I'm sure that by now you have undoubtedly seen the Esurance commercial that aired right after the game and decided to tweet something out with #EsuranceSave30 for your chance to win $1.5mm (and if you haven't yet, you're welcome.)
Let's just get a few things about the commercial out of the way:
- Was he watching the game by himself though? Where's Pam? Where's their child? WHAT IS HAPPENINGGGG?
- That table of money was pretty sweet
- In 7.5 minutes you can save on car insurance by calling us***
*** But only if you press 1 on your keypad for "New Customers Willing To Pay Money". If you press 2 on your keypad for the "Any Other Reason" option, you might be re-routed across the world until you no longer want to file a claim and just give up.
But enough about the ad, lets talk about how the company (in my opinion) just threw money out the window...
They allegedly only paid $2.5mm for an ad spot that, had it ran 5 minutes beforehand would have been $4.0mm - do the math.
(carry the 1) $1.5mm - I just did the math for you.
Esurance: "We saved $1.5mm, and we're passing that along to you - aren't you excited!!!"
Me: "Yea, I'll for sure take the $1.5mm, except my issue is that it could have been MUCH more"
Let's dive into the details...
- Cost of a 30-second ad not during the superbowl is ~$350k (And I'm rounding up here - most expensive primetime CBS ad space is Big Bang Theory on Thursday nights at 8pm for $326,260)
- Nobody watched the commercials after the game ended - in fact, I'm pretty sure that most people turned off the game after the 3rd quarter
- The ad went viral quicker than gangnam style with over 1 billion impressions
What does it all mean, Basil?
Well, boys and girls, what it means is that Esurance could have saved themselves an extra $2mm+ by releasing this ad during ANY OTHER TIME (or even just an online ad) and accomplished (in my opinion) the same exact social engagement and publicity that they paid $2.5mm for.
Things they could have done with that extra $2mm+
- Given it away
- Not given it away
Either way, Fox is now $2.5mm richer, and I'm still hoping for my $1.5mm #EsuranceSave30.
