In The Future, More Ads Will Be Previewed Online Says Superbowl Darth Director

  • Share
  • Read Later

Chances are, you saw Volkswagen’s Darth Vader Superbowl ad before its official debut; the spot, directed by Lance Acord, was released online days ahead of the Superbowl, and had racked up more than 10 million views on YouTube by the time it premiered on television. According to Acord, we should expect to see more of this kind of thing in the future, if only because it makes us all willing advertisers for the advertiser:

The commercial – the way it happened – in the years to come, people will try to use it as a model to get attention and buzz going. So by the time it airs, people are looking forward to seeing it because they’ve heard about it or a friend sent a link. And people wanted to see it, so they were paying attention.

Of course, maybe the high number of online views just comes down to people wanting to see the uncut commercial; the television version is 30 seconds, half as long as the original online version (The ad agency apparently tried to get a 60 second spot but was unable to, by the time the ad was completed).

It’ll be interesting to see what happens when this trend continues; advertisers and clients will love it, as it means they get twice as much bang for their buck, but what about the networks showing the Superbowl? If audiences are going elsewhere for their commercials, will overall audience size fall? Will spots become cheaper? Or will some level of exclusivity be brought into the ad sales process? The question may end up being, how important are ads to the Superbowl TV experience, anyway?

More On Techland:

Super Bowl Tech Ads: A List of Casualties Throughout the Years

TechFast: AOL Buys HuffPo, Motorola Tablet, Super Bowl Ads

Super Bowl Is Prime Time For Cybercriminal Activity