Super Bowl Teasers

I hate "teaser" spots.

Delusional advertisers think their teaser spots are going to "intrigue" consumers. Meanwhile consumers are too busy guzzling beer and scratching their ass to give a damn about the great intrigue.

If you have something important to say, say it. Why waste money telling me that you're going to say it at a later date? Why not tell me now?

It's bad enough if you're teasing a product or an event. But why tease another spot? What could be more wasteful than running a spot telling me you're going to run another spot?

It reminds me of web idiots running ads whose only purpose is to get me to go to their website. How many people who see a spot do they think are going to go to their website? One in a hundred? So why not deliver the message in the spot? Why trade dollars for pennies?

Well, anyway...

I was watching football this weekend (I am not going to say anything about the possibility of San Francisco winning both the World Series and the Super Bowl this year. I'm just not that kind of guy. Although, you gotta admit...)

One of the things that caught my eye was the amount of money Mercedes Benz wasted teasing a spot they're going to run in the Super Bowl. You can see the teaser here.

I know the Super Bowl is a different kind of thing -- 364 days a year people do everything possible to avoid advertising. One day a year they actually look forward to it. Why this insane phenomenon exists is way above my pay grade.

So I understand why advertisers want to have a hit on Super Bowl Sunday. But I have seen no evidence that teasing a Super Bowl spot increases its impact. In fact, it probably does nothing other than waste millions of dollars, create unrealistic expectations at the client organization, and produce a big collective yawn among the consuming public.

I guess it's possible that teasing a spot can increase its impact if the the teaser is really good and the ultimate spot is terrific. But if Mercedes' Super Bowl spot is anything like the teaser, I have a feeling they are in for a big disappointment.

The teaser is dark and ominous. Unfortunately, dark and ominous is not what wins Super Bowl popularity polls. What wins in the Super Bowl is silly and uplifting -- kids, and dogs, and talking animals, and slapstick, and Clint Eastwood.

Some creative director's dark vision cut to the grim strains of "Sympathy For The Devil" is not likely to endear itself to the guacamole-impaired viewing public on Super Bowl Sunday.

More about Mercedes' confusion later this week.