A few nights before the Super Bowl, we were all gathered around the dinner table, discussing the upcoming “big game.” My daughter suggested that the Super Bowl should be a national holiday. I asked why and she said, “It happens every year no matter what, everyone pays attention, even if they don’t like football, because they want to see the commercials, and we watch the whole game just for the commercials. So we should get the day off of school, making it a holiday!”
I always get a chuckle out of a teenager’s rationale, but she does have a point. The commercials are a bigger deal historically than the game itself. However, one could argue the commercials are more entertaining before the Super Bowl, thanks to social media. Many marketers are paying the price of a commercial but also exploiting their creative online. The Super Bowl has become a multi-month, multi-screen phenomenon for many advertisers.
Two Companies Who Include User-Generated Content to Stretch Their Advertising Dollars to #Winbig
Budweiser’s Best Buds concept and Doritos have complex user-generated campaigns. Both brands have taken into consideration the shift in consumers’ media consumption and have adapted their Super Bowl strategies.
First, Budweiser took advantage of the 50 million views on YouTube (ranking it the #1 ad) for “Puppy Love” from the 2014 Super Bowl and created a sequel, “Lost Dog." The brand is making its content shareable (and hoping it will go viral) by using an adorable puppy to capture the emotions of viewers, continuing a storyline many already are familiar with and promoting #BestBuds.
It could be argued that their ad this year, making fun of craft beer drinkers, missed the mark. But did it? Or are they just more aware of their target persona?
Doritos took the approach of giving consumers the opportunity to make their own commercial in the hope their commercial would be broadcast during the Super Bowl. This isn’t a new concept for Doritos, but this year’s grand prize includes a dream job at Universal Pictures and $1,000,000. In the months leading up to the Super Bowl, Doritos supported the solicitation of entries through social media and developed a dedicated website for the videos created and for the voting that will help determine which spot wins.
The way to win big during the Super Bowl now must include a multi-screen strategy before and after the game itself. This year was better than last, but not as good as what we’ll see for 2016. The content and the social media strategy just keep getting better, so who knows what’s next for brands and the Super Bowl.
See also:
- Digital Advertising Haiku: Understanding Digital Terms in 17 Syllables
- Finding that Ideal Prospect when Selling Digital Advertising
- The Unsexy Side of Selling Digital Advertising
- 7 Basics to Selling Digital Advertising Creative
- The Secret to Selling Digital Advertising
- Video Killed The Radio Star: Using MTV's Approach to Selling Digital Advertising
