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[[Super Bowl XXXIV]] (played in January 2000) featured 19 advertisements from 16 different [[dot-com companies]], each of which paid an average of $2.2 million per spot.<ref name="sfgate1">Pender, Kathleen. [http://www.sfgate.com/business/networth/article/Dot-Com-Super-Bowl-Advertisers-Fumble-But-Down-2739134.php "Dot-Com Super Bowl Advertisers Fumble / But Down Under, LifeMinders.com may win at Olympics"], ''[[San Francisco Chronicle]]'', 13 September 2000. Accessed February 26 2014.</ref><ref name="compEx" group="note">Though [[Britanica]].com, [[Electronic Data Systems]] and [[Kforce]] are all companies that ran ads with a .com address, they have not been included in this list because the founding date of these companies exclude them from the strict definition of a dot-com company. Sources do not agree on the exact amount of dot-com advertisers who bought spots.</ref> These ads amounted to nearly 20 percent of the 61 spots available.<ref name="sfgate1"/> In addition to ads which ran during the game, several companies also purchased pre-game ads, most of which are lesser known. All of the publicly-held companies which advertised saw their stocks slump after the game as the dot-com bubble became to rapidly deflate.<ref name="sfgate1"/>
[[Super Bowl XXXIV]] (played in January 2000) featured 19 advertisements from 16 different [[dot-com companies]], each of which paid an average of $2.2 million per spot.<ref name="sfgate1">Pender, Kathleen. [http://www.sfgate.com/business/networth/article/Dot-Com-Super-Bowl-Advertisers-Fumble-But-Down-2739134.php "Dot-Com Super Bowl Advertisers Fumble / But Down Under, LifeMinders.com may win at Olympics"], ''[[San Francisco Chronicle]]'', 13 September 2000. Accessed February 26 2014.</ref><ref name="compEx" group="note">Though [[Britanica]].com, [[Electronic Data Systems]] and [[Kforce]] are all companies that ran ads with a .com address, they have not been included in this list because the founding date of these companies exclude them from the strict definition of a dot-com company. Sources do not agree on the exact amount of dot-com advertisers who bought spots.</ref> These ads amounted to nearly 20 percent of the 61 spots available,<ref name="sfgate1"/> and $44 million in advertising.<ref name="bloom"/> In addition to ads which ran during the game, several companies also purchased pre-game ads, most of which are lesser known. All of the publicly-held companies which advertised saw their stocks slump after the game as the dot-com bubble became to rapidly deflate.<ref name="sfgate1"/>


The sheer amount of dot-com-related ads was so unusual that Super Bowl XXXIV has been widely been referred to as the "Dot-Com Superbowl",<ref name="Comp1"/> and it is often used as a high-water mark for the dot-com bubble.<ref name="BizIn">Bennet, Dashiell. [http://www.businessinsider.com/8-dot-com-super-bowl-advertisers-that-no-longer-exist-2011-2?op=1 8 Dot-Coms That Spent Millions On Super Bowl Ads And No Longer Exist"], [[Business Insider]], 2 February 2011. Accessed February 26 2014.</ref><ref name="WSJ1">Basich, Zoran. [http://blogs.wsj.com/venturecapital/2010/01/19/homeaway-goes-for-super-bowl-glory-10-years-after-dot-com-debacle/ "Super Bowl Lures HomeAway, 10 Years After Dot-Com Debacle"], [[Wall Street Journal]] Blogs, 19 January 2010. Accessed February 26 2014.</ref><ref name="Fool">Planes, Alex. [http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2013/01/30/the-biggest-waste-of-money-in-super-bowl-history.aspx "The Biggest Waste of Money in Super Bowl History"], ''[[Motley Fool]]'', 30 January 2013. Accessed February 28, 2014.</ref> Of these companies, 5 are still active, 4 were bought by other companies, and the remaining 7 are defunct or of unknown status. The following list details each company, the commercials they ran, and their ultimate fate.
The sheer amount of dot-com-related ads was so unusual that Super Bowl XXXIV has been widely been referred to as the "Dot-Com Superbowl",<ref name="Comp1"/> and it is often used as a high-water mark for the dot-com bubble.<ref name="BizIn">Bennet, Dashiell. [http://www.businessinsider.com/8-dot-com-super-bowl-advertisers-that-no-longer-exist-2011-2?op=1 8 Dot-Coms That Spent Millions On Super Bowl Ads And No Longer Exist"], [[Business Insider]], 2 February 2011. Accessed February 26 2014.</ref><ref name="WSJ1">Basich, Zoran. [http://blogs.wsj.com/venturecapital/2010/01/19/homeaway-goes-for-super-bowl-glory-10-years-after-dot-com-debacle/ "Super Bowl Lures HomeAway, 10 Years After Dot-Com Debacle"], [[Wall Street Journal]] Blogs, 19 January 2010. Accessed February 26 2014.</ref><ref name="Fool">Planes, Alex. [http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2013/01/30/the-biggest-waste-of-money-in-super-bowl-history.aspx "The Biggest Waste of Money in Super Bowl History"], ''[[Motley Fool]]'', 30 January 2013. Accessed February 28, 2014.</ref> Of these companies, 6 are still active, 5 were bought by other companies, and the remaining 5 are defunct or of unknown status.

