Tag: Super Bowl

Super Bowl ads 2015: staff opinions

Posted on by Brian Lee

BRIAN:
Instead of picking a favorite, I want to talk about how many sets of commercials used the same elements. For example:

  • Both Toyota and Microsoft followed the life of someone with prosthetic legs.
  • Both Carnival and Toyota used a recording of a famous speech to overlay over b-roll.
  • Both Sprint and Discover featured a screaming goat.

To me, it just goes to show that you have to work really hard to stand out from the crowd. You may think you have a unique idea, or you may think you’re the only one taking advantage of something trendy, but in all likelihood, someone else is doing the same thing.

TAYLOR:
In between being a disgruntled Colts fan (#DeflateGate) and planning a wedding, I managed to watch a bit of the Super Bowl. The ad that stood out to me most was McDonald’s “Pay With Lovin’.” Earlier in the week, the company teased it was going to announce a new form of payment which, we now know, includes hugs, selfies and high-fives. I think McDonald’s did a great job of incorporating its longtime slogan of “I’m Lovin’ It” to something time-related with Valentine’s Day. Also, who doesn’t like free hamburgers!

GABRIELLE:
One of the only Super Bowl ads that really stuck out to me this year was Dove Men’s Care. The majority of Dove advertisements I’ve seen in the past are typically marketed toward women through images of natural beauty and empowerment. This time I thought it was great they focused on men. I really liked how they framed the “Real Strength” of men through the videos of fathers caring for their children. They did a great job of evoking emotions and challenging gender stereotypes.

Twitter marketing during TV events

Posted on by Brian Lee

I feel bad for the people who have to manage the Twitter accounts of major brands during live events like the Super Bowl and the Oscars because it can’t be easy to stay on your toes for 3+ hours.

For example, you never know about the spontaneous things that happen, such as the safety during the first quarter of the Super Bowl or Ellen ordering pizza during the Oscars.

Here are my recommendations for tweeting during TV events:

  • Prepare tweets for every scenario. For example, “tweet XYZ if team 1 leads at halftime,” or “tweet XYZ if movie 3 wins best picture.”
  • Monitor trending tweets, hashtags and Twitter accounts relevant to the event (e.g. actors during the Oscars).
  • Like in crisis communications, create a list of everything else that could happen, from loss of power (2013 Super Bowl) to wardrobe malfunctions to flubbed lines to inadvertent product mentions, and then prepare tweets for them.
  • Have a small team accessible (e.g. same room, conference call, Skype, etc.) that can make quick decisions on what to tweet for everything else that happens.

Now here’s a list of some of the good and bad tweets during these recent TV events:

  • I wasn’t impressed with JCPenney’s tweeting with mittens stunt, in which the company purposely put out tweets with typos before revealing that it had been wearing mittens while typing. Sure it got people talking about the brand, but I’m anxious to see Q1 results if sales of mittens actually increased, because that’s the true measurement.
  • On a related note, congrats to Kia, Snickers and Doritos for tweeting back at JCPenney on the fly (e.g. Kia’s “Hey @jcpenney need a designated driver?”).
  • Ready for a shameless tweet? Try Papa John’s “Frozen wins, only at the movies. Our fresh, NEVER Frozen hand-tossed original crust pizza wins every time. #betteringredients.” I mean, really?
  • I liked Pizza Hut’s “Did someone say pizza? We got you” in response to Ellen wanting a pizza delivered.

Here’s my favorite tweet, although it did occur two days after the Oscars. This comes from @TheSimpsons, who wrote “.@TheEllenShow Oscar® Selfie: A wider view. #thesimpsons”

Super Bowl ads 2014: staff opinions

Posted on by Brian Lee

BRIAN:

Anyone who knows me personally knows I’m love the 80s. So, it should come as no surprise that my favorite commercial was from Radio Shack. The first line set the tone: “The ’80s called … they want their store back.” I loved seeing Mary Lou Retton, Hulk Hogan, Alf, Kid N Play, Teen Wolf, the DeLorean, Chuckie and other icons from the best decade ever. If you search on YouTube, you’ll find a series of these ads with the characters, another avenue for the company to engage with its customers. And good for Radio Shack for finally revamping its admittedly boring store layout.

AMY:

What has stuck out to me is all the controversy online over the Coke ad. Yes, they chose the song “America the Beautiful” but I viewed the ad as the song being played in countries around the world not just different cultures here in America. Coke is an iconic American brand. And the happiness Coke brings to us is spread all around the world. Consumers get too worked up about little things that don’t matter. If they only had Caucasian Americans in the spot, people would have been just as outraged. And I am sure they missed a prominent culture to represent that somebody else is mad about. Does drinking Coke make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside? Then drink it and enjoy.

KATIE:

I had high expectations each time the Super Bowl commercials came on, but it always seemed by the time the game resumed I was disappointed. None of them impressed me too much. That is, until the Esurance commercial right after the Super Bowl ended. The fact that John Krasinski blatantly pointed out how much money Esurance saved and then proceeded to engage people all over to country to win that money was extremely clever. Of course no one flips off the TV right after the game ends – at that point, people are celebrating or complaining about their team with their phones in hand, texting their friends. Esurance saw that opportunity and grabbed it, making for a memorable and successful after-Super Bowl ad.

DAVID:

I look forward to the Super Bowl every year and to say the least, Super Bowl XLVIII didn’t meet my expectations. Complementing a Super Bowl blowout was the reserved Super Bowl ads. Of the select few good ads this year, I’d have to say my favorite was Budweiser’s “Puppy Love.” I enjoyed how Budweiser played sort of a sequel to last year’s Clydesdales slot and thought it demonstrated a great narrative arc. How the Clydesdale and the puppy generate this friendship really hits home on Budweiser’s slogan, “Best Buds.” In general, you really have to appreciate what Budweiser had to do to make this ad. It took a lot of effort from a wide range of people to create this to get the horse and puppy to interact as they did.