4 Million Dollars, for 30 seconds.

 

This upcoming Sunday is Super Bowl Sunday in America. This football game will be the most popular sporting event of the year.

Family and friends who haven’t watched one game of football this season will come together to watch the gladiators of our century, battle on grass and dirt, for a championship that will give the victors the right to be the ‘Titans‘ of our times for one year.

It’s 2016, but some things haven’t change. The human race has been drawn to strength, stamina and carnage in arenas for over 3000 years.

What has changed, are the economics surrounding these type of affairs.

One of the best ways to quantify the value of sending a message to a mass audience is to pay attention to what big companies are willing to pay for just 30 seconds of our time on Super Bowl Sunday.

In 2013, CBS got as much as 4 million dollars for a 30 second advertising spot. Seems like quite a bit of money, right?

Not really?

The year before, 111.3 million people tuned in to watch the New York Giants defeat the New England Patriots by a score of 21 to 17.

Many of you don’t remember that.

What you do remember is Clint Eastwood‘s emotional commercial for Chrysler when he said, “It’s half-time America and our second half is about to begin.”

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFAiqxm1FDA]

Some of you cried when you saw this commercial. Chrysler hoped you would. That’s why they paid about thirty cents a person to send you that message. That’s right…they made a hefty investment in YOUR time. (I’m being facetious.)

Chevrolet figured less than seven cents a viewer was more than enough and took 30 second advertising spot for this commercial.

…and that commercial got your attention quick, didn’t it.

My point is this. Large organizations have quantified the value of our attention, our time and our loyalty. They work diligently to continually examine how to get more of the attention and time some of us freely give away.

So my question for reflection this week is:

• Do we really know how much our time is worth?

I have the feeling that once you really know how much your time is worth, it’ll be much harder to give it to that reality television show you’ve been faithfully following.

Here’s something else to consider:
If you dream of driving a Mercedes-Benz one day, at the very least you shouldn’t be watching any television programming that does not advertise Mercedes-Benz. Mercedes-Benz is very clear about who can afford to drive their vehicles and what type of television they watch.

So that show you watch, with the crappy, home-made commercials…uh huh, yeah…you know what I’m talking about. That little guilty pleasure that steals hours out of your day, may just be stealing your dreams too.

Just thought if you knew how much your time was worth to the big machine, you’d might use that time differently on yourself.

This Sunday big business is investing in your time and your attention. They think it’s a good investment.

Follow their lead and put more value in your time and more value on yourself. I guarantee you’ll get a great return on that investment.

Enjoy the game! (…or the commercial breaks.)

…and stay inspired, it’s a lifestyle choice!