On Wednesday, I gave my view on Trends & Observations of this year’s Super Bowl advertisements. Today, I’ll cover what role Social Media played, if at all, in the 69 spots which ran from kickoff to the final whistle of Super Bowl XLVI.
In my blog prior to the Super Bowl, I wondered if advertiser’s would use Social Media to turn branding (traditionally national ads) to call-to-action (traditionally local ads). As I watched each advertisement, this is what I found:
- Out of the 69 spots, I noticed 24 (34.7%) listed their website or facebook page
- Only 2 (2.8%) listed their Twitter hash mark
To be fair, another source, Altimeter, reports 57% of the ads mentioned a website – although I’m not exactly sure what timeframe of ads they reviewed.
The lack of Twitter love makes sense, as it doesn’t make as big an impact as a company’s robust website. I’m not against Twitter (you can follow me here) and it can be an excellent tool in creating buzz but, if one is spending $3-4M per 30 seconds, you are looking for the biggest impact you can make. Ideally, your company site should be convincingly telling your story and capturing leads or producing sales.
Which brings me to listing your website and/or facebook page. Unless you feel you can get everything you want to say in 30, 60 seconds (or, in Chrysler’s case, 2 minutes), I would suggest directing viewers to where they can get more 
of the story. More importantly, I would give viewers a reason why to get more of the story.
The seven Dot Com advertisers (Hulu, Go Daddy, Tax Act, Teleflora, Cars, E-Trade and CareerBuilder) made sure to tell their audience where to go (in a nice way). However, only Go Daddy offered more than their product for reasons to visit their site (sex appeal, even though many I interviewed found it tacky). I struggle to recall any commercial other than Go Daddy that said, “To see the rest of the story, visit…” As a Guerrilla Marketer, this seems elementary. Continue reading →
