On Sunday the San Fran 49s with wonderkid quarterback Colin Kaepernick will take on a veteran Baltimore Ravens team featuring crazy (accused and acquitted) murdering evangelist Ray Lewis (seriously, Lewis’ Wikipedia page is well worth a read).
The Superbowl is a marketers dream with over 50 commercials on air during this marathon transmission of OTT American who-hah. Personally I love it, but it’s crazy to think that big brands are spending almost $4 million a pop on a 30 second ad.
Unless a TV ad stands out during the Superbowl it will easily get lost in the noise. So this year all the ad execs are all in for crowdsourcing.
Yes, this year the big brands want you to take part in their ad campaigns in the hope that you’ll share with friends online, and they’ll take part too.
As the network sharing grows, so do the YouTube views. No longer does that incredibly expensive TV ad blow by in the blink of an eye, instead it continues to proliferate the social networks, gain YouTube viewers exponentially, and provide serious value for the most socially integrated of ad men.
So, without further ado, these are the best Superbowl social campaigns to look out for on Superbowl Sunday:
Doritos’ “Crash the Superbowl” campaign encourages eager fans to submit their home-made ads, with the best ones aired during the game. The chap or chap-ess that creates the best ad for your favourite brand of spicy triangle chips gets $1 million and the chance to work with Michael Bay on the next “Transformers” movie. Count me in.
On a similar note, Pizza Hut’s “Hut, Hut, Hut” campaign asks viewers to submit their own creative ‘Quarterback’ films. The best will feature in an actual TV ad just before kick-off.
There are other ways to get your face on TV. Pepsi is fully endorsing Beyoncé’s one woman half time show. Send in your pictures via Facebook and your face could be one of 400 shown on the big screen to millions of viewers. Social followers have also been treated to a raft of back stage Beyoncé videos and Twitter updates of exactly where Beyoncé is today!
Meanwhile your other favourite carbonated soft drink, Coca-Cola, will air ‘Mirage’ – a Superbowl ad featuring three teams racing to be the first to Coke’s oasis of fizzy pop.
The social media spin is that viewers will be able to vote on Twitter via hashtags whether they want the “Showgirls,” “Cowboys,” or “Badlanders” to win. However I highly recommend not filling your stream with #showgirls hashtags unless you want to be deleting spam until late into the 4th quarter.
In our opinion these are the campaigns to look out for, but there are over 40 more! Let us know if there are any must-watch, must-get-social campaigns that we’ve missed.
Enjoy the game!
Questions, issues or concerns? I'd love to help you!