For this year's Super Bowl, brands are spending $4 million for a 30 second spot, which also carries the obligation of $4 million in additional advertising spend on the network that year. That is quite a big investment, and the question has always been whether companies can put such a large bet on getting the return for it. However, the investment is actually much bigger these days, and to realize the return takes that much more effort. In the digital world, if you want to showcase your brand with a Super Bowl commercial, you really need to support a life of the commercial that lasts well beyond the 30 seconds it appears on TV.
Brands are often building digital campaigns around the commercial. Activities in the weeks leading up to the commercial include pre-releases and sneak peeks, digital contests, and starting the conversations/anticipation through communications. Some contests and social media participation are also meant to be a part of the commercial itself. Doritos is the biggest and most successful example, running a fan contest every year in which they produce their own commercial and the winner's is featured as the actual Super Bowl ad. The campaign then picks up during the game, as most commercials now feature a hashtag or facebook page, hoping to drive traffic to them as the audience watches. Mass amounts of chatter about the commercials are going on outside proprietary pages as well, so it is important that brands monitor and perhaps be a part of those conversations as well. The life of the ad lives well past the game as well, whether it be through existing youtube videos, social and traditional media review and rankings of commercials, and the campaigns that are sparked by the commercials themselves. Many will seed the internet with additional content, and investments in paid and display advertising are critical in the periods during and after the game.
Successful, stand alone ads are more and more becoming a thing of the past. The Super Bowl is just a 4 hour game, and the commercial is just 30 seconds, and it now requires a full effort in creating a digital campaign to create an ad that will be memorable over time.
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