Best Buy Plans Super Bowl Ad; Target Launches Mobile Game

Best Buy is once again among the group of advertisers that have bought a coveted Super Bowl spot; Target, meanwhile, has launched a mobile game meant to help promote products for game-day parties.

Best Buy Company, Inc., is planning to air another Super Bowl ad during this year’s big game.

Richfield-based Best Buy aired its first-ever Super Bowl spot in 2011, featuring pop sensation Justin Bieber and rock icon Ozzy Osbourne. Last year, it ran the following ad, which focused on technology innovators such as Instagram developer Kevin Systrom:

Best Buy spokesman Jeremy Baier confirmed Monday that the company plans to advertise during the upcoming Super Bowl, which will be broadcast on CBS on February 3, although he declined to provide any additional information about the spot.

According to a report by Advertising Age, the electronics retailer has tapped Miami-based ad agency Crispin Porter & Bogusky for the commercial.

CBS has “more or less sold out its ad inventory” for the game—for which advertisers pay staggering prices each year to broadcast their brands before millions of viewers. This year’s spots were sold for an average of between $3.7 million and $3.8 million, Ad Age reported.

Other retailers that aren’t forking over millions for commercials still plan to tap into the excitement of the game in an attempt to boost sales. For example, Minneapolis-based Target Corporation said it won’t advertise during the game, but it has launched a free mobile game aimed at attracting visitors to its website and promoting products for game-day parties.

The mobile game is called “Snack Bowl,” and it will appear on the home page of Target’s mobile website on iPhone or Android smartphones until February 9. Players swipe their screens to launch digital snacks—like boxes of Ritz crackers or bags of Reese’s candy—toward on-screen characters. Players can share their rankings—and challenge their friends to beat their scores—on Facebook.

Phil McKoy, vice president of Target.com, said in a statement that the game offers a “fun, new way for Target to engage with our mobile guests as they think about planning a great game-day party.”