Super Bowl ads have become much more than just TV ads. Most Super Bowl advertisers now surround their ads with intensive public relations campaigns to increase their ad’s value and return on investment.
Companies now combine the highly anticipated but costly television ads with well planned pre-game publicity campaigns. A typical strategy involves promoting the ads and dropping hints about their content on social media to boost pre-game publicity.
Although most PR and marketing pros may never promote Super Bowl ads, the campaigns offer some interesting tactics that can be mirrored in other PR projects.
Super Bowl ads are so expensive — roughly $4.5 million for 30 seconds — companies naturally want to get the most mileage from them.
“The Super Bowl is its own medium,” Deutsch North America Chief Executive Mike Sheldon told The Wall Street Journal. “It’s a public relations integrated marketing campaign that happens to have a TV commercial as a component of it.”
To Release or not to Release
Brands are taking two general strategies. Some are building suspense by dropping hints about the ads on social media but keeping their ads secret; some are releasing their advertisements early on social media to obtain more publicity.
Advertising Age reports that, according to its iSpot.tv analysis of 2014 Super Bowl ads, ads that were released early or were linked to a pre-game campaign had higher digital engagement rates.
Budweiser’s “Puppy Love” ad that was posted on YouTube weeks before last year’s Super Bowl garnered over 54 million online views and over 2.6 million social interactions. Budweiser will again release its ads early online.
Lexus released its ad more than two weeks before the big game this year in a calculated effort to gain additional exposure.
The early-release strategy worked for Deutsch LA and Volkswagen in 2011. The ad released the Wednesday before the game drew 17 million views online before it was seen on television.
“From a pure exposure standpoint, we made back all our money on the spot before it ever ran without spending a dime,” Sheldon told the Journal.
Other companies believe they would lose the element of surprise by releasing ads early. Viewers are eagerly waiting for Super bowl ads, perhaps as much as the game itself.
Nissan, for one, is opting for surprise. Nissan marketing executive Fed Diaz said he’s not worried about missing free pre-game publicity. Although it’s not releasing its ad early, Nissan will drop hints on social media immediately before the game. It also has a social media plan for when the ad is shown and when the game ends.
The Wix.com Campaign
The Wix.com #ItsThatEasy campaign illustrates how online promotions can be combined with a Super bowl ad. Its ad, to be shown during the game, portrays former NFL players trying to launch small businesses. But the campaign also features online videos, promoted on social media, and websites that feature the players’ fictional enterprises.
A video of former Dallas Cowboys running back Emmitt Smith teaching line dancing generated 1.6 million views on Facebook in its first 24 hours.
“We have a great 30-second narrative but an even better longer narrative to tell about each of the trials and tribulations and humorous moments they go through as small business owners,” Eric Mason, Wix’s director of strategic marketing communications, told the Journal. “The Super Bowl is one piece of that and a standalone, dynamic component.”
In another creative campaign, Carnival is holding an online contest for consumers to vote for ads to run during the Super Bowl. Consumers see previews of three of the ads plus a teaser for a “mystery” ad. It plans to eventually release all the ads on digital platforms.
The campaigns also garner bonus coverage in consumer and business publications.
Bottom Line: PR campaigns can significantly bolster the pay-back of Super Bowl ads. Releasing ads before the game online or creating “teaser” campaigns involve relatively minor additional costs, yet deliver significant return on the investment in terms of increased exposure, awareness and lead development.
William J. Comcowich founded and served as CEO of CyberAlert LLC, the predecessor of Glean.info. He is currently serving as Interim CEO and member of the Board of Directors. Glean.info provides customized media monitoring, media measurement and analytics solutions across all types of traditional and social media.
