How To Win Your Client The Super Bowl
You’ve worked tirelessly for months, if not an entire year, since the last big game. Each day, you and your teammates have meticulously studied your opponents and adjusted your game plans accordingly. Your blood, sweat and tears will play out in front of millions on Super Bowl Sunday, so you better bring your A-game.
And hopefully, you’ll be able to watch some football too…
The Super Bowl is a momentous occasion for brands. For new ones, the big game’s massive audience offers an unparallelled reach, as well as a great opportunity to jumpstart sales (think Avocados From Mexico or Wix.com). Established brands can use the Super Bowl to reinforce salience (think Doritos) or kick off a new campaign (think Bud Light). Research suggests that these strategies can help your client hoist a trophy on February 5th:
Think Social, Digital and Mobile (Not Just TV)
We know that in general, integrated campaigns outperform single-channel campaigns, so this principle holds especially true during such a huge advertising moment. Brands that run TV spots should look to social, digital and mobile platforms for a supplementary boost. Research from Facebook and Simulmedia shows that brands can drive up to 5 times greater customer conversion when viewers see their TV spot in proximity to a Facebook video ad of theirs.
A well-planned social/digital/mobile strategy also offers a viable alternative to TV work. Brands can easily dominate the Super Bowl conversation with timely reactions to big in-game moments (think Oreo’s “Dunk In The Dark” tweet when the lights went out during Super Bowl XLVII).
This sort of “war room” approach to content can prove especially effective on mobile-centric platforms like Snapchat and Instagram, where millions of viewers will tune in while watching the game on TV. Also, adding paid dollars to your content can maximize reach while thousands of other brands post online organically.
Showcase Branding, and Then Entertain the Audience
Ads that properly sequence brand cues (logos, coloring, etc.) and entertaining moments drive the strongest purchase intent. Research from Harvard Business School shows that introducing these cues first will make an entertaining moment even more valuable later in the commercial. This approach conditions viewers to associate their feelings of amusement with the brand, striking the perfect balance between purchase appeal and entertainment value.
The Harvard study found that Pepsi MAX’s “Love Hurts” spot performed best after striking this balance. The ad shows a comedically quarrelsome couple drinking cans of the soda (branding cue), followed by the girlfriend accidentally launching her can at a woman catching her boyfriend’s eye (entertaining climax). Spots that took the “Entertain Then Brand” approach failed to deliver the same results as “Love Hurts.”
Debut Your Spot Before Gameday
Although we place a premium on the excitement of watching new ads during the game, brands can actually drive the most conversation by debuting their work beforehand. A study from Unruly found that 7 of last year’s 10 most shared Super Bowl ads aired before kickoff.
Airing a spot online before gameday can drive both pre and post-game spikes in social media shares (as opposed to just one spike after an in-game debut). For example, T-Mobile’s “Restricted Bling” spot, (denoted in light green on the graph above) spiked in shares right before Super Bowl Sunday, only to eclipse those numbers after airing in-game. The commercial went on to account for 1 in every 10 ads shared and 1 in every 14 viewed from January through February of last year (see graph below).
Whether you’re looking to boost sales, purchase intent, or online buzz, an integrated, properly-branded, and well-timed Super Bowl campaign can work wonders for your client. The advertising landscape may feel cluttered, but on this gridiron, the right moves will separate you from the rest of the pack:
