In Focus

Hot (Super Bowl Commercial) Tips

Being a woman at Super Bowl time can sometimes get a little boring. All this hype for a bunch of men running around hitting each other and chasing a little chocolate Easter egg. On top of that, everyone and their brother has huge Super Bowl parties. It can't be healthy to eat nachos for both lunch and dinner. And the beverages are just as damaging. But it's as American as apple pie (how come nobody ever serves it at these things?) and we do it. It's become a national holiday.

But now that you're a Chick, this year can be different. While the men are gulping down their Miller Genuine Drafts, wouldn't it be fun, just every once in awhile during the game, to throw out, "Hey, did you know that Philip Morris owns Miller Brewing Company and their Gross Margins are 63%. Not bad, eh?" That should quiet things down a bit. (My husband is going to kill me.)

I thought I'd put together a little ammunition about the companies that each paid 2.4 million dollars to buy some commercial airtime. When the ad runs, it's your cue to butt in. Here are several Chicks' Dozen related tips about some of the commercials that will be played in either the pre-game, game or post-game. (Gives you lots of opportunity to show your brains!)

Anheuser-Busch Did you know that Anheuser-Busch also owns Adventure Parks? They include SeaWorld Adventure Parks in Orlando, San Diego and San Antonio; Busch Gardens in Tampa and Williamsburg; Sesame Place in Langhorne, Pa.; Adventure Island in Tampa; and Water Country USA in Williamsburg. They also own Budweiser, Clydesdale horses and frogs. Chick Karin and her family did the Whassup? pose for their Christmas card this past year.

Frito-Lay  Frito Lay will be doing a commercial for Doritos, but did you know that Frito Lay also owns these other brands: Cracker Jacks, Sun Chips, Tostitos, Santitas, Ruffles, Lays, Rold Gold, Cheetos, Funyuns, WOW! Baken-ets, and Grammas? I always feel guilty when I buy Tostitos over Doritos worrying I'm single-handedly putting Doritos of business. Duh.they're all owned by Frito-Lay! And get this.Frito-Lay is owned by Pepsi!

Pepsi Pepsi (PEP) and marketing partner Yahoo! (A Chick held stock in our portfolio LINK) are getting consumers to log on to http://pepsi.yahoo.com to decide which Pepsi commercial from past years they'd like to see again. The commercial that receives the most online votes will air in the post-game show on CBS on January 28. Pepsi also owns Mountain Dew, Slice and Tropicana branded drinks. Pepsi's gross margins are 9% lower than Cokes. (Coke is not advertising.)

Dr Pepper  I'm a Pepper, You're a Pepper, Wouldn't you like to be a Pepper too? (Sorry, but I still love that ad and I wish Dr Pepper would let me vote for that somewhere.) Dr. Pepper dropped the period after Dr. in 1950. (Ask if anyone in the room has spell check in their brain when that commercial comes on and see if they even notice the missing period. Pregnant jokes will ensue.) Cadbury Schweppes bought Dr Pepper in 1995. (CSG) is based in London and also owns Seven-Up, Motts and Slush Puppies.

Levi-Strauss & Co.  One of the most successful privately held companies in the U.S. It was founded in 1853 and for its first 100 years it was a private company. It went public in 1971 for almost fifteen years but then decided to buy all of its shares back! It was one of the largest buy-backs in U.S. history totaling 1.6 billion in 1985. Today, the company is owned by descendants of the family of founder Levi Strauss. Shares of company stock are not available for public trading, except in Japan, where it is publicly traded.

Charles Schwab  If you had invested $10,000 in Schwab (SCH) in 1991, it would be worth $1.2 million today. Schwab is the big winner investment-wise of all the Super Bowl commercials. It has kicked some serious S&P butt over the last 10 years, up over 11,000%! The S & P is up 300% since 1991.

Cingular Wireless  Cingular Wireless is a joint venture between the wireless divisions of SBC (NYSE:SBC) and BellSouth (NYSE: BLS). SBC owns 60 percent of the company and BellSouth owns 40 percent.

Accenture  This consulting group was formerly known as Prince, I mean Anderson Consulting.

E-trade  E-trade (EGRP) is up over 450% in five years compared to the S & P's 120%.so that means $10,000 invested in EGRP in 1996 would be worth $55,000 today. First and ten, baby.

EDS  Electronic Data Systems (EDS) is following up their Award Winning "Cat Herders" and "Airplane" commercials with this year's "Running with the Squirrels." More than 1,000 former employees returned to EDS last year. Many of them tried to run up the dot-com tree but came back after they realized there were no extra nuts to be found.

Federal Express - (FDX) has been neck and neck with the S & P over the past 10 years.up over 300%. The fastest growing portion of the business is FedEx International Priority^® (IP) shipments -- 2nd Quarter revenue for their IP increased more than 16% compared to last year's second quarter.

Hotjobs.com - (HOTJ) This is directly from Hotjobs website: "HotJobs is a leading recruiting solutions company." and "HotJobs has emerged as a leader in the space." Hotjobs.com has Gross Margins of 78%! Now only if they could get their profit margins out of the gutter. negative 54%. Spending two million on a Super Bowl commercial probably isn't the smartest idea but they have to keep up with.

Monster.com (TMPW)  Also an internet job finder. Hotjobs.com and Monster.com have become the Coke and Pepsi of Internet Job finders. This is directly from Monster.com's web site: "Monster.com is the leading global online network for careers." I took the surface website taste-test, and Monster looks more fun, and Hotjobs looked business-y. Now there's an interesting tid-bit right there to add to your Super Bowl conversation.

M & M/Mars  The Super Bowl commercial is going to be about the new Snickers, which is a brand owned by M&M/Mars. Vote here for the phrase to be crushed during the game. Did you know that M & M stands for Mars and Murrie, the founders, or that Mars, Incorporated is a privately owned company? In the Milk Chocolate Candies bag there are 30% brown, 20% each of yellow and red and 10% each of orange, green and blue. Did you know that the Green M & M cartoon character wasn't introduced until 1997? Word is, she's a Chick and an author! Rumor has it, she spent her first year promoting her book, "I Melt for No One."

Philip Morris Companies - (MO) The makers of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, Miller Light and Marlboro Lights meets the Chicks Dozen!! No, not because of their wide array of Chick Karin's favorite products, (they recently bought Nabisco), but because they have Gross Margins of 63% and Net Margins of 10%. But unfortunately, this company has not beaten the S & P over the past ten years.

Other companies advertising during the game are Johnson and Johnson, IBM, Verizon, Volkswagon, Visa, Mastercard, Sony, MGM, and Warner Brothers. You might want to research them in this way, in case it's a blow out.

Enjoy the game. let's hope my husband is still speaking to me at halftime. ;)