Eighteen years ago when my husband and I were shopping for a new home, we found one on the east side we liked a lot.  But it was out of our price range and we figured we had no shot at owning it.

“What’s it worth?” I asked my realtor.  And to this day his reply is something I always keep in mind in my own business dealings as a media planner/buyer.

“It’s worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it”, he said.

So two days after the much-hyped sporting event of the year as well as the largest showcase of high profile advertising you’re likely to see – I ask my self.  Was it worth almost $4million dollars for a :30 second spot?

Anheuser Busch ponied up $20 million dollars this year.  This iconic company has spent well over $260 million dollars since 2002 in Super Bowl ads and yet according to 24/7 Wall St. during the same time period their market share has dropped 4 points.

A quarter of a billion dollars.  That’s a lot of beer.

The broadcast itself earned a 46.3/69 rating, making it the second highest-rated Super Bowl in 27 years.  And in a nod to social media’s ever growing influence — according to data from Bluefin Labs and Trendrr. The Super Bowl tallied up 30.6M social media comments (Twitter, public Facebook data and GetGlue checkins).

Go Daddy’s “Big Kiss” spot garnered a 34% negative response in social media tracking. Does that mean their $4million was wasted? Or does the fact that people even commented on it mean Go Daddy will keep a coveted spot in the consumer’s mind.

Does anyone really care who won the “Coke” race?  Coke’s interactive spot encouraged viewers to vote for the team they wanted to win the race by voting online.  Coke spent millions on production and air time only to have the website malfunction just as people were trying to enter their votes.  Oops.

Me personally? I liked the “Farmer” spot. Wouldn’t make me buy a Dodge truck though.  But the Calvin Klein underwear spot?  Yeah I’ll be buying some of those for my husband.

EDITOR’S NOTE:

Patty Carroll is the owner and President of Media Impressions Ltd. A strategic media planning and buying company in Penfield, NY.

There are lots of opinions on the Super Bowl 2013 ads – join us today, February 6, for an audio/visual emotional review with an expert panel.  Details