Kevin Finley, of Flint, to analyze Super Bowl 50 commercials with SVSU student focus group

2016 Feb 3

Saginaw Valley State University student Kevin Finley, a an accounting major from Flint, will participate in a focus group evaluating this year's Super Bowl commercials Sunday, Feb. 7.

The focus group is organized by Rama Yelkur, dean of SVSU's College of Business and Management at Saginaw Valley State University, who is one of the nation's leading experts on whether viewers find Super Bowl ads to be likable. She has organized a Super Bowl advertising focus group at SVSU since 2014.

The stakes are high this year; a 30-second commercial during this year's Super Bowl broadcast costs $5 million. Yelkur has studied Super Bowl ads for two decades. She said there are certain "likeability factors" that can predict whether an ad will appeal to viewers. Some of those factors include the presence of humor, animals, celebrities or children.

Students will analyze the advertisements during the game, predict how consumers will react to the marketing based on those likability factors, then analyze the consumer reaction in the weeks following the Super Bowl to track whether those factors have changed.

Courtney Seamon, a marketing major from New Lothrop, has participated in the focus groups since 2014.

Seamon plans to co-author a research paper with Yelkur which they plan to submit for publication in a peer-reviewed academic journal. Seamon presented an earlier research paper co-authored with Yelkur at the Marketing Management Association annual conference in Chicago in March 2015.

Seamon said participating in the research has proven fulfilling, both academically and personally.

"The critical thinking behind why some commercials score well and others not so much - and if our previous theories will still apply to the changing world of Super Bowl advertising - is really what intrigues me," Seamon said.

"Even after I graduate in May and my research with Dr. Yelkur ends, I'm not sure I'll ever be able to watch a Super Bowl game without analyzing the ads. Personally, this experience has been life-changing because of the knowledge and advice I've received from Dr. Yelkur, not only as a mentor in marketing research, but also as a woman in business."

Seamon said she has already performed some preliminary research on the Super Bowl 50 advertising lineup. Some of the commercials have been released on the Internet. Seamon said she is intrigued by a number of the anticipated advertisements.

"Personally, I'm always interested to see what Anheuser-Busch comes up with; especially, since they are expected to have bought 3.5 minutes of air time this year," she said.

Seamon also is looking forward to seeing BMW's MINI vehicle ad.

"They have posted several inspirational celebrity teasers online which will be interesting to see how they tie them all together," she said. "I'm thinking it could be an encouraging, pull-at-the-heartstrings ad similar to Always' "Like a Girl" 2015 commercial, which scored very well in terms of ad likability."

Seamon will be joined in the research with fellow marketing majors Daniel Hill, of Harrison, Valerie Klein, of New Lothrop, and Kyle LaPine, of Troy.

Other students participating in the study are Kevin Finley, an accounting major from Flint, Michael Hensley, a criminal justice major from Warren, Andrew Jarmon, an accounting major from Ortonville, Daniel Newton, a mechanical engineering major from Warren, Gerard Lefebvre, a biology major from Dearborn Heights, and Erica Seamon, a finance major from New Lothrop.