In watching the 2007 version of the Super Bowl between the Indianapolis Colts and the Chicago Bears for the first time I was actually interested more in the advertising! This doesn’t mean that I’m not interested in NFL football because I’m likely one of the world’s biggest fans! I am, however, very involved in the internet marketing industry (Duh! I work for TechWyse Internet Marketing!) As the industry grows and more people are using the world wide web as a source to gather more information about products and services offered by companies, I have become interested --- are company’s that are paying millions of dollars in advertising doing anything to promote their online or search engine marketing efforts during the big game?
After watching the game I was simply stunned that these big companies (for the most part) are not making any attempt to improve the viral nature of their product by creating online campaigns that will get the television audience thinking about their product or services for DAYS and MONTHS rather then for seconds.
Take the fantastic COKE ads for example. (I thought they were the absolute best I have seen in a long time!) In it we saw what we thought was a thug from the now famous “Grand Theft Auto” game. He turned out to be the exact opposite -- an all around great guy that promoted 'peace' and 'freedom'. Coke was spot on in nailing the sentiment of most developed nations.
Why not continue to captivate that audience by offering a black screen at the end of the commercial promoting the audience to go to the site to see a continuation to the commercial or further details on the ‘making’ of this fantastic concept? Why not print contest information on walls and buildings withing the actual commercial that can be entered by going to the site? Or urge users to participate in a pledge of acceptance for this commercial by going to the web site.
I’m really just throwing an example out there but in doing so am illustrating the potential value in making a commercial more then a ‘one hit wonder’. In this case Coke could have built a movement with this powerful commercial.
GoDaddy.com, was really the only commercial that I saw during the Super Bowl that really advertised their site --- but hey --- they are an internet based company so they should have!
It is not a matter of IF this will eventually happen, it’s a matter of WHEN. Convergence (where computers, information, television and video are all rolling into one) are set to quickly become the norm. History shows that the big companies (like the ones that are able to pay for advertising in the Super Bowl) are usually the slowest to catch on. They'll get it eventually, but the ones that grasp onto the powerful concepts of internet marketing will become the early winners.
The big winners in catching interest with their online persona during the Super Bowl game (and its almost 91 million households that were watching!):
GoDaddy.com – but of course --- this is their customer base!
Garmin – provided a focused call to action for the viewer to follow and played on a great theme featuring the ‘Mapasaurus’ as their campaign.
The best ‘could have’:
Coke! By far the most powerful commercial but really needed to tie a ribbon around the theme by integrating an online marketing campaign
Blah and Ho Hum:
Car Companies – aren’t we all getting bored of the same old thing? Cars driving around landscapes with different good looking people and so on and so on? It could have been Nissan, Ford, General Motors or Lada for all I remember! I would have been much more intrigued to know that if I logged into the website and found the was clickable, that I could signup on a form and potentially WIN a car! What’s $25k for a contest winner compared to the couple of million the company pays for the advertisement?
So the 2007 Super Bowl has ended and so has the advertisements. Their could have been many winners in the Search Engine Marketing game --- instead we are left remembering who we should --- Peyton Manning and Indianapolis Colts. I guess that isn’t such a bad thing --- unless you paid 3 million for a commercial that no one really quite remembers.
on
Looking back, I think that, in general, companies have made a good improvement when it comes to the commercials on Super Bowl. Some have included websites that people can check out after seeing the commercial and I am sure that these companies get a real surge of traffic right after their commercial is aired (they better have good servers :))
But there is still a lot of room for improvement when it comes to the online area. Many companies have not yet understood the importance of an online presence and are losing money to companies that do get it.
on
This is the point that I may have liked the most in your article: “instead we are left remembering who we should — Peyton Manning and Indianapolis Colts. I guess that isn’t such a bad thing — unless you paid 3 million for a commercial that no one really quite remembers.”
I wonder if in 2011 the absence of an online campaign to capitalize on the buzz was still a problem. However, it really looks like a missed opportunity to make these very expensive ads the only advertisement campaign.
Following up with social networks, or with search engine optimization does not have to be as expensive. In fact, I think that employing the internet can be a way to get considerable profit margins. This being, I am not an expert myself.