The Future of Super Bowl Ads Doesn’t Include TV—or Football

Article: https://www.wired.com/story/super-bowl-marketing-beyond-tv/

The Super Bowl, perhaps the most important television advertisement event in the world, is not immune to disruption to the traditional advertisement model from digital marketing. In recent years, I have noticed how social media, in the form of hashtags and viral moments in Super Bowl ads, has amplified Super Bowl ads. What do I mean by "amplified"?

Each day after the Super Bowl, ten years ago, we would all watch the "top ads" on YouTube, clicking play to relive each one. We would scroll through articles listing the most-watched ads. Conversations with friends were replaced and augmented by YouTube comments.

Now, social media is the content. The ads are just a way to start a conversation. But, as described in this article, advertisers are now realizing that they don't need to buy expensive Super Bowl ads to advertise to consumers on the big day. Why is this?

From the article: “If I run a televised Budweiser ad, I can’t measure who then went out and bought a case of beer,” says David Warschawski, CEO and founder of the Warschawski agency. “When it’s hard to show the ROI, why would you do it? Online is much more targeted, and every click moves the consumer down the funnel toward purchases.”

So, as seen above, advertisers are being pushed to social media because they can directly tie clicks and purchases to their marketing.

Also from the article: "Again, Skittles is taking that move one step further, gathering real-time feedback from its targeted audience. No one’s reacting to the play’s poster? Draw up a new one. People don’t like the tone of an advertisement? Change it. ”It’s really nimble and iterative,” Litow says. “We literally adjust the campaign as we go.”"

Above seems to the big reason for the switch: the ability to customize ads. Remember the Super Bowl ads that we flops? Digital marketing lets advertisers make flops a thing of the past.

All in all, television advertising seems to be complement to digital marketing, and, in recent years, has started to just be a way to grab attention and drive searches.