing population will watch the telecast just for the
commercials aired and the entertainment show provided at halftime. According to
cbspressexpress.com, Super Bowl XLVII (2013) was viewed in 53 million homes by 113 million
people with a 46.4 U.S. household rating. To understand the impressive magnitude of attention
drawn to that telecast, only 38 million people watched the President of the United States give his
most recent State of the Union Address. That’s nearly three times as many viewers to observe an
entertainment event compared to an important speech provided by arguably the most important
leader of the
world.
According to a
2012 survey
conducted by
the Consumer
Intentions and
Actions, the
vast majority of viewers watched the telecast because of the game, but nearly 25% of those who
claimed to be categorized as either of Generation X, Generation Y, or of the Baby Boomer
Generation said the most important part of the Super Bowl telecast to them was the commercials.
4 Due to the growing popularity of the Super Bowl the past 47 years, and Super Bowl
XLVIII (2014) quickly arriving in February 2014, the value of commercial air time continues to
be in high demand with an increasing price. The average cost to marketers and corporations for
a 30 second commercial advertisement to be played during Super Bowl XLVIII (2014) is
approximately $4 million. This is a slight increase from Super Bowl XLVII (2013), according to
Forbes magazine, when the average cost was between $3.7 and $3.8 million, but a significant
increase in just a few years when compared to Super Bowl XLIV (2010) when the cost was
approximately $2.65 million. The $2.65 million price in 2010 was a decrease from the prior year
cost of $3 million per 30 seconds of airtime due to economic troubles generated from the
recession in 2008 and 2009. These prices are an incredible increase from the demand that began
in 1967 with Super Bowl I when the price for a 30 second commercial was $37,500. However,
even with prices at today’s rate of $4 million per 30 seconds, the commercial airtime for a Super
Bowl is still in high demand with marketers reserving their February 2nd, 2014 commercial time
as early as May 2013. Marketers know that this once a year event draws more potential
consumer attention than any other marketing opportunity in the world, so they don’t hesitate to
begin planning, preparing, and paying dearly for the big event. In 2011, Chrysler spent $12
million for a 2 minute commercial spot to introduce the new Chrysler 200 sedan while also
featuring Detroit rapper Eminem in effort to get people to buy American made Chrysler products
manufactured in Detroit and to revitalize the U.S. economy. That commercial caught America’s
attention and was rated the #1 most liked commercial by those who viewed the Super Bowl
telecast. According to a Chrysler press release on August 2nd 2011, Chrysler also benefited with
a 20% increase in sales by July 2011 from the previous year, and the newly introduced Chrysler
200 sedan produced an increase of sales by 111% compared to its predecessor a year prior.
5 Volkswagen also jumped on the
Super Bowl commercial frenzy with
their “The Force” commercial that
showcased a child dressed up as
Darth Vader who unsuccessfully
attempted to use “his force” on items
throughout the house, but was then
successful when applied to the
Volkswagen Passat parked in the
driveway. This commercial was
voted the second most popular Super
Bowl commercial of 2011, and was
shared on social media over
5,570,000 times. Volkswagen later
reported an increase in Passat sales of
116% in 2011. These Super Bowl
commercial slots are very expensive
at nearly $4 million per 30 seconds,
but the companies that invest in them find it very valuable and worth every expense as they reach
out to over 100 million potential customers at one time in effort to influence the consumer.
Viewers of the Super Bowl are greatly influenced by the event and the marketing
accompanied with it each year, and become valuable consumers of several industries such as
food, beverage, technology, travel, gambling, social media, and entertainment. With over 100
6 million viewers of the Super Bowl each year, food and beverage becomes a vital staple to those
embracing the several hour telecast of entertainment. In fact, according to the United States
Department of Agriculture (USDA), Super Bowl Sunday is the second highest day of food
consumption in the United States with Thanksgiving being the highest. There are several
astonishing statistics that have been captured by numerous organizations that track the
consumer’s behavior during the Super Bowl. One of the more interesting statistics is that
approximately 74% of those watching the Super Bowl plan to purchase wings, pizza, chips, and
soda, and 32% of viewers stated they plan to eat some sort of snack in addition to meal items.