==Effectiveness==

Many websites saw short-term gains from the advertisements. LastMinuteTravel.com, for example, reported a surge of 300,000 hits per minute during its advertisement broadcast.<ref name="hosp"/> In many cases, though, this did not translate into long-term gains. OurBeginning.com's revenue jumped 350% in Q1 of 2000, but its $5 million in advertising costs were still ten times what its customers spent.<ref name="Venture"/> Short-term gains were not enough to re-coop advertising losses, and [[Pets.com]], Computer.com, and Epidemic.com, among many others, would fold before the end of the year.

==Later references==

Less than a year later, [[E*Trade]] ran an ad during [[Super Bowl XXXV]] mocking the glut of dot-com commercials during the previous game. The ad featured the chimpanzee from E*Trade's 2000 commericial wandering through a ghost town filled with the remains of fictional dot-com companies, including a direct reference to the already-defunct [[Pets.com]] sock puppet. During the game that year, only three dot-com companies ran advertisements.<ref name="bloom">Hyman, Mark, and Tom Lowry. [http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2001-01-07/whats-missing-from-super-bowl-xxxv "What's Missing from Super Bowl XXXV?"], ''[[BloombergBusinessweek]'', 7 January 2001. Accessed February 28 2014.</ref>


==In-Game Ads==
==In-Game Ads==

The following list details each company, the commercials they ran, and their ultimate fate.


{| class="wikitable"
{| class="wikitable"
Line 47: Line 57:
| Bought by [[Yahoo!]] in 2002, later purchased and liquidated by [[Monster.com]] in 2010
| Bought by [[Yahoo!]] in 2002, later purchased and liquidated by [[Monster.com]] in 2010
|-
|-
| LastMinuteTravel.com<ref name="hosp">[http://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/4004236.html ""Super Bowl's Last Minute and LastMinuteTravel.com's Last-Minute Commercial Are Big Winners"], ''HospitalityNet'', 31 January 2000. Accessed February 28, 2014.</ref>
| LastMinuteTravel.com<ref name="Comp1"/>
| "Tornado"
| "Tornado"
| 0:30
| 0:30
| Unknown
| Active
|-
|-
| LifeMinders.com<ref name="sfgate1"/>
| LifeMinders.com<ref name="sfgate1"/>
Line 77: Line 87:
| Rebranded as TippingPoint in 2002, ultimately purchased by HP Enterprise Security Products in 2010
| Rebranded as TippingPoint in 2002, ultimately purchased by HP Enterprise Security Products in 2010
|-
|-
| OurBeginning.com<ref name="CBS1"/><ref name="CNN1">Chartier, John. [http://money.cnn.com/2000/01/28/technology/superbowl/ "Dot.coms ready Bowl game"], ''[[CNN Money]],'' 28 January 2000. Accessed February 26 2014.</ref>
| OurBeginning.com<ref name="Venture">[http://www.venturenavigator.co.uk/content/ourbeginningcom_case_study "OurBeginning.com's marketing bomb"], ''Venture Navigator'', August 2007. Accessed February 28, 2014.</ref><ref name="CNN1">Chartier, John. [http://money.cnn.com/2000/01/28/technology/superbowl/ "Dot.coms ready Bowl game"], ''[[CNN Money]],'' 28 January 2000. Accessed February 26 2014.</ref>
| "Invites"
| "Invites"
| 0:30
| 0:30
| Purchased by an undisclosed company in 2002
| Unknown
|-
|-
| [[Pets.com]]<ref name="sfgate1"/>
| [[Pets.com]]<ref name="sfgate1"/>
Line 108: Line 118:
| 0:30 each
| 0:30 each
| Purchased by [[Office Depot]] in 2000<ref name="Comp1"/>
| Purchased by [[Office Depot]] in 2000<ref name="Comp1"/>
|-
| OurBeginning.com
| "Untitled 1", "Untitled 2", "Untitled 3"
| 0:30 each
| Purchased by an undisclosed company in 2002
|}
|}


