Teaser: Déjà vu all over again. Let’s take a trip
into the past by checking out the Wins and Fails of last year’s Super Bowl
ad-off.
Ain’t
nuttin’ like the Superbowl.
It’s the loudest
shout of old media – the opportunity to connect with more than half the nation
in an afternoon with a message more or less guaranteed to be watched, discussed
and scrutinized. Plus, if your ad is really really good or, like, a total piece
of poo, there’s always the chance you’ll be featured on the front page of newspapers
coast to coast.
But it’s a
lot more than that. It’s also a brilliant beacon within new media. People talk
about experiences. And the Super Bowl is something we all experience. What an
opportunity for a savvy (and well heeled) brand to drive thousands of friends
and follows in one short afternoon. To mesmerize bloggers from coast to coast,
and to motivate their typing and embedding fingers.
It’s the
perfect media storm. And if your ad actually makes the product compelling, it’s
the opportunity to sell loads of stuff lickety-split.
But
whatever. Let’s all relive some of the Wins and Fails from last year’s Super
Bowl!
WIN: Chrysler “Imported from Detroit”
It took
Fiat management to teach us ‘Murikans how to “do” patriotism right. Not that
there was ever a shortage of flag wavin’ in our spots – I am told that visitors
to this great land get the willies from our ads. But it took Chrysler’s new
Eyetalian management to craft a patriotic message that connects with the side
in all of us that hopes for a future in which not every single American must
take a job wearing a headset. And saying “How can I give you excellent
service?” while simultaneously training his replacement in Bangalore.
This wasn’t
just gratuitous flag waving. The ad screamed strength and power and democratic
ideals. And, yes, quality, from a mark that sorely needed to stand for
SOMETHING. The choice of Eminem was genius – a “brand” inexorably connected
with Detroit and a gritty, authentic appeal even broader than his MP3
penetration. Plus he’s cute.
Proof of the Win:
·
Tremendous increase in Chrysler 200 sales versus the Sebring it
replaced (Allpar)
·
Tens of millions of ad views on YT and other sites (YT)
·
4X increase in Chrysler Google searches (Google Trends)
WIN: Bud Light Dog Sitting
This slice
of family friendly physical comedy was the highest rated ad in the USA Today AD
Meter study (along with a Dorito’s ad,) and not without good reason. The beauty
of the Super Bowl is its mass appeal. And dogs playing poker is always good for
a yuk whether you’re 21 or 91. Just ask the people that sell velvet pictures!
No objectification of women, no insider cultural references. It’s dogs. Doing
funny things. All connected to the product.
When you do
dogs playing butlers, you aren’t gonna win a Cannes Lion. But you WILL sell a
lot of beer. Which is actually the point.
Proof of
the Win:
·
Highest rated by consumers (USA
Today)
·
Millions of online views (YT, Y! Video, Google
Video)
WIN: VW L’il Vader
No red car.
No talk of zero to sixty. Nor, I venture to say, is the woman a MILF, though
perhaps she’s a MYLF – to each their own. But I digress. We were talking about
which of the gimme car ad things aren’t in this baby. Oh, here’s a biggie. The
VO about “zero point nine percent financing” followed by the whisper “for
highly qualified buyers” – it’s decidedly MIA.
But what VW
understood is that emotional storytelling trumps “speeds and feeds” in 2012. That
the target would make a visceral connection with this evil l’il toddler. That
connection carried the brand into tens of millions of social discussions and consumer
decision sets. And hey, it’s fun, and exciting, and memorable -- three equities
not then connected to the “people’s car.”
VW needed
to restore a place on our radar. A three year old did it for them.
Proof it’s a win:
·
Almost 10 million views and 49,000 likes BEFORE the Super Bowl, when
it was “leaked” by VW (SEW)
·
Winner of the coveted University of South Carolina “Cocky
Award”
·
Best Passat sales in six years in 2011 (VW
Vortex)
WIN: Snickers Logging
I have
adored this campaign since it relaunched Betty White’s career. But the
challenge of something so acutely funny as Betty playing football is how to
extend it. This great message combines the legendary whininess of Richard Lewis
with the crabby obnoxiousness of Roseanne Barr in a one two punch.
The product
message comes through loud and clear, and a big ole log hits Roseanne right in
the gut, which would seem to have both fantasy and real world appeal.
Proof it’s
a win:
·
Millions of online views (YT, Y! Video, and Google Video)
·
1.9 million references and features (Google)
·
Manual comment analysis reveals that consumer reaction is almost
always positive
WIN: Dorito’s Crash the Super Bowl
Dorito’s is
always ahead of the pack digitally, but especially in social. Their Super Bowl
strategy was and is to turn to budding videographers like you and me (and small
studios just getting their start) to capture the desire and crunch.
