As an avid (some would say fanatical) football fan, Sunday afternoons from August to the first week of February are sacred. They are reserved for friends, camaraderie, beer and food as my friends and I visit a multitude of watering holes to fill our football craving. However, as this Sunday approaches, this Sunday is not like other Sundays through the Fall, as this one is "Super".
Superbowl Sunday has reached epic status in terms of the two-week build-up to what will undoubtedly be the most watch television program of the year. This year, as Russell Wilson and the Seahawks and Tom Brady and the Patriots battle it out on the field to see who can crown themselves champions of the National Football League, there will be an equal amount of competition off the field. Despite the magnitude of the game itself, there will be many more people paying attention to the TV during the stoppages of play, as companies try to battle each other with their Superbowl ads. The commercials that air on Superbowl Sunday are just as big, if not a bigger event than the game itself. The cost of just a 30 second ad costs millions of dollars ($4.5M to be exact) and can catapult an unknown company from obscurity to mainstream.
As Laura O'Rielly hi-lights in her article for Business Insider entitled "Here Is Everything We Know About The 2015 Super Bowl Ads" , you have the usual players just as Budweiser and Doritos having multiple ads airing during the game. However, what I found interesting is that nearly every ad has a Hashtag to allow customers to follow up on the ad via social media. What I also find particularly interesting was just a few short years ago, it was always a mystery as to which ads/companies will shell out the money for an ad and now nearly a week before the big game, all of the ads are readily available to us on Youtube. This allows consumers additional opportunities to interact with the company and hope their ad is that one that goes viral. However, the key for companies is to leverage their captive audience into actual business to ensure their sizable investment doesn't go to waste.
Another growing trend is companies reaching out to their customers to further engage with key customers for their input and involvement. Companies such as Doritos has given the camera over to their consumers and will show an ad that was produced by asking people to send in their own submissions for the chance to win a $1 million prize. Even new entrants to the Superbowl commercial game, Carnival Corp, sourced their commercial "from its "World's Leading Cruise Lines Marketing Challenge," which gave North American consumers the chance to "join" the company's marketing team and vote on their favorite creative concepts." From the companies perspective, they have the option to use the best ad from multiple sources and it is cheaper than hiring an ad agency. It also has the potential to be seen by others as a company that truly values its customers and serves as positive PR.
The Chief Marketing Officer from Esurance explained the importance of having an ad on Superbowl Sunday: "Esurance is a major brand in the insurance category, but we’re not as well known as our major competitors who spend far more than we do. So, maximizing awareness of our innovative offering for customers is important. The Super Bowl is the biggest media event of the year and it offers us the opportunity to efficiently reach a very large audience while making them aware that, because of our innovative options, Esurance is the smarter choice for insurance in today’s modern world." The platform of the Superbowl is unlike any other and CMO's fully recognize the importance a Superbowl add can have on business.
For companies to really get a ROI on their Superbowl commercial investment, it is absolutely critical that their investment goes beyond what is on TV for 30 seconds. Their website needs to be able to handle the increased traffic, customers should be able to quickly find the company online and the digital presence you have must have the potential to be quickly realized with the ultimate goal of converting new business and reconnecting with current customers.
