For the second straight year, the game actually outplayed the commercials. (Granted, as a Browns fan, having to watch the Steelers win another Super Bowl made me a bit queasy, but I can appreciate a good contest.) In a rough economy with sponsors bailing out and others playing it safe, maybe that was to be expected. For the most part, it was a down year for ads.
The good news for most readers is that our industry continues to be represented in the biggest attraction of eyeballs in the U.S. No doubt job search traffic is increasing across the Web and Google searches are up as a result, benefiting many who didn’t spend a dollar.
But how did Monster and CareerBuilder score in the eyes of experts and the ever-important recruiting community? First, in case you missed them:
CareerBuilder
Monster I
Monster II
On CNBC’s Morning Joe, ad guru Donnie Deutsch said the job board ads were “cute,” but missed a valuable opportunity to address the current state of the economy to express a message of caring and support. I tend to agree. He failed to mention which job board came out on top, but expressed great pleasure with Pepsi’s generational ad, featuring music legend Bob Dylan.
Marketing expert Laura Reis was more decisive, saying “Monster was better by far. The leader usually benefits anyway because the ads promote the category and the leader then benefits more. CareerBuilder has a weak, generic name and no clear position against Monster. I thought the Monster ad was a riot too!”
In the all-telling USAToday morning after breakdown, CareerBuilder fared better, scoring 13th on the ad meter and a 4/5 star user rating. Monster was less successful, coming in at 21st place, but with a 4/5 user rating as well. Both scored better than Cash4Gold, featuring MC Hammer, which, frankly, is a crime against humanity and early ’90s hip-hop, but whatever.
Additionally telling were comments from the Twitterverse. Recruiter Amybeth Hale said, “HORRIBLE commercial CareerBuilder. SORRY….too much repetition, and punching a koala? Fail.” Marketer Jeff Rohrs was more forgiving, saying “AWESOME CareerBuilder.com ad. Great variation on ‘There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly.’ Kudos!” If you have some extra time on your hands, go checkout twitter.com/superbowlad or CNET for more overall commentary.
So what does it all mean?
In the immediate future, quite a bit. Newscast to newscast is buzzing about the ads, so the PR impact is formidable, particularly considering no job board bombed with their ads. And no doubt traffic is spiking today along with sales.
Long term, however, it’s more likely that nothing will change. As discussed numerous times here, the market forces that are putting CareerBuilder and Monster in a headlock aren’t going away, no matter how much money is thrown around.
For now though, we can all have a good time as armchair QBs.
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February 2nd, 2009 at 5:16 pm
I fully agree with what Donnie Deutsch had to say on CNBC this morning. Both CB and Monster should have gone with the opportunity to address the current state of unemployment instead of going ‘cute’. Okay, so it’s the superbowl and people need to get away from the doom and gloom of the economy – I get that. But I don’t think cute is going to drive any more traffic to either site. Nobody in my office stood around the water cooler laughing about their ads. Thank goodness the game was more entertaining than the ads… even if your favorite team didn’t win.
February 2nd, 2009 at 7:19 pm
The CareerBuilder ad sucked – repetitive commercial in and of itself, and repeating a theme they’ve already beaten to death.
Apparently, all of the job boards (including The Ladders) are being big-time ostriches – sticking their head in the sand and failing to address in any significant, meaningful way what’s happening with the job market right now.
February 3rd, 2009 at 2:39 pm
Sorry Joel… the Browns have not been a worthy opponent for the Steelers for many, many years (and probably won’t be for many more years).
Admit it, you’re just jealous of all that hardware the Steelers have. Hey, did you hear they are thinking of renaming Pittsburgh, “Six-burgh?
Go Steelers!
February 3rd, 2009 at 5:27 pm
We are all calling each other “dumby.” I believe the CB ad did better with people under 30…over 30 the Monster ad won. Which is where CB is positioning themselves. Monster wasn’t very funny to me…kind of obvious.
February 3rd, 2009 at 5:45 pm
I belive he means “Fix-Burgh”
February 3rd, 2009 at 6:15 pm
Humor to sell the job boards may work for both active and passive candidates but at the same time, both boards appeared to ignore the current economic situation.
Maybe instead of buying Super Bowl spots, Monster could use the money to bolster their security on the website? New looks, new features and they still get hacked?
CareerBuilder had a chance to boast it’s connections, features, who it reaches out to and how it makes it easier for candidates to job hunt. Instead they settled for targeting the disgruntled worker. How many of those watching the Super Bowl were in the position of wishing they had a job to hate? At least it would be a pay check.
Right now passive job seekers are even harder to approach because they are probably clinging to the jobs they have right now, knowing they are safe and secure for the moment. The humor might appeal to them momentarily but it isn’t going to make them act. Job seekers are going to look for reliability and proven track records. They want reassurance that if they were to jump on board with another company or check out a new service that it isn’t going to fall through and leave them stranded. With all the layoffs happening, there is a huge pool of talent out there that is actively seeking something better, seeking security and they are willing to put some effort into finding their fit.
This is a chance for companies to be reaching out to their candidates and offering a solution. When a hire is made, a position isn’t just being filled; a paycheck is being delivered to an employee to help keep their home, pay for school and take care of whatever is important to that individual.
People can only laugh at jokes so long before they start looking for something real and viable.
February 4th, 2009 at 3:44 pm
Ok, Ok… So the job boards didn’t take into account the fact that it sucks to look for a job right, so what?!?! It’s not their job to remind me that it took 3 months to find a good sales job in Chicago using their boards. CareerBuilder (better commercial than monster) and their competitors have no responsibilty to fix the current job market, so why advertise as such? You don’t see banks advertising for you to take your money out in case the economy gets worse…
Both commercials were clever and funny and have done exctly what the marketing minds at both company wanted and that is for us Monday morning QBs to sit back and talk about it. Kudos to both sites! It will be interesting to see how Monster’s partnership with the NFL goes, so far I only know 1 person that has applied to become Dir. of Fandemonium and they are happily employed…
February 5th, 2009 at 4:48 am
Hulu video’s can only be streamed within the US. Maybe an idea to use Youtube vids next time so that international visitors can watch them as well.
February 6th, 2009 at 2:18 pm
Unlike Donny Deutsch’s opinion, I don’t think most people in America care about the cost of Super Bowl ads while watching them. They are looking for a connection, whether it be a new job, cool movie to watch or beer to drink. Is the Super Bowl the time for Monster and CareerBuilder to address unemployment? The fact is that with both of those companies swelling their databases, it just makes it more appealing for potential employers to buy them. In the end, they are still businesses.