Line 121: Line 136:
* [[List of Super Bowl commercials#2000|List of commercials during Super Bowl XXXIV]]
* [[List of Super Bowl commercials#2000|List of commercials during Super Bowl XXXIV]]


==External Links==
===Contemporary Opinions Leading up to Super Bowl XXXIV===
===Contemporary Opinions Leading up to Super Bowl XXXIV===
* [http://www.cbsnews.com/news/tiny-dot-com-joins-super-bowl/ CBS News article]
* [http://www.cbsnews.com/news/tiny-dot-com-joins-super-bowl/ CBS News article]
* [http://money.cnn.com/2000/01/28/technology/superbowl/ CNN Money article]
* [http://money.cnn.com/2000/01/28/technology/superbowl/ CNN Money article]
* [http://archives.cnn.com/1999/TECH/computing/12/07/super.bowl.idg/index.html CNN Tech article]

===In-Depth Articles===
* [http://www.venturenavigator.co.uk/content/ourbeginningcom_case_study Analysis of OurBeginning.com and its advertising choices]
* [http://weekendamerica.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/01/31/superbowlad/ Retrospective with founders of Computer.com]


{{Uncategorized|date=February 2014}}
{{Uncategorized|date=February 2014}}

Revision as of 00:53, 1 March 2014

Super Bowl XXXIV (played in January 2000) featured 19 advertisements from 16 different dot-com companies, each of which paid an average of $2.2 million per spot.[1][note 1] These ads amounted to nearly 20 percent of the 61 spots available,[1] and $44 million in advertising.[2] In addition to ads which ran during the game, several companies also purchased pre-game ads, most of which are lesser known. All of the publicly-held companies which advertised saw their stocks slump after the game as the dot-com bubble became to rapidly deflate.[1]

The sheer amount of dot-com-related ads was so unusual that Super Bowl XXXIV has been widely been referred to as the "Dot-Com Superbowl",[3] and it is often used as a high-water mark for the dot-com bubble.[4][5][6] Of these companies, 6 are still active, 5 were bought by other companies, and the remaining 5 are defunct or of unknown status.

Effectiveness

Many websites saw short-term gains from the advertisements. LastMinuteTravel.com, for example, reported a surge of 300,000 hits per minute during its advertisement broadcast.[7] In many cases, though, this did not translate into long-term gains. OurBeginning.com's revenue jumped 350% in Q1 of 2000, but its $5 million in advertising costs were still ten times what its customers spent.[8] Short-term gains were not enough to re-coop advertising losses, and Pets.com, Computer.com, and Epidemic.com, among many others, would fold before the end of the year.

Later references

Less than a year later, E*Trade ran an ad during Super Bowl XXXV mocking the glut of dot-com commercials during the previous game. The ad featured the chimpanzee from E*Trade's 2000 commericial wandering through a ghost town filled with the remains of fictional dot-com companies, including a direct reference to the already-defunct Pets.com sock puppet. During the game that year, only three dot-com companies ran advertisements.[2]

In-Game Ads

The following list details each company, the commercials they ran, and their ultimate fate.

