Ten GY&K team members weighed in on this year’s Super Bowl marketing.
In our office there’s more speculation about Super Bowl advertising than about who will win the actual game. That’s partially because we have a lot of confident Patriots fans, but mostly because we’re marketing geeks and there’s no better night to watch brands flex their marketing muscles.
With that in mind, we gathered Super Bowl advertising insights and predictions from a few GY&K team members:
Looking forward to the big “Ferris Bueller” tease with Matthew Broderick! Great pre-air buzz, gone viral and created tons of pressure for a sequel to one of the seminal coming-of-age comedies of all time! There’s a big secret here and lots of speculation about the advertiser. Any one else think this is a cool idea? Anyone..Bueller?
Pat Griffin
Chairman
I love how a few years ago Google cleverly told a story through the eyes of someone actually using their service (“Parisian Love”). I’ll be anxious to see if more brands use this tactic, which I think is a more effective method to actually encourage product usage, as opposed to the typical off-the-wall attention grabbing spots.
Travis York
President
There’s no doubt that social media integration within branded Super Bowl ad campaigns has been growing rapidly over the past several years. But this year, analysts are dubbing Super Bowl XLVI as ‘The Year Social Media Changed the Game.’ USA Today and Facebook are co-branding an app that features all the national ads that will appear during the game, along with a five-star rating button that let’s Facebook users judge, share, comment, and spread the ads — and their reactions — as they watch. Even the Super Bowl itself has received a social media facelift with their very own social media command center manned with a team of social media strategists analyzing, optimizing and responding to digital fan chatter across Facebook, Twitter and other social media channels.
Liz Steinhardt Pollock
Public Relations Manager
I thought last year’s Doritos Crash the Super Bowl spots were hysterical and these user generated gems have ranked #1 on the USA TODAY Ad Meter for two of the last three years. Based on that, I’m excited to see what spot wins this year. I love the social media aspect of this promo requiring very few marketing dollars. The stats are awesome – almost 500,000 votes for 5 videos, 2.7MM+ likes, 200K+ conversations. Plus, this year’s winner gets to work with Andy Samberg’s Lonely Island on a future Doritos project. Mmm Cheesy!!!
Shana Malik
Director of Media Relations
Chevy is trying to take advantage of the fact that Americans no longer simply ‘watch’ TV. Instead, they interact with it, experience it, vote on it, comment on it, tweet about it, etc. So understanding this, Chevy created its very own app helping consumers interact with the Super Bowl like never before. Users of the app receive a special license plate code, and during the Super Bowl Chevy will air commercials with the winning code. The app also allows members to login and post everything to Facebook or Twitter, encouraging them to share the app with their friends and followers. Chevy didn’t just decide to advertise to America’s largest television audience; they made a strategic decision to start a dialogue with them. I believe this is truly a winning approach.
Mike Stevens
Senior Marketing Planner
Looking forward to seeing if Bud-Light pushes their new product “Bud-Light Platinum.” It’s advertised as the same light beer but with a higher ABV at 6.0%. Bud Light is a favorite for getting some laughs during the big game, so I’ll be curious if they extend the Bud Light brand and theme to Bud-Light Platinum, or if they give it a new and distinct feel from the core BL brand. Anheuser Busch is always a player when it comes to humorous Super Bowl advertising, but I expect them to remain true to their roots and feature the more emotional Clydesdale spots in some fashion too.
Mike Giovinelli
Account Supervisor
This week I finally pulled the trigger on canceling my cable TV service. Fortunately, the Super Bowl will be streamed live online for just the second time this year. I’m anxious to see how advertising will be handled in the online realm and if it differs from the standard TV broadcast.
Ben Peirce
Multimedia Producer
Psyched to see that some of my favorite concepts will be back, especially the “office monkeys” from careerbuilder.com. Love that one! But the biggest shift to watch is how brands will further integrate across all mediums and dive deeper into the social well. To quote a great article from Harvard Business Review, “The TV spot has become the trailer for something bigger, broader and more interactive.”
Sophia Cigliano
SVP Client Services and Account Planning
I will be looking for how brands embrace the “second screen” phenomenon. Will advertisers be able to convince football fans to take their eyes off the game to watch more ads on their phones? More importantly, will the additional content be worth it?
Andrew Harris
Associate Creative Director
One of the most amusing games to play at Super Bowl parties is to guess what brand/product is being advertised before it is mentioned by name or a logo is shown. Are companies trying to create memorable connections between the :30 spots and their brand, or are they trying to make the most over-the-top and most talked-about commercial? Also, I look forward to NOT logging on to GoDaddy.com afterwards to see more of Danica Patrick.
Nathaniel Grimes
Business Development Coordinator
