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CNN Live Sunday

Interview With Barbara Lippert

Aired February 01, 2004 - 11:14   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: It's been a long road to the Super Bowl for two NFL teams that have been battered and bruised for the past six months or so. It's about seven hours, 6:25 eastern to be exact, when the game begins, the New England Patriots and the Carolina Panthers face each other off in Super Bowl XXXVIII. CNN's Josie Burke is near Houston's Reliant stadium, site of the big game. Hello, Josie.
JOSIE BURKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Martin, things are starting to heat up a little bit here, but those two teams still have a lot of time to kill. In fact, they're still miles away from Houston, sequestered at their team hotels, going through their regular pregame routine.

They're asking the fans, though, to alter their pregame routine a little bit, and get here as early as possible. The 72,000 plus expected are going to have to navigate around fences, through concrete barriers, and then go through metal detectors before gaining admission to the grounds here at Reliant Stadium. It is all part of a huge security effort being headed up by the Houston police department with help from 25 agencies across the board at every level. Part of the security effort includes a no-fly zone for about 12 hours before the game, during the game, and after the game this evening. That means there will be no blimp hovering overhead, so none of those blimp shots that you're used to seeing at a game like this.

For those people that thought all the hype and hoopla ended with the dawning of game day, you're wrong. There's still a long time to go before getting to kickoff and that includes things like a pregame show with Aerosmith and also the national anthem. That will be performed by Beyonce Knowles. And then Martin, it's down to business for a couple hours, we can focus on football. Back to you.

SAVIDGE: That's right. Football. Josie, thanks very much.

As part of the Super Bowl experience is, well, the commercials. Advertisers paying a little above $2 million for 30 seconds to keep you glued to the set during time-outs. The NFL is happy, but is it worth it to companies that are shelling out that kind of money? Barbara Lippert is ad critic for "AdWeek" magazine, and she is in New York.

Hello. How are you?

BARBARA LIPPERT, AD CRITIC, "AD WEEK": Good, thank you.

SAVIDGE: Well, first of all, let me ask you this. Can a Super Bowl appearance make or break either a product or a company?

LIPPERT: Yes, I think you can go into the hall of shame if you remember the Christopher Reeve walking one, or the Holiday Inn where they had a transsexual. But mostly, I think, advertisers get what they pay for. It's the only time when all of these people are watching broadcast television like the 1950s with Ed Sullivan, all gathered around, it's the only holiday in America dedicated to television. So it really comes out to like 2.5 cents per person, if 90 million people watch it. And then the other thing is it really raises the bar for advertising all year, because they run the commercials a lot after this.

SAVIDGE: What about for the agencies that put these together? Is there a lot riding on it for them?

LIPPERT: Yes, obviously. There are so many polls now, it started out with the "USA Today" poll, which showed which were the most popular, and always the ones with the stupid pet tricks and dancing animals and strange things happening come out number one and two in that. But now there's a lot of interactive polls, people going online to vote for what they liked best to finish the commercial. So it's become a nation of critics watching this Super Bowl.

SAVIDGE: Well, we've got some of these commercials. We're going to roll at least a glimpse of some of them here. A little free advertising. Let's take a look.

LIPPERT: Right.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Diapers, milk and laundry detergent, $25.

HOMER SIMPSON, CARTOON CHARACTER: Oh, yeah, and that stuff he just said.

ANNOUNCER: Routine oil change, $20.

SIMPSON: Aagh! Bees!

ANNOUNCER: Haircut, $75.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: Well, Homer's obviously a hit, and I'm wondering, in historic perspective, is it humor that really wins the game?

LIPPERT: Yes, I think so. What I like about this is that it's very true to Homer's sensibility and very true to the MasterCard sensibility. And they didn't go wild; it's just simple and effective. They didn't try to get supermodels and animals and cheerleaders. It just makes sense for the brand, and it's funny and smart.

SAVIDGE: And you've seen these, I take it. You've had a peek at these?

LIPPERT: Yes.

SAVIDGE: Which ones do you think we should really look for?

LIPPERT: Well, AOL is sponsoring the halftime show and they've really done something different this year. They got this group of guys who build motorcycles on "American Chopper" for the Discovery network, the Tutell family. And when I heard about this my eyes glazed over, because I'm not interested in building choppers. But these guys are so funny. It's like the Shakespearian family where the father is always yelling at the sons. One son can do no wrong; the other son can do no right. It's like a reality show, it's very gritty looking, and it's real.

SAVIDGE: Had there been gaffes, had there been mistakes that perhaps advertisers or agencies have pulled off during this?

LIPPERT: Absolutely. I would say the worst one ever was for a company that no longer exists called "Just for Feet," and they spent a fortune flying people down to Africa to find a Kenyan runner to get him, tie him up and put shoes on his feet while he was sleeping. They lost the account. Yes, and they went out of business. The other thing is in the year 2000, all the dotcoms, three-quarters of those companies that spent their whole budget on Super Bowl were not around in existence the next year.

SAVIDGE: All right, Barbara, thank you very much. It was a pleasure talking with you. We will, like everyone else, be glued to watch the commercials as much as we watch the game. Thank you for being with us.

