#BrandBowl: Super Profits or Super Duds?
Bud Weis Errrrr (BUD)- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GeiOdHsW_8 Rememebr the day when Bud stole the show when it came to the Super Bowl? The Budweiser frogs, the clydesdales, the frogs... This year many Americans were disappointed by the lack of comedy from Budweiser. But, even though they weren't funny I actually liked the Bud commercials. They spoke to their brand ideal - to bring happiness. The brands in the Stengel 50 (if you don't know who Jim Stengel is look him up. He was P&G's former GMO and current CNN All-Executive Team member) showed that companies that stood for a brand ideal experienced returns that were on average 400% greater than the S&P during the years that Stengel tracked them. Company culture must embody that ideal and be able to effectively communicate it to their consumer base. Bud and Bud Light did exactly that, their ads elicited memories of happiness shared among friends throughout their history. Budweiser has always stood for this principle. Nowadays, Bud is part of the giant European consumer non-cyclical InBev, NYSE:BUD. Given the (hopefully) bull market that is currently starting up, we want to increase our exposure to some more high beta, high growth plays. With its high saturation and 200 brands, Inbev is more of a stock for grandpa than bro pick.
E-TRADE (ETFC)- Props to the E-Trade babies for proving they are bigger bros than the rest of us. I don’t know any bro that was speed-dating in diapers. http://www.youtube.com/user/etrade?v=Hh8hS8uSoJs E-Trade has established themselves consistently among the best advertisers during the Super Bowl throughout the past few years. In 2011 E-Trade surprised some analysts, reporting its first profitable year since 2006 despite a year filled with numerous obstacles such as the hit to investor confidence in the fall. However, the past 5 years proved ETFC as a poorly run business that took on too much risk. E-Trade has rebuked any takeover potential and the Fed’s decision to keep interest rates low will make it hard to keep interest margins up. These two points make it hard to find any share value.
H&M- Ok, so these shares aren’t available for trading in the U.S., but that’s kind of my point. Do exec’s in Sweden know anything about the Super Bowl? Parading a tattooed, aging and European soccer star around in underwear in front of millions of American’s will get you the wrong response everytime. Most women watching don’t really care about the Super Bowl anyway; a recent survey showed that women would rather have sex than watch the big game. Worst yet, they were selling male underwear! Did they really think that a seductive David Beckham was going to get American bros to buy their whitie-tighties? Here’s a tip: watch the Fiat commercial if you want to learn how to get a bro’s attention. (**Warning this ad may offend some bros** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZOq5iQvls4&feature=related )
Chevy (GM) - This year's auto adverts started out really weak with Audi and Hyundai. Melting vampires and humming Rocky hits won't sell cars; Chevy, however, did get it right this year though http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxFYYP8040A. Chevy made it clear what it stood for: the longest lasting, most dependable pick-up. It is a man's car, make no mistake about it. The Chrysler Clint Eastwood commerical was legit as well and foreshadowed cyclical growth to be expected in the auto industry. However, it doesn't inspire me to start a position in a company owned by the momma's boys over at the Itailan owned Fiat. GM, on the other hand, is pure America. And if you followed the bros top stocks for 2012, you'd already be enjoying over 16% of pure American profit in 2012. But after that run-up, buy hold or sell? Tough call. GM has strong future long term, but now that the stock has run up to nearly $27, it might be wise to wait for a pullback to enter on this one.
Toyota (TM)- Car commercials dominated airtime throughout the Super Bowl, yet, Toyota did little to inspire with their campaign on “reinvention.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raZwY8ZQHWs Change is good and can drive product excitement, but you need to back it up; their “new” Camry looks just like every other Camry model from the past decade. Worse, their commercial creeped me out. I don’t know what they consider luxury in Japan, but I don’t want to sit on a reinvented couch made up of men in Speedos. No thank you. Don’t even put that image in my head. And a curtain made out of pizza??? Pizza may not be a food staple in Asia, but they have to know that cheese spoils. And all that grease is going to damage my beautiful hardwood floors. Hands down, the best part of the commercial had to be the end where they reinvented the DMV. Putting a big, sassy, black women behind the counter is not innovation, but status quo. #BadStereotype. Do your homework Toyota!
E-TRADE (ETFC)- Props to the E-Trade babies for proving they are bigger bros than the rest of us. I don’t know any bro that was speed-dating in diapers. http://www.youtube.com/user/etrade?v=Hh8hS8uSoJs E-Trade has established themselves consistently among the best advertisers during the Super Bowl throughout the past few years. In 2011 E-Trade surprised some analysts, reporting its first profitable year since 2006 despite a year filled with numerous obstacles such as the hit to investor confidence in the fall. However, the past 5 years proved ETFC as a poorly run business that took on too much risk. E-Trade has rebuked any takeover potential and the Fed’s decision to keep interest rates low will make it hard to keep interest margins up. These two points make it hard to find any share value.
H&M- Ok, so these shares aren’t available for trading in the U.S., but that’s kind of my point. Do exec’s in Sweden know anything about the Super Bowl? Parading a tattooed, aging and European soccer star around in underwear in front of millions of American’s will get you the wrong response everytime. Most women watching don’t really care about the Super Bowl anyway; a recent survey showed that women would rather have sex than watch the big game. Worst yet, they were selling male underwear! Did they really think that a seductive David Beckham was going to get American bros to buy their whitie-tighties? Here’s a tip: watch the Fiat commercial if you want to learn how to get a bro’s attention. (**Warning this ad may offend some bros** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZOq5iQvls4&feature=related )
Chevy (GM) - This year's auto adverts started out really weak with Audi and Hyundai. Melting vampires and humming Rocky hits won't sell cars; Chevy, however, did get it right this year though http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxFYYP8040A. Chevy made it clear what it stood for: the longest lasting, most dependable pick-up. It is a man's car, make no mistake about it. The Chrysler Clint Eastwood commerical was legit as well and foreshadowed cyclical growth to be expected in the auto industry. However, it doesn't inspire me to start a position in a company owned by the momma's boys over at the Itailan owned Fiat. GM, on the other hand, is pure America. And if you followed the bros top stocks for 2012, you'd already be enjoying over 16% of pure American profit in 2012. But after that run-up, buy hold or sell? Tough call. GM has strong future long term, but now that the stock has run up to nearly $27, it might be wise to wait for a pullback to enter on this one.
Toyota (TM)- Car commercials dominated airtime throughout the Super Bowl, yet, Toyota did little to inspire with their campaign on “reinvention.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raZwY8ZQHWs Change is good and can drive product excitement, but you need to back it up; their “new” Camry looks just like every other Camry model from the past decade. Worse, their commercial creeped me out. I don’t know what they consider luxury in Japan, but I don’t want to sit on a reinvented couch made up of men in Speedos. No thank you. Don’t even put that image in my head. And a curtain made out of pizza??? Pizza may not be a food staple in Asia, but they have to know that cheese spoils. And all that grease is going to damage my beautiful hardwood floors. Hands down, the best part of the commercial had to be the end where they reinvented the DMV. Putting a big, sassy, black women behind the counter is not innovation, but status quo. #BadStereotype. Do your homework Toyota!
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