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Shouldn’t brands care more about a second chance to talk to consumers than their Super Bowl ads’ first impressions
By Justin Goldsborough | February 8th, 2010
The Saints and their fans aren’t the only ones still partying today. My guess is there are a few “impressions love fests” going on right now, most notably in the offices of the companies that paid millions of dollars for 30 and 60 second spots during last night’s big game.
Super Bowl 44 had the game’s highest overnight ratings in 23 years according to the Associated Press, and the Nielsen reports will likely show that more than 100 million people tuned in to see Peyton Manning, Drew Brees and the commercials.
So marketing teams and execs at Doritos, Coke, Snickers, Flo TV, Vizio and more have reason to celebrate, right? Well, maybe so. But while their tipping back a few with the New Orleans fans, hopefully they’ll at least take a second to ask a few what ifs.
For example, what if these companies had figured out a way to make their interaction with the 100-million-plus viewers last longer than 30 or 60 seconds. You know, maybe by tying in a mention of their social media presences into their ads. It wouldn’t have been that difficult.
I LOL’d at Betty White playing schoolyard football. But Snickers could have offered to “really satisfy” you by answering your questions on the brand’s Facebook fan page. Or sharing special Snickers offers via Twitter.
I’ve been a fan of the E*TRADE babies ever since one uttered the word “Shankapotomaus.” And last night’s newest installments didn’t disappoint. But where do I go tomorrow if I want to ask an E*TRADE rep about how to make a limit sell on some of my stock and set up a mutual fund buy? Guess I can find out, but I’m going to have to take time to search and hope they have people online ready to answer my question.
Even Visio, which put together an innovative commercial about the future of its TV lines and gave a users a sneak peek at what Internet applications (including Twitter, Facebook and YouTube) on your TV might look like, failed to ask users to meet themn online to take a closer look and discuss what’s next.
Seems like a missed opportunity to me. An opportunity that doesn’t come cheap and only comes once a year. Making people laugh is great. I’m a huge fan of laughter as a selling point and think it’s underrated. It gets people talking.
But I’ve seen more and more brands integrate social media into their ads and ask fans to build a relationship versus just “talking at” people. Until last night? Last night was a step back.
Even Dockers, which @BethHarte recently told us Dockers is using music app maker Shazam to tag its new brand ad and unlock further content, failed to mention this innovative integration in their “big game” commercials. My friend and #pr20chat co-moderator Heather Whaling (@prTini) ran a poll on her blog Sunday before the game asking how many of the Super Bowl ads would integrate online and offline by including a mention of “new media” in their ad. The answer options were:
- Less than 25%
- 26%-50%
- 51%-75%
- More than 75%
I think this was a very applicable question to ask based on the progressions we’ve seen companies take lately in advertising –giving consumers a chance to continue the relationship with the brand via social media. But I guess Heather should have added a fifth answer — ZERO — because that’s how many companies took advantage of the opportunity.
So if Dr. Pepper, E*TRADE, Kia and all the others who signed over millions to CBS last night think the viewer ratings are reason to party, I’m good with that. But I get the impression (heh, heh) they’re missing the bigger picture.
- What do you think? Am I overreacting here?
- Will consumers find these companies’ social media presences whether they’re mentioned in an ad or not?
- Is the objective of Super Bowl commercials now solely to stand out and be funny?
- Or did I miss an ad that mentioned social media?
Let’s continue the conversation in the comments.
February 8th, 2010 at 8:26 pm
I totally thought the same thing but thought maybe I just missed the ads that had links to Facebook pages or whatever (I confess I was playing Scrabble half the game).
The one thought I have is maybe this is a commentary on big brand’s faith in Facebook and/or Twitter’s stability/business offerings? Seems to me that the combination of the game and Brandbowl pretty much crippled Twitter–or at least I could barely follow Twitter from my iPhone during the game because it was so slow. I couldn’t tweet with the brandbowl hashtag at all. And the stories I’ve begun to hear about Facebook’s inability to adequately service even huge brands with huge ad budgets have me wondering whether brands are holding back for that reason, or if it’s just coincidence.
That said, I was very surprised that there were no mentions of Facebook pages, in particular. Maybe it should serve as a message to Facebook that they need to beef up their business offerings/support.
February 8th, 2010 at 8:27 pm
Hi Justin:
This was the very topic of my conversation at work today. Some great commercials, most not so much, but they forgot one integral thing even aside from social media integration. Where the heck did the good old fashioned CTA (call to action) go? These commercials left me with nothing to do and no place to go. Huge fail on all brands’ parts. How can you forget that? I won’t start my IMC talk here, ha these commercials focused on one channel - TV. Period. Ata 2.5M - 3M per spot, I think that money would have better served in Haiti or for causes here at home.
February 8th, 2010 at 11:27 pm
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