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What Super Bowl Marketers Missed ... Immediate Conversion

Posted by Melissa Summers on Tuesday, February 8, 2011
sara kowal eprizeSuper Bowl Sunday. A marketer's dream. The one night of the year when consumers actually DVR a game just to catch the commercials and re-watch the ones they love. We've all been in a room of thirty people when suddenly one person "SHHHHes " the others loudly and the group goes silent just to experience the next great commercial.
 
These days, consumers don't just laugh, cry or cringe (Doritos Finger-lickers, I'm thinking of you here) with the folks at their party. They also laugh, cry and cringe with friends on Facebook, followers on Twitter and friends they've been texting all night. 
 
According to Lightspeed Research, 66% of the coveted 18–34-year-old audience was expected to be online – mostly through mobile devices – during the big game. So the question for marketers is, if you have a hyper-engaged audience with immediate access to mobile devices and a willingness to engage in the moment, why aren't you taking full advantage of this opportunity? These ads need to turn your large, captive audience into consumers and drive sales throughout the year.
 

GoDaddy does a great job of enticing their audience to go online to check out the ending of their risqué commercials. A couple of brands leveraged their ad buy leading up to the Super Bowl with contests - so come game time, consumers are looking for their ads.


A few companies, such as Audi, include Facebook URLs and Twitter hash tags at the end of their spot to encourage consumer reaction. Each of these helps extend the media buy and chatter on the social networks – but is it enough? The immediate call to action is missing – the one that turns someone who watched your ad into someone who actively participates in your brand. So how can Super Bowl advertisers improve next year?


Here are a few ideas to turn anonymous viewers into engaged consumers: 


1.  Incent the audience to engage with your brand. Think sweepstakes via Twitter with the winner announced at the end of the game. What would happen if Chevy had encouraged people to tweet about their ads all evening and then announced a sweepstakes winner's name just before Glee began? 

2.  Leverage exclusive content to drive consumers to your site and register for access. As mentioned, GoDaddy drives people directly online, but they are missing the opportunity to truly engage with their audience. If registration was required to see their extended content, then GoDaddy would have a database of consumers to reach out to all year. Any exclusive content works. Think bloopers, behind the scenes, extended trailers, and more.

3.  Ask the audience to participate. Text to unlock a discount or a chance to win. For instance, Mercedes could extend the P. Diddy endorsement by texting to get a P. Diddy ringtone and a chance to win a Mercedes.

What are your ideas for brands to engage with consumers right there…in the moment…to turn them into customers all year long?

On a quick side note from a Detroit-based gal…..I want to thank Chrysler and Eminem for reminding the world that we are proud to be the Motor City. Now if only they had included a way for those with mobile phones to share our own memories of Chrysler cars and Detroit landmarks. Or maybe to reward everyone who liked their Facebook page with a significant contribution to Detroit city schools or another Detroit charity.

By Sara Kowal, VP, Product Innovation, ePrize

   

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