This year's Super Bowl, featuring the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks, drew an audience of 114.4 million viewers, which made it the most watched broadcast in U.S. TV history, according to CNN. Besides football, food and beer, the Super Bowl is like Christmas Day for well-known brands like Doritos, Nike and Budweiser. With an average of $4 million for a 30-second commercial spot, its an advertiser's dream in terms of reach. So, what is the commercial that stuck with me the most nine months later? Nationwide Insurance.
I remember sitting down with great food and great friends, while watching our favorite NFL team dominate the Seahawks. We were all in the greatest of moods, cheering on the amazing Tom Brady, when it was time for a commercial break. Usually, I notice that people turn away from commercials. It is a time where people go to the bathroom, grab another beer or snack on some more food. However, the Super Bowl calls for an attention towards the classic commercials from Doritos and Budweiser. Not to mention, Professor Costanzo made it an assignment to study the commercials.
So, we're all in good spirits until the infamous Nationwide commercial comes on and I say the word "infamous" for a reason. Briefly, the commercial featured a deceased young boy who described his death and the cause. He told the audience how he died from something that Nationwide Insurance could prevent. This is the epitome of a fear appeal, which is a term frequently used in the marketing realm. I've seen fear appeals used for advertisements against smoking cigarettes, meth and other drugs. I have never seen a fear appeal used for Nationwide. Their first commercial that aired during the beginning of the Super Bowl used a humor appeal! So, they completely switched the game. Like I previously said, it is safe to say that the most of the 114.4 million people who watched the Super Bowl were most likely in a happy and fun environment. Once this commercial aired, the room I was in went completely silent. It had our full attention. Afterwards, we couldn't stop talking about it.
There are plenty of articles, blogs, tweets and Facebook posts shaming Nationwide for their depressing commercial, but look what it did. Look at the exposure it received from the biggest television viewing audience of the entire year. Look at me! Nine months later and I'm still talking about Nationwide Insurance. This is the perfect implementation of a fear appeal. The commercial directly influenced behavior and changed attitude. It was genius in my opinion.
Yes, it did a lot of good; It grabbed attention and created WOM all across the country. However, it wasn't necessarily positive WOM. Many people were sickened by the eerie and depressing commercial. I can see how this commercial could've damaged Nationwide's reputation, since they decided to air it on one of the most entertaining and happy broadcasts of the year.
As a result of all this, should fear appeals be limited to products, services and ideas that can handle such fear (e.g., cigarettes, drugs, etc.) or can fear appeals work for any products, like Nationwide Insurance? In my opinion, I think insurance is a strange idea to use fear appeals, but I think it worked. It got people talking about the brand. So, if the marketers can do it right, then fear appeals can be used for any product, service or idea.
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