UDM Marketing Professor Hosts 24th Annual Super Bowl Ad Nauseum

DETROIT, Feb. 3 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- "Water Cooler Mondays" have never been the same since Dr. Michael Bernacchi, a marketing professor at the University of Detroit Mercy began hosting his annual post Super Bowl event for University and high school students on campus.

Since 1985, the UDM professor has hosted his renowned "Super Bowl Ad Nauseum," a live discussion analyzing the Super Bowl ads and their effectiveness to get viewers to buy their products/messages.

The yearly event will be held Monday, February 8, 2010 at noon in the Student Center Ballroom on the McNichols campus. The event will also be streaming live on the web at noon, 1:30 p.m., and 3 p.m. on http://www.mistreamnet.org.

In conjunction with his discussion, Bernacchi also teaches a Promotion Management class at UDM and is co-founder of the website, "The Marketing High School" with Paul Galbenski of Oakland County Schools and Immersive Engineering. Both Bernacchi and Galbenski developed marketing and advertising coursework related to the Super Bowl and created a website, "The Marketing High School," found at Themarketinghighschool.org for high school teachers to use throughout the nation.

"This event gets larger every year," Bernacchi explained, "and if high school students are talking about the game, why not have them learn about the business behind the messages," he added. According to Bernacchi's newsletter "Under the Mike-roscope," Super Bowl ads will cost $2.75 million for 30 seconds this year. That works out to be $91,667 per second or more than 70 times that of Super Bowl I, where ads cost $40,000 for 30 seconds.

The Super Bowl is the most watched television event each year, and Bernacchi tells students to forget what is happening on the field… the real game is in the other business world, the commercials. He asserts, "Super Bowl ads are the biggest ad game in town each year. Many of us watch the ads and fast-forward through the game."

During the Ad Nauseum event, Bernacchi discusses advertising and what students should look for while watching the spots. "When the night is over," Bernacchi says, "There will be some winners and some big losers. We look forward to analyzing the spots the next day with UDM and high school students from across the country."

This year, students from Oakland Schools Technical Campus, Holly High School, Lake Shore High School, Hamtramck High School, Rochester Adams High School, Flint Southwestern Academy High School, Henry Ford II High School, and Waterford Mott High School will be attending the event. Those schools who are unable to attend will still be able to view the Super Bowl lecture on the program's website, and over 1,600 students, including 178 students at Deltona High School in Florida, will vote for the most effective spots. Participating high school students are also eligible to apply for marketing scholarships (valued up to $1,500) at University of Detroit Mercy.

Pizza, pop, and snacks have been donated for the occasion courtesy of Pizza Papalis (of Southfield). The event is open to all UDM students, faculty and staff as well as all interested high school marketing and business classes. Media are always welcome.

For more information, visit themarketinghighschool.org or contact: Dr. Michael Bernacchi, Professor, University of Detroit Mercy, 4001 West McNichols Road, Detroit, MI 48221, (313) 993-1116-office, [email protected]

Paul Galbenski, Instructor, Oakland Schools Tech. Campus SE, 5055 Delemere Street, Royal Oak, MI 48073, (248) 288-4236-office, [email protected]

Dr. Bernacchi is also available this week for media interviews. Feel free to contact him at home or at his office.

Contact University of Detroit Mercy, Media Director Gary D. Lichtman at (313) 993-1254 for more information.

SOURCE University of Detroit Mercy