Monday Morning QB: The Impact of Super Bowl 2012 Commercials on Social Media

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Just like the New England Patriots did in the Super Bowl itself, it looks like the favorite to win the overall Super Bowl Social Brand Scoreboard will come short on its final drive as well.  We predicted that Coca-Cola would benefit the most from social media engagement as a result of their Super Bowl commercials. As it stands it looks like viewers and social media were not impressed by the Coca-Cola’s ambitious LiveStream, in which the polar bears reacted to real time scores of the game. But that could change.

Monday Morning Quarterback Analysis: Coca Cola had 32 game-time vignettes ready to put in to match the actual game results, but this “real-time” quality did not astound viewers, even though it’s pretty astonishing how they pulled it off. So what was Coke’s biggest miss? Much like Tom Brady’s pass that fell harmlessly to the ground to end the game, the image in this blog says it all. How can you complete engagement on “second screens” when you have up a live stream that isn’t even viewable on mobile phones and tablets? But one thing you can't discount - Coca-Cola's commitment to social media. Even with this faux pas, we have noticed that the soft drink gian has gained more than a million new fans/likes to its Facebook page.

Automotive Makes a Comeback

If there was one category that seems to have benefited the most from the Super Bowl, it’s the automotive category. Initial YouTube viewership of Super Bowl ads shows the top seven were cars.

Monday Morning Quarterback Analysis: As the country goes, so goes the interest in Super Bowl commercials and that will be reflected in social media. According to a very recent poll, the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) Convention expects their sales to increase by 10-20% in 2012. With the economy recovering slowly, people are more interested in buying cars – and more receptive to car commercials. 

The Year of the UnderDOG

The underdog Giants beat the Patriots, so it’s fitting that many companies went the dog route this year. Doritos used a blackmailing Great Dane. Volkswagen started with a fat dog who trained to get fit enough to chase after a new VW Beetle. BudLight turned Weego the rescue dog into a beer retrieving hero. Skechers put sneakers on a French Bulldog to help him outsprint a track full of greyhounds. And Suzuki had an Eskimo trade in his dog sled for a Suzuki, much to the pleasure of the sled dogs.

Monday Morning Quarterback Analysis: Many publicists will tell you, “If you want to get publicity, use animals or babies.” That is certainly the case for many YouTube videos. So in today’s social media world, if it works on YouTube, don’t fix it. The day after the Super Bowl, the VW dog pulled in more than 5 million viewers to YouTube. As for babies, Doritos introduced us to a sling baby who steals the bag of Doritos from a taunting brat. The critics are applauding the dog and baby Doritos commercials, which will lead to more social media involvement. E*Trade stayed with its financial wiz kids but, as we predicted, it seems the E*Trade babies have had their day. While the final figures will decide, the E*Trade commercial has received fewer than 300,000 views.

Blockbuster Bandwagon

Audi capitalized on the Twilight Saga by offering a very funny commercial in which a vampire drives an Audi to a gathering of vampires, only to have the headlight cause all of them to explode.

Monday Morning Quarterback Analysis:  Hooking into the zeitgeist is a good thing. Whether you are obsessed with vampires or are sick of them, this commercial appealed to both camps. It recognized the status of vampires in our popular culture and, through parody, it gave those how can’t stand them something to cheer about. And when you set up a pro and con situation you light up the Twittersphere. In less than 24 hours after the commercial ran, #solongvampires on Twitter racked up more than 3,500 comments, and 5 million watched it on YouTube. 

Clint (Need We Say More)

Chrysler went for a two minute commercial during half-time.  The ad featured Clint Eastwood talking about how this is half time for America and we, as a nation, are ready for the second half. It reminded us of the tough times we have faced, and the fact that we are tough enough to turn things around. It appealed to our inner strength as a nation, rather than pandering to our patriotism. It was powerful. And it resonated.

Monday Morning Quarterback Analysis:  Social media is a carnivore, and when it has juicy meat to eat such as the themes that came up in this ad, it savors the meal. In other words, the deeper the message the more likely you will have active social media engagement.

This ad resonated because it hit a chord that rang true to everyone who had struggled these past few years. We want to believe that things will get better, but we also recognize that like the game of football we have to play hard to win. In this election year, Chrylser did not shy away from what is one everyone’s mind (the economy); and as a result gained strong social media buzz. The spot had more than 7,700 likes on YouTube, and “Clint” mentions have topped 33,000+ Tweets and more than 15,000 news results on Google in the past 24 hours. Plus because of it reminded people of the government bailing out the auto industry, we know the social commentary will have a much longer shelf life than polar bears wearing blue and red scarfs. We will be most interested to see how the company’s Social Sentiment and Passion tracks in the next few days.

And What About Celebrities?

Clint is a super star, and there is no question that the Chrysler commercial would not have been as effective without him. But how did the other celebrities fare? The winner of the celebrity sweepstakes might end up being a toss up between Elton John and David Beckham.  Or is it the X Factor winner Melanie Amaro who is the winner? She appeared with Elton John in the Pepsi commercial that had John be an imperious ruler who awards Pepsi only to those singers who meet his standards. Hyundai also went all out with Dream Car, including supermodel Adriana Lima, MMA fighter Chuck Liddell and rock icons Motley Crüe; with moderate results. Dannon’s Oikos yogurt with John Stamos has also shown some success online. Some celebrity connections that don’t seem to be engaging the social mediasphere include: Century21’s ad with Donald Trump, Deion Sanders ad Apolo Ohno; and Time Warner Cable’s Ricky Gervais spot.

Monday Morning Quarterback Analysis:  In social media, appeal to those who actually participate. The top rated television shows (excluding professional football) are the competitive performance shows – American Idol, the X Factor, America’s Got Talent, and so on. You may be sick of these shows, but millions love them. And they are passionate about them (since they require interaction through voting). Pepsi played up the concept of the people’s choice and directed it to those who watched the X Factor, people who will actually be vocal about their opinions and who are used to clicking on YouTube, commenting on Facebook, and interacting online. So could this ad have had a non-celebrity king?  We think not, since celebrity judges are part of the game. 

Look for More Facebook, Twitter and YouTube Numbers

We are busy collecting the statistics so e can tell which companies really benefited the most in social media from their Super Bowl commercials. We plan to have numbers by Wednesday.

Be sure to sign up for our Super Bowl Social Brand Scoreboard Report if you haven’t already.