Think about all of the things you could do with $3.8 million. Daydreaming yet?
Now realize this: That $3.8 million is the average price of a 30-second TV spot during Sunday’s Super Bowl in New Orleans.
To put things in perspective, $3.8 million could buy all of the following:
- 135,714 six-packs of beer
- 477,386 bags of chips
- 477,386 2-liter sodas
- 79,167 pizzas
That’s enough to throw a Super Bowl party for more than half the population of New Orleans and still have leftovers the next day.
With so much invested in this one 30-second spot during the country’s most-watched event, it’s essential that marketers achieve the most bang for their (very expensive) buck. And the best way to do that is to get a head start online and think for the long-term.
Think Outside the Commercial Break
Social media can extend the life of these commercials in ways that were not possible as recently as ten years ago.
Take last year’s big game: truly more of a Social Bowl than Super Bowl. And marketers have had the advantage of another year to hone their social media skills for 2013.
Until recently, Super Bowl commercials were battling for attention in a closed dome, shielded from the outside. Now the roof has opened, and elements of social media and viral marketing are hitting from every direction. Companies now need more than just deep pockets to draw the attention of target audiences during the big game; they need innovative and engaging content that can be viewed at any time from a variety of channels.
Here are 3 ways brands are tackling the new rules of the game.
1. Connecting with the audience through direct fan engagement
During last year’s game, Coca-Cola was the innovator in this regard with its Coke Polar Bowl microsite. Fans could visit the site during the game to watch the brand’s iconic polar bears — representing both of the Super Bowl teams — react to the game in real time. This year, Budweiser stepped into the social media arena with the activation of its Twitter account, where its followers were invited to name its newest Clydesdale, born earlier in the month. The winning name will be revealed via Budweiser’s 2013 Super Bowl commercial. The engaging tactic forces a connection between the product and its consumers by pairing the customer’s excitement for the game with the brand’s product or service.
This year’s #SuperBowl star? Our new #Clydesdales foal — and we need help to name it. Tweet us ideas via #Clydesdales. twitter.com/Budweiser/stat…
— Budweiser (@Budweiser) January 27, 2013
2. Tapping in to the immortality of the internet
That customer so many brands are trying to reach? He or she might be watching the game at a loud party, using commercial time to grab a snack, knocking back a few more cold ones. There’s too much going on to pay attention to every commercial that comes on TV.
A solution: Companies can upload commercials to YouTube, where they remain permanently embedded, allowing visitors to view them 5 minutes—or 5 years—after they originally air. According to YouTube, 34 of the 54 Super Bowl ads in 2012 were released online before the game.
This year, brands such as Audi, Volkswagen, and Century 21, have already done just that. The debate on whether this is an effective strategy, or whether it spoils the surprise of the year’s most anticipated TV event is still on, but the results speak for themselves. Proof? A commercial from the 2011 Super Bowl that, 2 years later, remains one of the most viral videos of all time:
3. Getting their game on before the game’s on
Social media afford brands the ability to build hype well before kickoff.
Take what Axe is doing this year, for example:
The brand promoted the hype of its pre-game release with the pairing of a publicity stunt that is out of this world. Some argue that early releases spoil the surprise for those who watch the game for the commercials but this is not the case: the stats speak for themselves: Ads that were released before the Super Bowl last year were viewed an average of 9 million times compared to 1.3 million for those that waited until game day.
Smart brands know that their $3.8 million dollar investment can last well beyond their allotted 30 seconds of TV airtime.
The question is: are they leveraging social media to make it worth every penny?
[image: methodshop]
