EA Plunks Down Cash For Super Bowl Commercial Spot

This story originally appeared on Industrygamers.com and was written by James Brightman.  We thank them for sharing it with us!

It's no secret that some people tune into the Super Bowl just to see the commercials. Numerous new and creative spots make their debuts during the annual football extravaganza, and advertisers pay a fortune just to get a piece of the action. Major corporations like Pepsi and Anheuser Busch can afford to pay for the commercials each year, but it's usually not a marketing opportunity that video game publishers take advantage of. However, a new story in Ad Age, which lists all the companies that have purchased ad spots for the Super Bowl this year, reveals that Electronic Arts has indeed purchased "at least one spot. "

The agency behind the spot will be Wieden & Kennedy, but the actual product being advertised is not yet known. Considering that Dante's Inferno ships just two days after the Super Bowl, we're going to guess that it'll be a spot to promote that upcoming action title. Of course, EA could always take the opportunity to advertise Madden some more, but we're not sure the end of the football season is the right timing to do that, even though the audience is certainly there.

It's likely that EA paid at least $2.5 million just for a 30-second spot, since pricing for this year's Super Bowl spots is estimated to come in between $2.5 million and $2.8 million. According to a recent AdWeek article, the cost of a 30-second spot during the Super Bowl has more than quadrupled since 1989. The problem for marketers is that this cost increase has easily outstripped the event's delivery gains over the last 20 years. 

We thank Industry Gamers once again!  As an extra special treat, here's an awesome spot from last year's Super Bowl.  Punching small animals is such fun...