* $4 mln for a 30-second commercial deemed too expensive
* GM ranks No. 3 in U.S. ad spending
* GM also sat out Super Bowl in 2009
By Ben Klayman
DETROIT, May 18 (Reuters) – General Motors Co will
not advertise in next year’s Super Bowl because it is too
expensive, the top marketing executive for the U.S. automaker
said three days after the company announced it was dropping paid
ads on Facebook Inc.
The 2013 Super Bowl will be broadcast by CBS Corp,
which is selling 30-second ads for as much as $4 million.
Spots on NBC’s broadcast of this year’s National Football
League championship game, the most heavily watched annual event
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on U.S. television, cost about $3.5 million per 30-second spot.
NBC is majority-owned by Comcast Corp.
“We understand the reach the Super Bowl provides, but with
the significant increase in price we simply can’t justify the
expense,” GM global marketing chief Joel Ewanick said in a
statement.
GM, which ran four ads during this year’s Super Bowl
broadcast, also chose not to advertise during the Super Bowl in
2009, just ahead of its June filing for bankruptcy protection.
CBS spokesman Dana McClintock declined to comment.
When the New York Giants defeated the New England Patriots
for the Super Bowl title in February, more than 111 million
Americans tuned in, making it the most-watched TV program in
U.S. history.
The NFL championship game annually draws the biggest viewing
audience and advertisers jockey for the available TV spots,
which makes GM’s absence something CBS is not likely to miss,
analysts said.
“A couple of years ago, GM pulled out of the Super Bowl. I
don’t think that had too much impact on pricing,” said Brad
Adgate, senior vice president of research at research firm
Horizon Media. “It’s an opportunity for others. I would venture
a guess that someone would pick up the slack and see this as an
opportunity.”
The largest advertisers in Super Bowls every year include
automakers, movie studios and beer maker Anheuser-Busch InBev
.
GM, which ranks behind Procter & Gamble Co and AT&T;
Inc in advertising spending, spent $1.1 billion on U.S.
ads last year, according to ad-tracking firm Kantar Media.
Overall, GM’s spending on advertising rose 5.2 percent last year
to $4.48 billion, according to the automaker’s annual report.
From 2002 to 2011, GM ranked as the third-largest advertiser
during the Super Bowl – behind Anheuser-Busch and PepsiCo
– at $82.8 million, said Kantar Media, which is owned by
WPP Plc. It spent another $21 million during this year’s
game.
GM spokesman Pat Morrissey said the 2012 advertising budget
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will be about even with last year. But GM has been shifting its
marketing budget around, announcing on Tuesday it would stop
running paid ads on Facebook because they had little impact on
consumer behavior.
Ewanick has led a consolidation of GM’s ad agencies globally
that is expected to save the Detroit company $2 billion over
five years.
However, Edmunds.com analyst Michelle Krebs questioned GM’s
decision.
“It feels premature for GM to make such a big decision
regarding Super Bowl, especially since GM will be launching a
new line of full-size pickup trucks and full-size SUVs around
Super Bowl time,” she said. “The Super Bowl audience is ideal
for those vehicles and the timing is right.”
Next year, GM will begin selling new versions of the
Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups, which analysts say
generate profit of $12,000 to $14,000 per vehicle.
Super Bowl ads, when successful, generate attention far
beyond the game. One of GM’s four TV ads during this year’s game
depicted an apocalyptic scene in which some Silverado owners
escape death and make it to a prearranged meeting point. But a
friend who drives a Ford pickup fails to arrive.
The ad, which played off the Mayan culture’s prediction that
the world would end in 2012, rankled No. 2 automaker Ford, which
called on GM to pull the ad. GM refused.