Marketers understand this consumer behavior and how it’s influenced by the Super Bowl, so as a
result there’s a surge of marketing for these products several weeks before the big game, as well
as an epic explosion of marketing of such products during the iconic entertainment event of the
year. During the Super Bowl, it is estimated that 1.23 billion of chicken wings will be
consumed, which equates to approximately 100 million pounds of chicken wings. Restaurants
that offer takeout encounter a large demand for their products as 48 million Americans will order
take out delivery. The pizza food industry also surges during the Super Bowl extravaganza as
pizza restaurants encounter increased demand for their product with the major pizza chains
selling more than double what they sell on any other regular day of business. Domino’s Pizza
restaurant reports they project to deliver 11 million pieces of pizza during the course of the
televised event. The potato chip and tortilla chip industry is absolutely ridiculous on Super Bowl
Sunday, as 11.2 million pounds of chips will be consumed during the game. That equates to 27
billion calories and 1.8 billion grams of fat, which is approximately 4 million pounds of fat.
According to the Calorie Control Council & Snack Food Association, Super Bowl viewers will
consume 8.2 million pounds of tortilla chips, and if chips weren’t enough, approximately 8
7 million pounds of avocado will be mashed up for guacamole dip to go along with the chips. To
provide a visualization of what 8 million pounds of guacamole dip looks like, that’s an entire
football field covered in 11.5 feet deep of guacamole. No wonder Doritos has multiple 30
second advertisements throughout the telecast of the Super Bowl, as they’ve completely
influenced the consumer to buy and consume their product and merry it with some dip albeit
salsa or 8 million pounds of guacamole. The consumer also loves their favorite soda during the
Super Bowl, and is more likely to consume more soda on this day than any other day of the year.
For sales of soda at just the venue location of the Super Bowl, management at Cowboys Stadium
in Arlington, Texas, the host city of Super Bowl XLV (2011) reported that 15,625 gallons of
soda were consumed during the game at the stadium. Alcohol consumption for the Super Bowl
is another astonishing statistic, as the Nielson Company reports that 51.7 million cases of beer
will be sold for Super Bowl Sunday, and approximately 325.5 million gallons of beer will be
consumed by Americans during the game. Many Super Bowl consumers also like to have
pretzels and popcorn snacks during the game, as 4.3 million pounds of pretzels will be consumed
by fans at either bars or at their home, and 3.8 million pounds of popcorn will be consumed. The
Calorie Control Council and Snack Food Association declares the “average armchair quarterback
will consume 1,200 calories and 50 grams of fat from snacking and that doesn’t even count any
meals” (Godinez & Samples, 2013) during the Super Bowl. Several sources state the average
fan will consume over 2,800 calories of food on Super Bowl Sunday, compared to the daily
recommended diet of 2,000 calories per day. Predominantly more common in the southern states
of the United States, but the Hearth, Patio, and Barbecue Association reports that 62% of owners
of barbecue grills will fire up the grill on Super Bowl Sunday.
8 Attending a Super Bowl party is another behavior the consumer is commonly influenced
to participate in while watching the Super
Bowl. Numerous sources state that the
average attendance of a Super Bowl party is
17 people, and Times News reports the
“consumer will spend close to $70 on snacks
and refreshments for a Super Bowl party,
including potato chips” (Times News).
Some hosts of Super Bowl parties will go to the extreme in preparing for the big event by
providing a smorgasbord of snacks to please their visitors and be the talk of the town at least
until the next year’s party when it’s hosted by someone else that one-up’s them on their host of
food and snacks options. So what happens to all these fans after they’ve participated in the
nearly all day affair of eating and snacking on chicken wings, chips, guacamole dip, and dessert
dishes? Upset stomachs would be a logical guess. Perhaps that’s why the convenience store
Seven Eleven reports they anticipate an increase of over 20% in antacid sales the day after the
Super Bowl. An unfortunate result for employers after all the Super Bowl Party activities is that
nearly 7,000,000 employees across the United States will miss work the Monday following the
Super Bowl.
Not only will consumers spend lavishly on snacks and food for the Super Bowl party that
they’re attending, but many consumers will purchase new furniture in preparation of the big
game. Barbara Farfan of “About.com” provides numerous annual statistics about the consumer’s
behavior in preparation for Super Bowl Sunday, and posts on her site that in 2013, 7.5 million
consumers planned to purchase a new television for the Super Bowl, and that consumers would
9 spend $3.9 million on new furniture items to include entertainment centers, chairs, and couches.
In 2013, Best Buy marketed Black Friday-like “door-buster” sales for the first time in January
with prices slashed as much as 40% on flat screen televisions. Many consumers who didn’t
acquire a new flat screen for Christmas decided to jump on the great “Super Bowl Sale” price to
enjoy the big game on the big screen. Furniture stores will do the same, as numerous furniture
stores throughout the United States will offer “Super Bowl Sales” in January and February to
further influence the consumer to purchase their product and increase sales. Doug Collier, Chief
Marketing Officer (CMO) of La-Z-Boy Inc., states “January and February are among the
strongest months for sales of recliners and sofas with reclining sections.” (Wilen, 2008). The
furniture stores will offer “guarantee delivery on Saturday” to further entice the consumer to
make the purchase and know that they will enjoy their new furniture for the game. The Super
Bowl can be an incredibly powerful influential event to the consumer, and again is well beyond
just a football game, as it’s a marketer’s dream as the consumer salivates over the products they
can have to further enjoy the game.