LIPPERT: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired February 1, 2004 - 11:14   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: It's been a long road to the Super Bowl for two NFL teams that have been battered and bruised for the past six months or so. It's about seven hours, 6:25 eastern to be exact, when the game begins, the New England Patriots and the Carolina Panthers face each other off in Super Bowl XXXVIII. CNN's Josie Burke is near Houston's Reliant stadium, site of the big game. Hello, Josie.
JOSIE BURKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Martin, things are starting to heat up a little bit here, but those two teams still have a lot of time to kill. In fact, they're still miles away from Houston, sequestered at their team hotels, going through their regular pregame routine.

They're asking the fans, though, to alter their pregame routine a little bit, and get here as early as possible. The 72,000 plus expected are going to have to navigate around fences, through concrete barriers, and then go through metal detectors before gaining admission to the grounds here at Reliant Stadium. It is all part of a huge security effort being headed up by the Houston police department with help from 25 agencies across the board at every level. Part of the security effort includes a no-fly zone for about 12 hours before the game, during the game, and after the game this evening. That means there will be no blimp hovering overhead, so none of those blimp shots that you're used to seeing at a game like this.

For those people that thought all the hype and hoopla ended with the dawning of game day, you're wrong. There's still a long time to go before getting to kickoff and that includes things like a pregame show with Aerosmith and also the national anthem. That will be performed by Beyonce Knowles. And then Martin, it's down to business for a couple hours, we can focus on football. Back to you.

SAVIDGE: That's right. Football. Josie, thanks very much.

As part of the Super Bowl experience is, well, the commercials. Advertisers paying a little above $2 million for 30 seconds to keep you glued to the set during time-outs. The NFL is happy, but is it worth it to companies that are shelling out that kind of money? Barbara Lippert is ad critic for "AdWeek" magazine, and she is in New York.

Hello. How are you?

BARBARA LIPPERT, AD CRITIC, "AD WEEK": Good, thank you.

SAVIDGE: Well, first of all, let me ask you this. Can a Super Bowl appearance make or break either a product or a company?

LIPPERT: Yes, I think you can go into the hall of shame if you remember the Christopher Reeve walking one, or the Holiday Inn where they had a transsexual. But mostly, I think, advertisers get what they pay for. It's the only time when all of these people are watching broadcast television like the 1950s with Ed Sullivan, all gathered around, it's the only holiday in America dedicated to television. So it really comes out to like 2.5 cents per person, if 90 million people watch it. And then the other thing is it really raises the bar for advertising all year, because they run the commercials a lot after this.

SAVIDGE: What about for the agencies that put these together? Is there a lot riding on it for them?

LIPPERT: Yes, obviously. There are so many polls now, it started out with the "USA Today" poll, which showed which were the most popular, and always the ones with the stupid pet tricks and dancing animals and strange things happening come out number one and two in that. But now there's a lot of interactive polls, people going online to vote for what they liked best to finish the commercial. So it's become a nation of critics watching this Super Bowl.

SAVIDGE: Well, we've got some of these commercials. We're going to roll at least a glimpse of some of them here. A little free advertising. Let's take a look.

LIPPERT: Right.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Diapers, milk and laundry detergent, $25.

HOMER SIMPSON, CARTOON CHARACTER: Oh, yeah, and that stuff he just said.

ANNOUNCER: Routine oil change, $20.

SIMPSON: Aagh! Bees!

ANNOUNCER: Haircut, $75.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: Well, Homer's obviously a hit, and I'm wondering, in historic perspective, is it humor that really wins the game?

LIPPERT: Yes, I think so. What I like about this is that it's very true to Homer's sensibility and very true to the MasterCard sensibility. And they didn't go wild; it's just simple and effective. They didn't try to get supermodels and animals and cheerleaders. It just makes sense for the brand, and it's funny and smart.

SAVIDGE: And you've seen these, I take it. You've had a peek at these?

LIPPERT: Yes.

SAVIDGE: Which ones do you think we should really look for?

LIPPERT: Well, AOL is sponsoring the halftime show and they've really done something different this year. They got this group of guys who build motorcycles on "American Chopper" for the Discovery network, the Tutell family. And when I heard about this my eyes glazed over, because I'm not interested in building choppers. But these guys are so funny. It's like the Shakespearian family where the father is always yelling at the sons. One son can do no wrong; the other son can do no right. It's like a reality show, it's very gritty looking, and it's real.

SAVIDGE: Had there been gaffes, had there been mistakes that perhaps advertisers or agencies have pulled off during this?

LIPPERT: Absolutely. I would say the worst one ever was for a company that no longer exists called "Just for Feet," and they spent a fortune flying people down to Africa to find a Kenyan runner to get him, tie him up and put shoes on his feet while he was sleeping. They lost the account. Yes, and they went out of business. The other thing is in the year 2000, all the dotcoms, three-quarters of those companies that spent their whole budget on Super Bowl were not around in existence the next year.

SAVIDGE: All right, Barbara, thank you very much. It was a pleasure talking with you. We will, like everyone else, be glued to watch the commercials as much as we watch the game. Thank you for being with us.

LIPPERT: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com