Super Bowl XLIII is officially sports history, with the Pittsburgh Steelers taking home the coveted Lombardi trophy in one of the most exciting games yet. For advertisers, however, the excitement isn’t over, as some of the world’s biggest brands vie to turn their Super Bowl buzz into business results online. This year E-Trade, Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes, and Cash4Gold.com were the integrated marketing standouts in Reprise Media’s newly released 5th annual Search Marketing Scorecard (SMS).
Reprise Media’s Search Marketing Scorecard ranks Super Bowl advertisers based on the level of integration between their television commercials and presence in search and social media –measuring how prepared each brand was to capture the demand created by their Super Bowl advertising investment. The Search Marketing Scorecard is the longest-standing study of its kind.
With 30-second spots selling for an estimated $3 million, advertisers were pressed to make every dollar spent on television work harder by successfully linking their TV ads to their online presence. “The recession forces marketers to put much more scrutiny on every advertising dollar they spend,” said Peter Hershberg, Managing Partner of Reprise Media. “While some brands clearly got this message, we still see far too many throwing away millions of dollars by failing to connect their TV campaign with an integrated search and social media presence.”
Our three top brands cleverly tied their television campaigns to their online efforts in search and social media:
— E-Trade used “outtakes” of their Super Bowl ads in the weeks leading up to the game to drive interest which paid off on game night with social media, paid search, and their TV ad all using the same unified message. Their TV call to action was particularly well integrated with paid search, and they included keywords phrases like “talking babies” to maximize response.
— Cash4Gold used celebrity spokespeople in a humorous way and were smart enough to use searches on their names – Ed McMahon and MC Hammer – to drive traffic from paid search to a corporate Blogspot blog with YouTube videos embedded – upping the ante on social media.
— Like E-Trade, Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes did a superb job of building pre-game interest, in this case tying their ads online and offline to a charitable initiative called Plant a Seed, dedicated to rebuilding playing fields across the country for kids. Their TV ad had a strong call to action which led people to a landing page with social media prominently featured, including links to YouTube and the ability to nominate a site for their program.
We can’t all be winners though – each of these brands fumbled its opportunity to connect with viewers offline:
— Denny’s had a terrible night, with a free breakfast promo that failed to include a URL in their TV ad or an online call to action. Perhaps they were hoping to avoid overloading their website – which crashed right after the ad aired and was down for the rest of the game.
— Budweiser, one of the traditional Super Bowl sponsors, could have taken advantage of Google’s new openness to liquor ads this year but completely ignored any search or social media tie-in with their TV spots.
— Like almost all of the films advertised, Pixar’s Up dropped the ball when it came to online integration, despite including a call to action and a URL with previews, which none of the other films did. In spite of this, the actual site was not integrated at all with the Super Bowl ad and there were no paid search ads to help direct confused searchers to the “right” page.
“In the five years we’ve been doing this study, we’ve seen how advertisers who effectively integrate their offline and online promotions dramatically improve campaign ROI,” said Joshua Stylman, Managing Partner of Reprise Media. “Search and social media marketing can help these brands capture consumer interest stimulated by TV, measure the effectiveness of their overall campaign and gain insight into what drives customer behaviors, all having a significant impact on the bottom line.”
To download a copy of Reprise Media’s 5th Annual Search Marketing Scorecard on the Super Bowl, and register to receive the company’s forthcoming whitepaper on the study, visit http://www.reprisemedia.com/scorecard.aspx
About Reprise Media
Reprise Media is an award-winning search engine and social media marketing agency. The company helps leading brands – including Microsoft, ABC, Castrol and Martha Stewart – manage their online reputations, drive traffic to their websites, acquire new customers and generate revenue through the power of search. SearchViews (www.searchviews.com), the company’s blog, provides daily news and commentary on the search engine marketing industry and is considered a must-read by industry insiders.
A division of Mediabrands and subsidiary of the Interpublic Group (NYSE: IPG), Reprise Media is headquartered in New York and has offices in San Francisco and Boston.
Reprise Media is a registered trademark of Reprise Media Inc. All other product and brand names are the property of their respective owners.