Another industry that absolutely thrives as a result of the Super Bowl is gambling. Fans
of the Super Bowl love to place bets on the game, and many of those who bet aren’t even serious
fans of the teams playing in the Super Bowl or even fans of any football team. Casino’s offer so
many different types of wagers beyond just who wins and what the margin of victory will be, as
this greatly influences the consumer to take a
chance on a wager without really needing to know
anything about the game. For instance, a consumer
can gamble on the coin toss conducted prior to the
game by betting on heads or tails. As far as the consumer figures, they’ve got a 50% percent
10 chance of winning, so they like the odds and partake in the fun of placing a bet since so many
others are doing the same. There are a countless number of other outrageous bets the consumer
can gamble on for the Super Bowl such as 1) What color of Gatorade will be dumped on the
winning team’s coach after the game, 2) How long will the person singing the National Anthem
take (greater or less than two minutes), 3) Will any player on the active roster for either team be
arrested before the Super Bowl. These types of wagers influence those who may not know much
about the two teams but are interested in gambling because it’s the Super Bowl, and it only
happens once a year, so they choose to partake in the festivities. This influence results to over
$95 million being gambled on the Super Bowl in the United States. Studies have shown that as
many as 1/3 of U.S. adults are likely to bet on the Super Bowl, and this is most common with
men. However, the odds of winning against the casino’s is not favorable for the consumer, as
92% of those surveyed at casino’s that placed a wager on the Super Bowl said they lost money
gambling on the game.
Not only has gambling on the Super Bowl at the casinos became so popular, it has even
crossed lines into the retail industry to influence consumers and promote sales. This interesting
approach occurred in 2013 for Super Bowl XLVII with the matchup of the San Francisco 49ers’
versus the Baltimore Ravens, when a furniture store called “Gardiners Furniture” located in the
Baltimore, MD area advertised to potential consumers that all merchandise purchased in the days
leading up to the Super Bowl would be free if the Ravens scored a touchdown on a kickoff return
to begin the game or second half. The furniture store offered this gamble to consumers if items
were purchased between January 31st and 3pm on game day. The furniture store new the odds
were definitely in their favor since only eight kicks had been returned for a touchdown in the
history of the previous 46 Super Bowls. However, Jacoby Jones of the Baltimore Ravens opened
11 the second half by returning a kick 108 yards for a touchdown, and the Gardiners Furniture store
had to pay up. The Baltimore Sun reported that consumers purchased $600,000 worth of
furniture during the stores stipulated time, and now it was all gratis. According to Fox Business,
“445 consumers took advantage of the offer, to include Diana Do, a mother of three, who scored
$4,000 worth of kid’s furniture.” Gary Mullaney, co-owner of Gardiner Furniture, had
previously purchased an insurance policy for which the company paid $12,000 in case the
unlikely event of a kick-off return for touchdown occurred. After the game, Mullaney told Fox
“it was worth every penny for the publicity and the winning feeling it gave his customers.” The
Super Bowl can also influence the consumer to alter their behavior with the enticement to attend
the game at the city the event is hosted at. If the consumer is influenced to do such, they will
soon find themselves encountering a travel expense of a train, car, or plane ticket, purchase game
tickets, and most likely need hotel reservations. Tickets for Super Bowl XLVIII (2014) at face
value vary from $600 to $1,200 each. Most consumers pay an inflated price of the face value on
the open market for tickets because very few people have access to the tickets issued or sold
directly from the NFL. The open market for Super Bowl tickets is a whole new dimension to
how much a consumer is willing to alter their behavior in order to purchase tickets. It has been
reported that some consumers will pay as much as $6,500 per ticket to attend the event because
they know it could be a “once in a lifetime experience” to see their team at the Super Bowl.
After having paid for the travel expenses, game tickets, hotel accommodations, the consumer
will most likely purchase memorabilia from the game, as well as eat on the local economy, and
then consume some food and beverages at the game. According to a 32 page financial report
titled “The Economic Impact of Super Bowl XLVI” conducted by Rockport Analytics for the
2012 Super Bowl hosted in the Indianapolis Metropolitan Area, total gross expenditures was
12 $384.1 million. Of the $384.1 million, $342 million was generated from outside the Indianapolis
metro area, and $264 million was directly from those who attended the game; this was all new
money
brought
into the
city from
outside the
region.
