05/02/2019

Super Bowl LIII: The Stand-Out Social Media Marketing

The social activity leveraging this year’s Super Bowl felt about as flat as the game itself.

 

In terms of brand work, probably the smartest piece of social was a single tweet by Mercedes-Benz which was mystifyingly deleted shortly after it was posted.

 

Fans and consumers didn’t offer that much more than the brands either. Indeed, according to Tubular Insights, 65% of all of January’s Facebook Super Bowl views came from media publishers and not from consumers or fans.

 

While as far as the Big Game ads themselves were concerned, it was Verizon’s ‘The Team That Wouldn’t Be Here’ (see case study) that was the most popular in terms of attention and conversion analytics metrics across Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and search engines, (iSpot.tv.)

 

It was also the most-watched Super Bowl ad on YouTube by 10pm (ET) on Super Bowl Sunday.

 

While Twitter’s own #BrandBowl showed that Planters’ Mr Peanut had the highest percentage of all brand-related tweets during the game,

 

 

while the Bud Light/Game of Thrones ad garnered the most tweets-per-minute.

 

 

 

Mercedes-Benz Was Bored

 

As the official naming rights partner of the Big game host stadium in Atlanta, Mercedes-Benz USA posted real-time and low latency content and commentary to promote its A-Class vehicle and one of its simple tweets was arguably that stand out social marketing moment of the Super Bowl.

 

The sassy, but authentic tweet reacted to the mediocre, low-scoring nature of the on-field action.

 

“If this game weren’t in my stadium, I would have driven away by now. . #AClassRealTalk #SB53”

 

The automaker deleted the post within minutes – presumably fearing it had made a PR blunder that wouldn’t sit well with the NFL – but not before it had already generated some social traction garnering 738 likes, 216 re-posts, and 34 comments.

 

The tweet and its subsequent deletion in turned sparked further social and media comment – although not from Mercedes-Benz itself.

 

Mercedes-Benz paid a reported $324m for a 27-year deal for the stadium naming rights.

 

Sometimes social media war rooms are run by junior staff who can be over eager or lack judgement. Management may have felt this tweet had gone too far once it had gone up the chain of command. However, we would argue that in this case it was the staffer who got it right and the management who made the wrong call.

 

 

Nike Salutes The Gronk

 

Most of the rest of the social sports marketing was the usual fare: brand sponsors of he participants (players, teams and the league) offering commentary and congratulations – much like Nike’s tweet socially tipping its hat to Rob Gronkowski.

 

 

 

Bud Light vs Miller Lite

 

The Big Game’s biggest marketing spender, Anheuser Busch InBev, used its activation to start a beer war against rivals Miller Lite and Coors Light over the subject of corn syrup.

 

One of Budweiser’s commercials was a not so subtle criticism of rival Miller’s sue of corn syrup,

 

 

and Miller Lite immediately responded via Twitter to thank Bud Light for giving it some publicity during the Super Bowl (Anheuser-Busch holds the exclusive beer rights to the game).

 

 

Parent company MillerCoors defended itself against the corn syrup attack saying its products do not contain high fructose corn syrup and claiming that some Anheuser-Busch InBev brands do.

 

 

Even the National Corn Growers Association expressed their displeasure at Bud Light’s messaging.

 

 

 

Pepsi vs Coke

 

Another classic rival product Big Game social brand battle was between Pepsi and Coca-Cola: which was something of an inevitability considering that Pepsi is the NFL’s biggest sponsor and yet the game was playing on Coca-Cola’s home turf in Atlanta.

 

Leveraging the special Super Bowl commercial zooming agreements, Pepsi tried to take over as much of the host city as it could by splashing its marketing – from OOH posters and trash can ads, to experiences, subway station wraps and, of course, stadium branding – on every available space.

 

So this meant that within the special sponsor commercial zone in downtown Atlanta just yards from the stadium was the ‘World of Coca-Cola’ attraction (which boasts a brightly lit, 27-foot-tall Coke bottle), while next door Pepsi erected a giant billboard with a teasing message “Pepsi in Atlanta. How refreshing.”

 

But brand battle lines were drawn when Pepsi launched a surprise marketing stunt by erecting a temporary statue of its own founder right next to a permanent life-size bronze sculpture statue of Coca-Cola founder John Pemberton outside the World of Coca-Cola and followed this up with a fast, stealthy photo shoot that it turned into a kind of official sponsor social ambush.

 

Pepsi somewhat disingenuously called the stunt a ‘truce’ and tweeted ‘Hey @CocaCola thanks for being such gracious hosts for #SBLIII this week. We agree #TogetherIsBeautiful so we’d like to get our founders together for a celebratory cheers to declare a temporary #ColaTruce for the day. See you at @WorldofCocaCola soon!’

 

 

Coke, hadn’t been given any advance notice of the stunt, but seemingly played along with its archrival socially.

 

“We are going to welcome them with a Coke and a smile,” Coca-Cola spokeswoman Kate Hartman said.

 

The statue was quickly removed, so Pepsi responded with a follow up tweet – complete with a #TogetherIsBeautiful reference to Coke’s latest commercial

 

 

 

Burger King #EatLikeAndy

 

In true Burger King marketing style, the fast food giant’s eclectic Big Game spot aimed to stand out and drive social buzz.

 

The #EatLikeAndy campaign, developed by agencies David (Miami) and MullenLowe, was based on what was the Super Bowl’s most esoteric spot.

 

The hero ad, its teasers and an influencer/customer tie-up with delivery partner DoorDash called ‘Mystery Box’ were all clearly designed to spark conversation and generate consumer social discussion

 

These 6,000 Mystery Boxes contained white wigs, ketchup bottles, and a note from the brand instructing receivers to hold on to their items until the Big Game – a campaign strand specifically aimed at enabling consumers to participate in the campaign socially and grab their own 15-seconds of social fame.

 

Indeed, there were more than 2000 mentions of Burger King’s Mystery Box before the Super Bowl even kicked off

 

 

and before the spearhead commercial aired in the game.

 

 

 

After the ad aired, the brand’s social war room went to work driving and responding to the subsequent social engagement which seem to start out with some confusion,

 

 

before moving into active social spreading.

 

 

 

By the end of the game, #EatLikeAndy had notched up 40,000+ social mentions and created 10,000+ uses of the tag.

 

 

Hyundai, Vegans & PETA

 

Vegans were irate after

 

Hyundai poked fun at non-meat-eaters in a Super Bowl ad starring Jason Bateman as an elevator operator who compares shopping for cars to jury duty, a colonoscopy and attending a vegan dinner party (complete with a beetloaf).

 

 

Vegans and organisations such as PETA socially criticised Hyundai for the spot,

 

 

while the brand responded by posting its love of vegan food with a recipe for beetloaf.

 

 

 

Washington Post

 

Another spot on the receiving end of some social backlash was the Washington Post commercial, narrated by Tom Hanks, highlighting the importance of journalism in America and honours journalists who have died delivering the truth.

 

 

Yet Frederick Kunkle, union leader for the Post, responded with a critical tweet attacking the paper for spending $5m on a 30-second ad and not on its employees.

 

 

 

 

Skittles Goes From Super Bowl, To Social To The Stage

 

After last year’s Super Bowl spot for a single viewer (see case study), this year saw Skittles skip the Super Bowl and put on a one-day-only musical show in New York City.

 

Starring Michael C Hall and described as ‘self-referential absurdist thriller’, the ‘Skittles Commercial: The Broadway Musical’ was promoted socially before opening and closing on Super Bowl Sunday.

 

 

 

 

 

Well, as they say in advertising, when everyone else does spot and social, take to the stage.

 



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