MD-based Eisner Communications reports that 8% of the
estimated 130 million Super Bowl viewers in the U.S. will
watch the game just for the ads (Mult., 1/2000). Newsweek's
Adam Bryant said that during the Super Bowl, "Advertisers
have kind of trained us, the viewers, to sit around and be
prepared. They're going to bring out their best stuff.
Agencies and companies work more than half the year
preparing for this day" ("MSNBC News," MSNBC, 1/27).
LAST MINUTE SHOPPING: USA TODAY's Farrell & McCarthy
write that with less than two days before Sunday's game,
ABC's sales force "is still selling ad time," as the U.S.
Census Bureau "picked up a bargain slot this week." But ABC
Sports VP/Sports Media Relations Mark Mandel "insists that,
for the record, the game's ad time is sold out." Farrell &
McCarthy add the "last-minute scramble is a surprise, given
the rush of dot-com advertisers that clamored to buy into
the game during the hot advertising market last fall" (USA
TODAY, 1/28). The AP's Genaro Armas reports that the Census
Bureau "scooped up the space for the bargain-basement price"
of $1.4M "after another advertiser dropped out and forfeited
a similar amount it had deposited as a down payment." The
Census Bureau's spot marks the "first time the federal
government has paid" for a Super Bowl ad (AP, 1/28).
INDIVIDUAL EFFORTS: The WALL STREET JOURNAL's Tom King
reports that Disney's Buena Vista Pictures will promote the
sci-fi film "Mission to Mars" with its spot, while
DreamWorks will promote its new action film with Russell
Crowe, "Gladiator." 20th Century Fox will run an ad for the
animated "Titan A.E.," and Universal Pictures' two spots
will tout "The Nutty Professor II: The Klumps" and the WOW
movie, "U571" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 1/28)....In Hartford,
Andrea Conte wonders how John Nuveen & Co.'s ad showing
paralyzed actor Christopher Reeve rising from his wheelchair
and walking "will play with the public. Will they applaud
the sentiment, or find it creepy, even cruel?" Ad exec
Chris Knopf: "It could go both ways" (HARTFORD COURANT,
1/28). ...www.superbowl-ads.com will chronicle news of Super
Bowl advertisers and "will allow viewers to vote on their
new favorite Super Bowl ad" (Bergen RECORD, 1/28).
