# What's the point of advertising summer movies during the Super Bowl?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-advertising-summer-movies-during-the-super-bowl/649276
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [February 4, 2013, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-advertising-summer-movies-during-the-super-bowl/649276 "2013-02-04T01:43:48Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2013, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-advertising-summer-movies-during-the-super-bowl/649276/1 "2013-02-04T01:43:48Z")
Over the past few years, it has become a trend for the summer blockbuster popcorn movies to buy a commercial during the Super Bowl. Why? I’m not making my plans to what movie I want to see in June right now.
Super Bowl commercials aren’t cheap, yes they’re ‘getting the word out’ but it still doesn’t make sense.
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### Author:  [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2013, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-advertising-summer-movies-during-the-super-bowl/649276/2 "2013-02-04T02:05:07Z")
Were they movies that already have novels out for them, or prequel movies? Might be going for some pre-release sales, _e.g.,_ selling copies of The Hobbit or getting people to rent Iron Man and Iron Man 2 before going to see Iron Man 3.
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### Author:  [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2013, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-advertising-summer-movies-during-the-super-bowl/649276/3 "2013-02-04T04:32:50Z")
You start hyping the summer films at Christmas and you don’t stop.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2013, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-advertising-summer-movies-during-the-super-bowl/649276/4 "2013-02-04T05:31:02Z")
Come June, when you’re deciding which movie to buy tickets to, you’re not going to go see the one that you just heard of last week. You’re going to go see the one you’ve been looking forward to for months.
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2013, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-advertising-summer-movies-during-the-super-bowl/649276/5 "2013-02-04T13:46:32Z")
The point of all advertising is to make people aware of the product. The Super Bowl has the highest TV audience of the year, so you make a ton of people aware of your movie. That way, in six months, the movie is already familiar to them.
Ads are not designed to get you to buy the product immediately, anyway (other than ads for special sales). They’re designed to get you to remember the brand, so you’ll think of it when you want to buy the product.
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### Author:  [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2013, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-advertising-summer-movies-during-the-super-bowl/649276/6 "2013-02-04T14:25:38Z")
They’re trying to create buzz so by the time the movie comes out, there’s an onslaught of interested viewers dying to buy tickets.
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### Author:  [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2013, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-advertising-summer-movies-during-the-super-bowl/649276/7 "2013-02-04T14:47:43Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#):
>
> The point of all advertising is to make people aware of the product. The Super Bowl has the highest TV audience of the year, so you make a ton of people aware of your movie. That way, in six months, the movie is already familiar to them.
Also, the Super Bowl is unusual in that people actually pay attention to the commercials.
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### Author:  [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2013, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-advertising-summer-movies-during-the-super-bowl/649276/8 "2013-02-04T16:24:40Z")
> [@corkboard](#):
>
> They’re trying to create buzz so by the time the movie comes out, there’s an onslaught of interested viewers dying to buy tickets.
Yes, the key word is “buzz”. What better place than to show it than during this huge ad spectacle and have friends say, “Oh yeah, I want to see that!”
Most films make their biggest bucks in the first weekend, and if you can get 5 or 10 or 20 million more butts sitting in that theater on the first weekend, it was worth the price of the ad!
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2013, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-advertising-summer-movies-during-the-super-bowl/649276/9 "2013-02-04T16:29:51Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> Come June, when you’re deciding which movie to buy tickets to, you’re not going to go see the one that you just heard of last week. You’re going to go see the one you’ve been looking forward to for months.
This is it. Building anticipation. People will tend to see the movie they’ve been anticipating, even if they find out it sucks. It turns the choice into a plan instead of an impulse decision.
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### Author:  [@enomaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enomaj)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2013, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-advertising-summer-movies-during-the-super-bowl/649276/10 "2013-02-04T17:32:28Z")
I’m pretty sure I’ve seen previews for movies slated for next summer in this summer.