Ms. Brown: Why the M&M’s Ad Campaign Accomplished its Goals
Abstract
Ms. Brown: Why the M&M’s Ad Campaign Accomplished its Goals
For the Super Bowl of 2012, there were many notable ads played, ranging from hilarious to borderline inappropriate. The TV audience sighed with love at the 6 year old who turned on his father’s car with only the force and a Darth Vader costume and laughed when an owners dog bribed his master not to rat about killing the family cat with a bag of Doritos (Muma, 2012). But all these fun commercials notwithstanding, there was one commercial that stood above the rest in terms of quality and popularity. Those who watched the Super Bowl will remember the M&M commercial that debuted the female character, Ms. Brown to the stage. Played to LMFAO’s “Sexy and I Know It,” Ms. Brown provided a laugh for everyone. Though it provided a laugh, the objective for any ad is to attract potential customers to the product, and questions arose as to the effectiveness of the ad. The M&M commercial was wildly effective as we will see, but the reason for its success can be linked to a conveniently placed ad targeted to a specific audience and for its incorporation of a slightly sexual message. These principles have helped lead the Ms. Brown campaign to the popularity it holds today.
The Popularity
Super Bowl ads are infamously known for their expensive price tag for small amounts of airtime. NBC reported in 2012 that every single TV spot for the Super Bowl was sold out, and that advertisers paid on average over 3.5 million dollars per spot. With over 70 spots sold, ad revenue just from 30 second TV spots netted NBC with over 245 million dollars (Smith, 2013). With such a high price tag, pressure is on advertising agencies to create a memorable ad whose popularity will extend past the Super Bowl itself. Was the Ms. Brown commercial, with a cost of 3.5 million dollars just in airtime, a successful investment? Definitely. A review by the...