Super Bowl Ad Review scores media touchdown

The annual experiential learning event generated more than 1 billion 'media impressions'

More than 40 Kellogg marketing students gathered Feb. 7 for the sixth annual Kellogg School Super Bowl Advertising Review. Led by Clinical Professor of Marketing Tim Calkins and Associate Professor of Marketing Derek Rucker, the panel reviewed and ranked each national Super Bowl ad during this popular experiential learning opportunity.

The panel rated Google's "How to Impress a French Woman" ad the best among the roughly 60 Super Bowl spots. Other top-rated advertisers included Denny's, Audi, Volkswagen, and Dodge.

Unlike popularity-based reviews, the Kellogg review uses a strategic academic framework known as ADPLAN. The framework, developed by Kellogg faculty, grades ads based on Attention, Distinction, Positioning, Linkage, Amplification and Net equity.

"The overarching goal for Super Bowl advertisers is a successful ad that resonates with their target audience," Rucker said. "Based on our framework, Google really embraced the key elements of a winning Super Bowl commercial."

A perennial media favorite, the Review is estimated this year to have generated more than one billion media impressions (the number of people who may have encountered the story in the media) and 1,600 stories in news outlets around the world, from the New York Times and Wall Street Journal to the Financial Times and ESPN.

"The significant media coverage is testament to the Kellogg brand and the public's ongoing interest in what our faculty and students have to say," said Megan Washburn, Kellogg's director of media relations.