On Monday morning, we released our 6th Annual Search Marketing Scorecard on the Super Bowl.
Unlike the USAToday AdMeter, YouTube’s AdBlitz or most other Super Bowl ad rankings, we focus on just about everything relating to a marketer’s campaign OTHER than the quality of their creative.
Instead, our Scorecard ranks Super Bowl advertisers based on their visibility in search and social media immediately after their TV spots aired. Essentially, we’re evaluating the steps each brand took to capture the demand created by their Super Bowl advertising investment.
So what were some of the biggest takeaways from the big game?
No Rookie Mistakes Here: Among the top-rated brands in our scorecard were three first-time Super Bowl advertisers – Boost Mobile, HomeAway and Google. All three brands turned compelling TV ads into meaningful online experiences. The brands were highly visible across the major search engines, and met interested consumers’ interest with content that easily extended the value of their TV commercials.Advertising – Now With More Tailgating!: As any football fan will tell you, one of the best parts of going to a game isn’t the game itself, but the party leading up to it. So why should it be any different for the advertisers? 37% of the advertisers in this year’s game launched initiatives weeks and, in some cases, even months before the Super Bowl, building buzz and anticipation for their spots.
This is a significant shift in the way brands view the big game, one that’s taken place over the last few years. Super Bowl Sunday used to be about the big reveal – new spots were guarded more carefully than the president’s nuclear football. But in the age of social media, brands are finding benefits in opening the kimono a little early, not only showing consumers what they’re in for, but actually giving them the playbook and letting them lead the drive. The best example? Doritos’ incredibly successful Crash the Super Bowl promotion, which let consumers develop (and promote) their own spots, with the top three getting Super Bowl airtime. This not only cut down on Doritos’ production budget, but gave them an army of marketers all jockeying to earn :30 of worldwide fame.
Where’s the Brand Investment?: For the first time in five years, we saw a significant decrease in the number of companies visible in paid search for their brand names. (63% down from a high of 70%). While marketers have often struggled with the question of whether or not to buy their brand on search engines, it should be a no-brainer on Super Sunday. Only paid search offers the ability to control the message shows to consumers, allowing better integration with a short-term promotion like, say, the Super Bowl. This was most certainly a trend we expected to see heading in the other direction.
Social Took a Back Seat: Many pundits (including the one on the other end of this keyboard) expected this year’s Super Bowl to act as a coming out party of sorts in the way that mainstream marketers used social media during the game. We expected brands to end every commercial with breathless pleas to “Fan us on Facebook!” or “Follow us on Twitter!” We expected those channels to be literally buzzing at game time, with special offers for consumers, and for brands to loosen their controls and engage in real conversations with their customers.
And what did we get?
Well, to be fair, there were a few marketers thinking outside the box – For instance, Google drove viewers directly to YouTube, and E*Trade included Facebook & YouTube widgets on the end card of their commercial. Unfortunately, for most of the field, it was more of the same. 91% of the 57 brands we tracked had a presence on at least one of Facebook, YouTube or Twitter, but the conversation on those channels was fairly typical and one-sided: “Hey everybody, watch our ads! We’re proud of them!” Still plenty room for improvement.
No Commercial? No Problem! – There are only so many brands with $2.5 million sitting around to spend on a Super Bowl spot, but the buzz and interest generated by those spots isn’t only the domain of Big Game advertisers. Take tax prep-software TurboTax – given the timing of the Super Bowl, they knew that the Super Bowl would drive millions of people to the search box looking for information relating to the game, players, halftime performers and advertisers.
As a result, the company was extremely aggressive in paid search, with a campaign reminding consumers of the benefits of their package. While they didn’t explicitly say the words Super Bowl or even football, the landing page had football personality Chris Berman and a “tax coach of the year” trophy that looks awfully familiar.
In all, a savvy move to build awareness for their service in an unobtrusive (albeit not entirely relevant) way.
Want even more information about how brands fared in this year’s cross-channel marketing showdown? Register today to reserve your place at Reprise Media’s annual Super Bowl webinar, which will be held next Friday, February 19th at 2PM EST.
Among the topics we’ll cover:
• An in-depth look at the winners and losers in search and social media buzz
• Innovative tactics for tapping into the post-bowl surge in interest
• Potential pitfalls that could keep your brand on the bench
