While America waited for the Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers to kick off on Sunday afternoon for Super Bowl XLV, millions of viewers had already previewed some of the ads that were set to air during the game. Each year, the hype and buzz of the commercials shown during the Super Bowl often garner just as much media attention as the two football teams who headline the premier sporting event. And Super Bowl XLV was no exception.
What has changed in recent years, however, is the advertiser’s strategy in leveraging social media to drive greater awareness and hype of their advertisements before, during and after the game. Take for example Volkswagen’s ‘Darth Vader’ commercial, which the company and its agency openly leaked on YouTube on February 2, 2011 generating more than eight million hits before the commercial aired on national TV Sunday during the Super Bowl.
USA Today Business Reporter Laura Petrecca commented on Monday’s edition of The Today Show that placing this ad on YouTube “was a stroke of advertising genius.” By placing this video on YouTube in advance, Volkswagen created the initial buzz that prompted people at Super Bowl parties to say, “Hey, hey, don’t talk now, watch this ad because it’s getting a lot of buzz, and you’re going to pay attention.”
Still, some companies question if they will see a strong return on their investment of a reported $3 million for a :30 television ad to air during the Super Bowl. Groupon was one of this year’s new entrants to the Super Bowl advertising mix who recently blogged about its internal debate if television ads are worth the money. Groupon’s blogger Andrew stated in his post on Sun., Feb. 6 that the company has depended mostly on word-of-mouth marketing and paid search advertising, but because many people still hadn’t heard of Groupon, they decided to “invade the rest of the world with a proper Super Bowl commercial.”
Unfortunately, Groupon’s ‘spoof’ commercials, which mocked the company and celebrity-endorsed public service announcements, were considered to be in poor taste among many Super Bowl viewers and the backlash has been quickly spreading through social media networking sites and blogs all over the Web. It is uncertain what impact the public’s disdain will have on the company in the long-term. However, Groupon has acted quickly on a communications strategy utilizing social media to respond to the negative backlash and reemphasize the campaign’s focus of “supporting their partnerships with many hallmark community organizations, for whom we’re raising money at SaveTheMoney.org.”
Even if you don’t have $3 million to spend on a Super Bowl ad, what can you take away from these examples?
It is important to remember that social media is another critical tool in the PR toolbox for companies, a subject we have previously discussed in our blog. Social media has forever changed the way that information is being accessed, shared and processed. Whether a campaign is designed to launch as a television commercial, a print advertisement or as a true social media campaign, it has the capability of spreading like wildfire either positively or negatively to millions of people in a matter of minutes, if not seconds.
As PR professionals, we are always looking at how these mediums can help amplify a client’s message to journalist and consumers. Regardless of the channel, the most important rule is to be open and transparent with your audiences when it comes to starting the discussion or influencing the debate, much like what Volkswagen and Groupon have done with their recent Super Bowl ad campaigns.