Internet Marketing, the $3.5 million Super Bowl Commercial Way

Andrew Gough, February 6, 2012 in Facebook Articles, Featured, Inbound Marketing News

Q: How do you make the most of 30 seconds of airtime when it costs $3.5 million? A: Social Media Marketing. Of the 54 commercials aired during Super Bowl XLVI, half used social media as a way to get extra value out of traditional “outbound” marketing.

Super Bowl, super budgets, super commercials

The Super Bowl is the world’s most valuable sporting brand according to Forbes, commanding advertising revenues of $425 million with viewing figures of 100-150 million worldwide. So it’s understandable that airtime is hugely expensive, at an average cost of $3.5 million for just 30 seconds.

As such, Super Bowl advertisers have always sought to make the most of this time, spending untold amounts on impressive concepts, star-studded casts and the finest creative minds and scriptwriters. Some iconic, almost history defining commercials have aired during super bowls. You only have to remember this “1984” commercial from Apple, aired once (and once only, ever) during Super Bowl XVIII:

Making the most of a beautiful partnership

Super Bowl advertising hasn’t changed all that much since Apple insinuated that IBM was enslaving the world in an Orwellian nightmare (or at least that’s what many say the advert was about). TV commercials are distinctly “outbound” marketing, but still worth a fortune as the figures show. However, there is a small yet important difference: Social Media call-to-actions. They’re subtle in some ads, more obvious in others, and in a healthy variety of guises, but each one extends the reach and lifetime of its host advertisement beyond its 30 seconds (or 1 minute 30 seconds in some cases). Social media gives measurable results to a TV campaign, for a fraction of the cost of the airtime itself.

We’ve watched all 54 of the Super Bowl 2012 commercials and come up with our Top 5 examples noted for their use of Social Media and/or viral marketing principles. However, this trailer for the new “Marvel Avengers” film is especially commendable for integrating Social Media most fully, by directing viewers to a Facebook landing page rather than a website, where fan “Likes” unlock access to a longer trailer – that’s textbook Inbound Marketing.

Check out Versio2’s Top 5 Super Bowl 2012 Commercials (and why!)

Facebook, Twitter & YouTube – And the winner was?

Only two social networks received any direct attention during the Super Bowl commercials. Unsurprisingly these were Facebook and Twitter, with fan page addresses and hashtags featuring prominently at the end of commercials from Best Buy (#betterway) and H&M (#BeckhamforHM).

However, it’s YouTube that arguably prevailed in the battle of the social networks, not least of all because every one of the TV commercials had been circulated on YouTube some days, weeks, and, in one case, months, before the Super Bowl, to raise interest ahead of time.

Fiat was the extreme example, first uploading its Fiat 500 Abarth commercial to YouTube back in November last year and receiving 3.4 million views since then. Most other commercials went up no more than two weeks before Super Bowl, but still managed to garner a respectable Internet audience – H&M’s David Beckham ad has received just over 1 million since it was uploaded on January the 26th, not bad for a 30 second ad (though from watching it, I’ve no idea why, it’s just a guy in his underpants, for heaven’s sake).

YouTube also acted as an excellent portal for other Social Networks. The legions of bloggers talking about the Super Bowl commercials (of which this is a noted example, of course) will invariably have embedded examples from YouTube. In the YouTube description for each video, if the marketing or advertising agency responsible did its job correctly, are links to websites and other social networks like Facebook and Twitter. All in all, it’s an Inbound Marketing frenzy, though much is owed to outbound.

Inbound vs. Outbound Marketing – a way forward

The Super Bowl commercials that feature Social Media are excellent examples of how Inbound and traditional “outbound” marketing can work together. Marketers would be shortsighted to rule out any one method, really the trick is in knowing how to use each marketing tool most effectively.

For the Super Bowl, with 150 million pairs of eyes glued to television sets around the world, commercial airtime was the only option. That’s likely to hold true until more people watch the Super Bowl via the Internet, when live streaming takes over as the preferred or most widely adopted viewing medium. When that happens, with the advent of ad services like Adwords for Video we could see some interesting developments in the world of Internet advertising as Inbound techniques move to the forefront.

Can outbound still work?

Is there still a place for outbound in this crazy Internet world of ours? Well, not all the Super Bowl commercials featured references to Facebook fan pages or Twitter hashtags. Also, there are still instances when outbound trumps Inbound, if used cleverly.

Take the example of “Ali Kebap” in 2009. Bright yellow posters, featuring this rotund kebab vendor and little else, sprung up across Switzerland creating a buzz widely reported in the country’s media. This is an excellent example of mystery advertising, with the media (and social media) debating the true nature of these enigmatic billboards. The truth? Watch this video and all will be revealed:

We think it’s a point well made by APG, but how large a part did the Internet play in the mystery campaign? We question whether it would have worked as well without blogger hype, dissemination across Facebook and other social networks, not to mention the manic scribblings and rich content brought to us by New Media journalists.

Goodies for you!

Whether you’re an Internet marketer or a client, “understanding” is the key to a happy, mutually satisfying working relationship. So if you’re interested in implementing an Internet Marketing strategy to boost your sales and grow your business, or are thinking of hiring an agency, why not download one of our free eBooks and familiarize yourself with the basics. Happy reading!