Many Super Bowl advertisers will utilize, or have utilized already, some
aspect of social media for their advertisements. Now, this component can be
anything from advertising augmented reality on their website, to uploading
your own spot on their page, voting for your favorite spot, to simply
offering up a call to action Twitter or Facebook link. Regardless of what
sort of social media promotion these advertisers use, it remains clear that
social media is becoming a dominant force in marketing, even on a
macro-marketing level.
Take Budweiser for instance. Budweiser has asked fans on Facebook to vote
for their favorite spot to air on the Super Bowl. It’s not that Budweiser is
indecisive in this matter, they are utilizing social media to proactively
interact personally with their brand. They are asking their brand followers
to become apart of the brand experience in conjunction with the Super Bowl.
Will Budweiser see a direct sales benefit from this? They probably won’t.
However, Bud has now aligned themselves with their followers on a personal
level and on the Super Bowl level. This breeds camaraderie and it develops
loyalty in the long term.
Pepsi, however, has taken a different route all together. Pepsi announced
they will withdrawal all ads from the Super Bowl to focus most of their
advertising efforts in social media. This is going to turn out to be the
Super Bowl between conventional advertising and social media. Will it work?
With the investment in a 30 second spot during the Super Bowl and the same
price invested in social media, you can gain a lot of traction ahead of the
market, for a longer period of time. And who knows what Pepsi might do with
the newly designated Twitter Super Bowl hashtag #SB44 and their social media
strategy.
Audi will be introducing the Green Police during the Super Bowl. Green
Police is meant to advise viewers on making proper environmental decisions.
They are promoting this movement, in an undoubtedly satirical way, first
through Super Bowl advertisements, then with a social media accompaniment
which will most likely be YouTube. The tie of conventional advertisement,
with social media and the environment, should prove to be highly effective.
So, does conventional advertising still work, and especially during the
Super Bowl? The answer is yes, it does. However, it only works in a small
timeframe and usually only works on a one-off basis. People remember the
ads, not the product, nor do they remember to purchase the product. Yet,
utilizing social media is an ongoing advertisement that keeps the brand and
the product center stage with the help of consumer involvement and loyalty.
What is your opinion on conventional advertisements, social media
integration or solely using social media to advertise products?
(Photo Credit: National Football League)