In a recent news story a Creative Director (that may or may not be related to me) stated that “51% of viewers are watching for the commercials, not the game”. I have to admit, I’m one of them. Unlike most shows, I fast-forward through the game and skipped to the commercials.
With about 80 Million viewers there is no questioning that a Super Bowl commercial in an incredible platform for your brand, but at $3 million a pop is it worth it? Believe it or not, from a traditional media perspective, a $37.50 CPM for TV isn’t terrible. For the purpose of this post I’m not going to get into how much more effective $3 Million might be spent using emerging media, although I will point out that Pepsi didn’t have a Super Bowl commercial, but they did have a premium placed banner ad on www.nfl.com … interesting.
Advertising 101: Reach without Frequency = Wasted Money
Seth Godin in his book Permission Marketing uses an analogy to demonstrate the importance of frequency in promotional campaigns. The analogy goes like this, if you were given 100 seeds with enough water to water each seed once would you plant all 100 seeds and water each one once or would you plant 25 seeds and use all of the water on those 25 seeds?
Tip #1: Add frequency to your Reach
If you are willing to pay $.0375 for every inebriated TV viewing football fan slipping in and out of a food induced coma, how much more would you be willing to pay for a potentially sober PC viewer that actively sought out your ad and by the nature of the viewing device is empowered to take actively engage with the brand? If the latter audience is appealing to you, you might want to consider promoting your Ad through Paid Search, Display Ads and YouTube’s sponsored video program. On a CPM basis it will be much cheaper than your TV ad and on a cost per view basis it will likely be more expensive, but the benefits of your ad being seen by someone who is actively seeking it out verses having your ad forced upon them make up for it…
Dante’s Inferno, and Bridgestone took advantage of this and are quickly on their way to a million permission based video views.
Tip #2: Capitalize on the pre and post Super bowl buzz
Buzz on Super Bowl commercials starts well in advance of the game and ends several days after. Make sure that you capitalize on this buzz. One thing to consider is pre releasing your Super Bowl ad on YouTube. This will allow you to take advantage of the heightened Super Bowl related search activity AND will give you a head start in racking up views on YouTube which will help you show up ahead of your competitors if a user sorts by views.
Tip#3: Optimize your commercial for free/cheap impressions
Do you have a search engine optimized landing page on your website or microsite for the keywords “Your Brand + Super Bowl Commercial”?
Are you buying paid search and directing them to your landing page or YouTube Channel?
Have you uploaded your Super Bowl Commercial video to every applicable free video sharing site (YouTube, Viddler, Vimeo, Meta Café, Yahoo Video’s…)?
Don’t underestimate the residual impact of these video sites, Apple only paid to air their 1984 Super Bowl commercial one time, but it’s been viewed almost 5 Million times on YouTube.
So what about you? Did you watch for the game or the commercials?
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- Intel to monitor social networks on Super Bowl ads (macworld.com)
- Top 10 Super Bowl Commercials 2010 (VIDEO) (blippitt.com)
- Watch Super Bowl Commercials Before, During & After the Game (makeuseof.com)
- Watch Super Bowl XLIV 2010 Ads on Hulu and YouTube (techie-buzz.com)
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Andrew,
I enjoyed this post and don’t think I would be surprised to learn that only a handful of the national brands that forked over the money for a spot followed these steps.
I’d like to add that not only was there an enormous amount of buzz regarding Super Bowl ads on Google, but on Social Media sites as well. I think every spot should have had a call to action for users to fan up on FB or Twitter (maybe an official hashtag) and join other customers and the brand online in the days immediately before and after the game to talk about what they thought of the spots. This could have been a great chance to build a quick community, get a picture of the people who are most vocal about a product, and extend that interaction beyond :30.
Ryan Miller´s last blog ..Customers Come First in New Work for First Source
Ryan- You are spot on, the buzz around brands involved in the Super Bowl isn’t just in Search and it’s an ideal time for the brand to engage fans in their Social communities. I checked Facebook for a handful of brands that advertised during the Super Bowl and I found no coordinated social media efforts.
Great post, Andrew.
Shannon Johnson´s last blog ..shannopop: RT @SitewireAgency: 3 Tips for making the most of your Super Bowl Ad http://om.ly/fGaB | New Facebook Layout–For Fan Pages http://om.ly/fIdC