Steve Jobs inspired Best Buy to switch from celebrities to inventors for Super Bowl ad
The Richfield, Minn., company attempted to capitalize on the star appeals of popstar Justin Bieber and rocker Ozzy Osbourne with a television commercial during last year's Super Bowl. This year, however, the company will change its tack and highlight Silicon Valley innovators like Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom and cameraphone pioneer Philippe Kahn, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday.
Best Buy's marketing chief Drew Panayiotou told the publication that Jobs' legacy was the reason for the change. After Jobs passed away last October, people around the world flocked to Apple retail stores to mourn him and pay tribute to his legacy. Most recently, U.S. President Barack Obama mentioned Jobs as an example of American ingenuity during the State of the Union address last month.
Panayiotou said the tributes made him realize that technology inventors like Jobs are today's stars. The executive then decided to forgo celebrity power and switch to a feature on inventors for Best Buy's 2012 Super Bowl ad.
He admitted that the move was risky, and the company's bet is a particularly high-stakes one given how much it cost. A 30-second commercial during this year's football championship reportedly cost a record $3.5 million on average. The retailer could also find its commercial eclipsed by spots promoting Budweiser beer and M&M candy, both of which will air during the same first-quarter break.
âBig brands like to hire celebrities,â Panayiotou told Bloomberg in an interview. âWe looked at everyone from George Clooney to Stephen Colbert. We believe the inventors are more than enough. I give those 125 million viewers a lot of credit. I think theyâll appreciate the story.â
Panayiotou did admit that Kahn and Systrom don't have the same kind of popularity as Jobs had. âThey may not be at the same level as Steve Jobs, but they created some amazing stuff,â he said.
Best Buy executive vice president Mike Vitelli revealed that the commercial isn't meant to be funny. âItâs a statement that these people are inventing technology and what weâre inventing is a way to bring that technology to you and make it easy for you.â
This isn't the first time that Best Buy has drawn inspiration from Apple's image to help promote itself. Last November, the retailer ran ads highlighting its stores as places to buy Apple products. According to one analyst, Apple devices were some of the strongest-selling products for Best Buy during last year's holiday shopping season.
Best Buy is also working to make its brick-and-mortar stores more like Apple's own retail outlets, which have been held up as examples of retail done right. For instance, the company is striving to improve its customer service and de-clutter stores to resemble Apple's minimalist displays.
30 Comments
Hey, anything is better than that god awful Beiber/Ozzy ad from last year.
Best Buy is also working to make its brick-and-mortar stores more like Apple's own retail outlets, which have been held up as examples of retail done right. For instance, the company is striving to improve its customer service and de-clutter stores to resemble Apple's minimalist displays.
If Best Buy wants to improve its customer service, it needs to instigate product training in depth ... customers want to know ... The current tact is sell more Best Buy Cards, Sell GeeK Squad services, Sell high markup cables and accessories ... fill the basket. They high pressure with probing questions about all these externals, before a customer has even considered actually buying something. Savvy customers already know this and just I know from years of selling for them. They call it customer centric. I call it thinking that approach is better than listening, really listening to the customer, and having in depth product info that customers want. They are looking for smart friends, technically smart. Rare in Best Buy.
If Best Buy wants to improve its customer service, it needs to instigate product training in depth ... customers want to know ... The current tact is sell more Best Buy Cards, Sell GeeK Squad services, Sell high markup cables and accessories ... fill the basket. They high pressure with probing questions about all these externals, before a customer has even considered actually buying something. Savvy customers already know this and just I know from years of selling for them. They call it customer centric. I call it thinking that approach is better than listening, really listening to the customer, and having in depth product info that customers want. They are looking for smart friends, technically smart. Rare in Best Buy.
lol so true...I worked at Best Buy doing the Merch team when I lived in Baltimore...often when stocking pretty much ANY section I was much more knowledgeable than any of the trained people there (even most of the geek squad)
And I got no commission for my help -_-
Seriously folks the current preoccupation with celebrities in the USA is getting to the point of being gross. These people do nothing to better the country, the economy or the future of man.
So if best buy, in it's modest way, starts a movement in the populous to look away from the negativity of celebrity and to start to value the personalities that improve our world then all the better. It is a far more positive approach to presenting your retail operation than attaching yourself to the drug crazed world of Hollywood.
Seriously folks the current preoccupation with celebrities in the USA is getting to the point of being gross. These people do nothing to better the country, the economy or the future of man.
So if best buy, in it's modest way, starts a movement in the populous to look away from the negativity of celebrity and to start to value the personalities that improve our world then all the better. It is a far more positive approach to presenting your retail operation than attaching yourself to the drug crazed world of Hollywood.
Congrats on their decision. We need other companies to follow their lead. We need to foster the idea that science and technology are "cool" and worthy of pursuit. We used to honor people of science not make them the butt of geek jokes as we do now.