Company Commercial Title(s) Spot Length Company Status
AutoTrader.com[9] "I Need a Car" 0:30 Active
Computer.com[5] "Mike and Mike"[3] 0:30 Purchased by Office Depot in 2000[3]
e1040.com "Charity" 0:30 Unknown
Epidemic.com[1] "Bathroom" 0:30 Defunct in 2000
E*Trade[1] "Wasted 2 Million", "Out the" Wazoo", "Basketball Prodigy" 0:30 each Active
e-stamp.com "Time Saving Tips" 0:30 Unknown
Hotjobs.com[1] "Negotiations" 0:30 Bought by Yahoo! in 2002, later purchased and liquidated by Monster.com in 2010
LastMinuteTravel.com[7] "Tornado" 0:30 Active
LifeMinders.com[1] "The Worst Commercial" 0:30 Pruchased by Cross Media Group in 2001[10]
MicroStrategy[1] "Fraud", "Stock Alert" 0:30 each Active
Monster.com[1] "The Road Less Travelled" 0:30 Active
OnMoney.com[11] "Paper Monster" 0:30 Defunct in 2002
Netpliance[1] "Webhead" 0:30 Rebranded as TippingPoint in 2002, ultimately purchased by HP Enterprise Security Products in 2010
OurBeginning.com[8][12] "Invites" 0:30 Purchased by an undisclosed company in 2002
Pets.com[1] "If You Leave Me Now" 0:30 Liquidated in 2000
WebMD[1] "Ali" 0:30 Active

Pre-Game Ads

The following list details companies which ran ads prior to the actual game time.

Company Commercial Title(s) Spot Length Company Status
Computer.com "Untitled 1", "Untitled 2"[3] 0:30 each Purchased by Office Depot in 2000[3]
OurBeginning.com "Untitled 1", "Untitled 2", "Untitled 3" 0:30 each Purchased by an undisclosed company in 2002

Notes

  1. ^ Though Britanica.com, Electronic Data Systems and Kforce are all companies that ran ads with a .com address, they have not been included in this list because the founding date of these companies exclude them from the strict definition of a dot-com company. Sources do not agree on the exact amount of dot-com advertisers who bought spots.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Pender, Kathleen. "Dot-Com Super Bowl Advertisers Fumble / But Down Under, LifeMinders.com may win at Olympics", San Francisco Chronicle, 13 September 2000. Accessed February 26 2014.
  2. ^ a b Hyman, Mark, and Tom Lowry. "What's Missing from Super Bowl XXXV?", [[BloombergBusinessweek], 7 January 2001. Accessed February 28 2014.
  3. ^ a b c d e Shroeder, Charlie. "The Dot-Com Super Bowl", Weekend America, 2 February 2008. Accessed February 26 2014.
  4. ^ Bennet, Dashiell. 8 Dot-Coms That Spent Millions On Super Bowl Ads And No Longer Exist", Business Insider, 2 February 2011. Accessed February 26 2014.
  5. ^ a b Basich, Zoran. "Super Bowl Lures HomeAway, 10 Years After Dot-Com Debacle", Wall Street Journal Blogs, 19 January 2010. Accessed February 26 2014.
  6. ^ Planes, Alex. "The Biggest Waste of Money in Super Bowl History", Motley Fool, 30 January 2013. Accessed February 28, 2014.
  7. ^ a b ""Super Bowl's Last Minute and LastMinuteTravel.com's Last-Minute Commercial Are Big Winners", HospitalityNet, 31 January 2000. Accessed February 28, 2014.
  8. ^ a b "OurBeginning.com's marketing bomb", Venture Navigator, August 2007. Accessed February 28, 2014.
  9. ^ Gelsi, Steve. "Tiny Dot-com Joins Super Bowl", CBS News, 24 January 2000. Accessed February 26 2014.
  10. ^ "LifeMinders Sold", Emailuniverse.com, 19 July 2001. Accessed February 28, 2014.
  11. ^ White, Erin. "Start-Up OnMoney.com Bets It All On 30-Second Ad During Super Bowl", Wall Street Journal, 2 February 2000. Accessed February 28, 2014.
  12. ^ Chartier, John. "Dot.coms ready Bowl game", CNN Money, 28 January 2000. Accessed February 26 2014.

See also

Contemporary Opinions Leading up to Super Bowl XXXIV

In-Depth Articles

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