Austin-based HomeAway.com Inc. saw a surge in Web traffic during and after the airing of its Super Bowl commercial, but the spot itself garnered mixed reviews from advertising critics.
Akamai said the ad triggered an aggregate traffic spike of 460,000 visitors during the third quarter, compared with an average of 275,000 visitors per minute during most of Sunday’s Super Bowl.
HomeAway.com said visits to its Web site were up by more than 500 percent on the day following the airing of its Super Bowl commercial based on the 1980s comedy “National Lampoon's Vacation.”
In addition, the commercial generated 1 million incremental page views on HomeAway.com immediately following the airing of the 30-second ad, the company said.
HomeAway’s first-ever Super Bowl ad—starring Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo in a reprise of their “Vacation” roles—got love from some critics but a lackluster response from others.
New York Times advertising critic Stuart Elliott wrote that the “the Chase-D’Angelo reunion worked because the commercial made a product-focused plea: The HomeAway Web site helps travelers avoid vacations that family and friends will lampoon.”
Meanwhile, Advertising Age’s Bob Garfield awarded the ad three out of four stars and wrote that “no pop-culture icon is too dated for the Super Bowl.” He added: “The pitch: If you don't want their luck, skip the crappy motel and rent somebody’s house.”
The HomeAway ad ranked 13th on USA Today’s Super Bowl Ad Meter. In all, 63 ads were ranked. In a poll by the Wall Street Journal, the commercial came in at No. 34 on the list of best ads and 43rd among the worst ads.
The National Retail Federation put the HomeAway commercial at No. 4 on its list of the best Super Bowl ads this year:
"How many times have you stayed in a hotel and not had anything near the experience that was promised? The Griswolds stay at a hotel that’s so bad, even what they think is complimentary water is a farce."
On the flip side, the ad generated this comment from the San Francisco Chronicle:
“Didn’t laugh once during Homeaway.com ad with Griswolds, but it was still good to see the Family Truckster again. Every time I see Chevy Chase though I want to give him pain meds.”
The San Diego Union-Tribune had a harsher take on the ad:
“In an effort to drive consumers to the Web, Miller Beer, Homeaway.com and other companies gave us commercials that were essentially teasers for longer commercials that can be viewed on their Web sites. Commercials for ads? That’s just super lame.”
Brian Sharples, founder and CEO of HomeAway, said: “With so many people starting to plan their spring break and summer vacations, now was the perfect time to launch this campaign, and the Super Bowl was the perfect venue for reaching literally millions of consumers to tell them about the benefits of vacation homes that can be rented through HomeAway."
Comments
There are so many ways to look at all these ads, especially the Homeaway ad, the newbie in the roster of advertisers on Super Bowl.
As a vacation rental home owner, I am happy for any exposure vacation rentals can get.
As a marketing professional, I am more than a little skeptical that Homeaway sufficiently delineated the core difference between hotels and vacation rentals, nor did they really focus on the advantage of a VR.
Though the ad is being dissected with rigor on all the vacation rental owner chat boards, with half exuberant and half dejected, my over all impression is that this was not necessarily a win for vacation rental owners when it comes to the immediate draw of attracting (appropriate) rental guests.
For a fraction (literally zero cost) of the expenditure, there are several youtube videos that make a vastly more understandable differentiation concerning vacation rentals. One of these is by Second Porch, a new application of Facebook, which offers the transpa
which offers the transparency of social media for people who own or rent vacation rentals.
And it’s got its own little buzz going with over 800 visits. Hope you might have a moment to take a look your self at youtube's "super bowl ad for our dad".
your social marketing campaign is getting tired. How about not bashing other people's work and doing something original of your own?
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