Super Bowl Ads Linked to Stock Market Success

Super Bowl Ads Linked to Stock Market Success 1/25/08

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EAU CLAIRE, Wis., Jan. 25 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The aggregate stock price of publicly traded firms that ran in-game Super Bowl advertisements beat the Standard & Poors 500 performance in 10 of the last 12 years, according to researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.

"During the week before and the week after the 1996-2007 Super Bowls, the stocks of companies that ran in-game ads outperformed the S&P stocks by nearly 1.3 percent," said Dr. Chuck Tomkovick, a marketing professor who has conducted Super Bowl advertising research for a decade. "In essence, Wall Street rewards firms that run Super Bowl ads. It's a tradeable event."

If an investor bought every publicly traded Super Bowl stock in the last 12 years on the Monday before the Super Bowl and sold them five days after the game, the investor would be up by nearly 1.3 percent over the S&P 500 during that same time period, Tomkovick said.

Given the large market caps involved, an increase of nearly 1.3 percent over the S&P 500 translates into billions of dollars of stock price improvement for those holding these investments, Tomkovick said.

In the best of the 12 years, Super Bowl stocks beat S&P 500 by 4.5 percent. In the worst years, S&P 500 beat Super Bowl stocks by 0.33 percent, Tomkovick said.

Most Super Bowl advertising research has focused on the likeability of the ads rather than on financial factors, said Dr. Rama Yelkur, a marketing professor and Tomkovick's research partner.

"This study examines the financial performance of firms that invest in Super Bowl ads and demonstrates there is a net positive effect, regardless of how likeable the ads were scored," Yelkur said.

In six of the 12 years, the bottom ad likeability Super Bowl stocks outperformed the top ad likeability Super Bowl stocks, Yelkur said.

The researchers noted that while the results indicate a positive association exists between Super Bowl advertising investment and the financial performance of the firms that run them, it does not suggest causation.

A full news release is available at: www.uwec.edu/newsreleases/08/jan/0124SuperBowl2008.htm.

SOURCE University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire

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