It’s a win
in several ways. First, the ads, such as the one above, are very good. Second,
their “Crash the Super Bowl” website showcases dozens of entries, which more or
less guarantees that millions of people will waste whole minutes watching when
they should be generating their weekly TPR reports. Third, the contest itself
creates tremendous buzz in social media among both lay people and the opinion
leading “creative class.” And that to no production costs and you got yourself
a fat end-of-year marketer bonus!
Proof it’s a win:
5,600
submissions and 28 Million YT page views (ThoughtPick)
Strong
traffic every year to the Crashthesuperbowl.com web site. (Quantcast)
Consistently
high rankings in the USA Today SuperBowl Ad Meter (USA Today)
WINS: PETA and Go Daddy
Tits are
not an idea. But each of these brands uses them to drive awareness year after
year. PETA never actually makes the “big game” because they produce ads
DESIGNED to be rejected by Network Clearance. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFlHDlYs4c4
is just an example. Because of its content, it can’t be embedded.
Go Daddy
put itself on the map with buxom models driving awareness for what is almost by
definition a commodity product. The problem with T ’n A as an awareness
building device is that it’s hard to keep busting through the clutter year
after year. How do you follow up DD-riven awareness burst? DDD? GGG? Surely
there is some
point at which larger ceases to be appealing to a general audience.
So whaddaya
do? Call Joan Rivers! Who was proud of her ad and said it had important
meaning: "The message for young girls is,
marry rich while you've got it. If you want to look like me, you want a shake
for breakfast, a shake for lunch and extensive surgery for dinner."
Proof that it’s a win (PETA)
·
Doubled web traffic (Quantcast)
·
One million+ online mentions/discussions (Google)
Proof it’s a win (Go Daddy)
·
Huge popularity of tandem social media campaign in which Joan tweeted,
“Yes, yes, it is my body.”
·
Millions of social mentions on Twitter and Facebook, in addition to
hundreds of blog features
FAIL: Stella Artois: Underground Club
I like the
quirky campaign for Stella Artois and its depictions of idealized European
lifestyles. The stories are at once entertaining physical comedies and
carefully constructed tableau underscoring the irresistible appeal of the beer.
LOL. Tableau indeed.
Pretentious?
Moi?
Then we
come to this spot. It’s not a bad ad, but I question the placement. Perhaps
it’s because I love the brand and want to see it place ads before art house
movies, or at the very least dramas starring Angelina Jolie.
And I’ve
been in American marketing long enough to know that women in Packer’s sweatshirts
eating Rotelle Velveeta dip like their men smelling of Old Spice and Pert Plus,
not Galousies and Camembert Cheese. Super Bowl is the time to show ads starring
a shiny faced Brett Favre (making sure, of course, to omit any of those photos
of his winky.) It’s NOT the time for messaging starring a funky looking Adrien
Brody.
Signs it’s
a fail:
<20,000 YT views
Very low
level of US social buzz
FAIL:
Hyundai Elantra Kaleidoscope
Hey,
nothing I can say can detract from the tremendous success of this brand year
after year. Hyundai marketing clearly rocks. But this Elantra ad tries really hard
to be noteworthy, yet with limited success.
One of the
common denominators of successful Big Game ads is storytelling. There’s no
story here. Rather, Hyundai served up a visual feast that is interesting to
watch but doesn’t leave the viewer with “it.” It being the message. The
positioning is powerful as an idea, but this ad, and running it in the Super
Bowl, seem to be poor ways of communicating it.
And why are
women’s legs spinning at me?
Signs it’s
a fail:
<100K YT
views (YT, Y! Video, Google
Video)
Almost no
social media “buzz” (Technorati)
FAIL: Home Away Government Agency
The most
memorable bit in the ad is the (test) baby’s head being crushed against a Plexiglas
wall. Virtually all of the social discussion on this ad is about that instant
of film.
Based upon
my admittedly cursory examination of the comments, it appears that men – young
men in particular – found it hilarious. Older folks and especially women seem
generally horrified. This campaign was a lightning rod of emotion. Strong
visceral reactions are, of course, great for socializing a message. But what is
the brand benefit of this discussion? Do couples sit at kitchen tables browse
the web together and say, “Hey, Home Away! They are the ones that crushed a
baby’s skull against a wall! Let’s rent from them!”
Hey, maybe
they sold bazillions of rentals. I don’t actually know. The fail here is with
Network Standards and Practices. You approved an ad of a baby’s head being
crushed? I for one would rather see PETA’s women fellating broccoli than this.
Signs it’s a fail:
High number
of negative comments about the ad (various sources)
No link
between the discussion and the actual service (various sources)
