1/22/2001
EAST LANSING, Mich. - Michigan State University's advertising faculty will meet to rate the best and worst television commercials broadcast during Super Bowl XXXV on Sunday, Jan. 28, 2001.
Using a 10-point scale, each professor will rate the ads for creativity, strategy, execution and production values. The professors will judge each ad in real time as the spots are viewed.
Traditional advertisers will dominate the commercial time this year instead of upstart dot-coms. Only three of the 17 dot-coms that advertised in last year's Super Bowl are back this year: Monster.com, HotJobs.com and E-Trade.
High-profile first-timers such as Volkswagen and Levi's are joining the likes of Anheuser-Busch, Pepsi and Visa. The going rate to get into the game: a record $2.3 million per 30-second ad slot. The game is the most-watched TV event of the year, with 130 million U.S. viewers and 800 million worldwide.
Some 8 percent of the U.S. television audience - almost 11 million viewers - concede that they actually tune in just to watch the commercials, according to a study by Eisner Communications, a Baltimore-based firm that conducts Super Bowl research.
The winner of last year's MSU Super Bowl commercial competition was Mountain Dew's "Bohemian Rhapsody" ad. Mountain Dew's ad was rated the highest out of approximately 60 commercials that aired during Super Bowl XXXIV. An ad by the National Heart Savers Association was rated the worst Super Bowl ad last year.
MSU's Super Bowl TV ad ratings results will be available and distributed immediately following the game.
The MSU Department of Advertising has been rated consistently as one of the top advertising programs in the country.