The hotels
in the area
were at 93% occupancy, and the downtown hotels were at 99% occupancy while charging $290 a
night for the four days prior to the game and the evening of the game. The same hotels charged
on average $100 a night for the same time period the year prior. As you can clearly see, the host
city of the Super Bowl benefits financially from the event, as a tremendous amount of tax
revenue is generated from such expenditures. The Rockport Analytics report states that $151.7
million directly impacted the gross domestic product of the city, and that Indianapolis Super
Bowl resulted in $88.6 million of tax revenue generated from local, state, and federal tax. It is
estimated that more than 116,000 people came to Indianapolis because of the game, and that the
average consumer spent $571 per person per day. The average consumer living in their normal
living conditions, environment, and spending habits would not spend $571 per day. However,
the power of the Super Bowl attraction greatly influences the consumer to alter their behavior
and become the perfect target for all marketers involved with the grand event.
13 The Super Bowl is the marketer’s highlight event of the year in America, and they make
sure to do everything they possibly can to exploit all opportunities to influence the consumer to
purchase their product. The consumer loves to watch the Super Bowl and participate in all the
surrounding festivities associated with the once a year event, and the marketer’s know this and
put a lot of effort and time into getting their product in front of the consumer in both the week’s
leading up to the event as well as the day of the game. The consumer’s behavior for the Super
Bowl is like no other day of the year in America, as they will spend more money in preparation
for the game as well as during the game that the marketer is set up for complete success. The
Super Bowl is such an incredibly influential event for both the consumer and the marketer, that
the marketer will spend as much as $4M per 30 seconds of commercial time for their product to
be advertised during the Super Bowl telecast. As much as that costs, and as ridiculous of an
expense that it is, the marketer knows they will get a huge return on investment through their
commercial since more than 100 million people will be viewing their commercial at the same
time, and the consumer is so easy to influence and alter their behavior with the spirit of the Super
Bowl surrounding them. The Super Bowl is an iconic sporting event identified as the most
viewed telecast in America every year, and has an impressive record of completely influencing
and altering the behavior of millions of consumers and marketers throughout the world.
14 References
Castle, K. (2012). Super Bowl Sunday Ranks Second Only to Thanksgiving for Eating in US.
Retrieved Nov 30, 2013, from http://www.timesnews.net/article/9041863/super-bowlsunday-ranks-second-only-to-thanksgiving-for-eating-in-us
Farfan, B. (2013). 2013 Super Bowl Retail Scores and Predictions - Shopping, Spending,
Commercials. Retrieved Dec 3, 2013, from http://retailindustry.about.com/od/
statisticsresearch/a/superbowlsurvey.htm
Wilen, J. (2008). Some Spend Big on TVs, Furniture for Super Bowl. Retrieved Dec 1, 2013
from http://m.spokesman.com/stories/2008/jan/31/some-spend-big-on-tvs-furniture-for
super-bowl/
Kisiel, R. (2011). Chrysler Group LLC Reports July 2011 U.S. Sales Increased 20 Percent; Best
July Sales Since 2007. Retrieved from http://media.chrysler.com/newsrelease
The web site 1-800 Sports provides miscellaneous information about all sports
(http://www.1800-sports.com/different-superbowl-bets.shtml)
Rohrs, A. (2013). Super Bowl XLVII Live Stream Sets Viewership Records. Retrieved Dec 2,
2013 from http://www.cbspressexpress.com/cbs-interactive/releases/view?id=34506
Madden, L. (2013). Remember When a Super Bowl Ad Cost $37,500? Retrieved Dec 2, 2013
from http://www.forbes.com/sites/lancemadden/2013/01/29/remember-when-a-superbowl-ad-cost-37500/
Naquin, R. (2012). USDA: Super Bowl Sunday is America's Second Largest Consumption Day.
Retrieved Dec 1, 2013 from http://www.carolinalive.com/news/story.aspx?id=713608
15 References (cont)
Davidson, A. (2013). Why We Really Watch the Super Bowl (Blog Post). Retrieved from
http://www.wearehathway.com/blog/born-digital/why-we-really-watch-the-super-bowl
Godinez, L, & Samples, S. (2013, January 31). Calorie Control Council. Retrieved from
http://www.caloriecontrol.org/pressrelease/score-big-with-low-calorie-super-bowlrecipes-sideline-unhealthy-snacks-on-game-day
16 Lombardi Trophy