Karen’s PR & Social Media Blog

The Super Bowl is an iconic American past time were friends, families, and fans all come together to watch some great football.  Congratulations to the Baltimore Ravens for their win against the SF 49ers.  While there has been a lot of focus dedicated to the various teams playing in the game, it was interesting to see what was emerging via social media as well.

What did we learn from this year’s Super Bowl overall?  There are some trends we have seen consistently not only the commercials, but how they are using social media itself.  However, as many on my Twitter feed mentioned, the real story was what was happening in terms of engaging fans via Twitter and other social media platforms.

Power of newsjacking for brands:  David Meerman Scott first coined this phrase a few years ago and has a book on the subject as well. From what we can see, newsjacking really was clearly seen in this year’s Super Bowl and was actually listed as one of the key trends to watch for 2013.  Oreo brilliantly created a visual communicating how you can still dunk a cookie even in the dark when there was a power outage in New Orleans.  Definitely a great example of real-time marketing strategy at play.  Well played, Oreo. Walgreens also jumped on board as well by offering candles, but what made Oreos stand out from the crowd was the fact they added the visual component that was aligned to their brand.

Always expect the unexpected and be prepared for any crisis to happen:  This of course happened during the Super Bowl when the there was a power outage which caused other brands like Oreo, Walgreens, Tide, and even the MLB to jump on board with their commentary and integrated their brands to the mix. Many reasons were given for why this happened, but the classic jab towards the Superdome came from Audi by mentioning how they are going to send LED lights to the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.  Ouch.

Fans and other social media users jump on board to get their 15 minutes or so of fan by providing witty and humorous commentary on social media:  With the commercials, performances during the game, and football in general – fans were very active in engaging in conversations via Twitter.  From conspiracy theories to blaming Beyonce for the power, the list goes on and played out via Twitter to create the organic hashtag #BlackoutBowl.  The power outage was actually the most talked about item of the Super Bowl – which of course is probably not what CBS and the NFL expected for the game.

Storybranding is absolutely key to integrate with brands and their campaigns:  Jeep, Ram, and Budweiser really tapped into this aspect for their commercials by telling a story to share with others in a visual and strategic manner in their commercials.  The reaction to all three commercials and campaigns has been extremely positive. Here is the commercial for Ram that focused on Paul Harvey and farmers:

Commercials used hashtags, but some were not trending.  Many of the brands were using hashtags that were not associated with the brand itself, which was a risk to take.  Instead of going to the hashtag strategy, Oreo went and directed people to go to their Instagram page and use their cookies cream hashtag. The result?  Before the commercial, they had 2,000 followers.  Now, they have over 30,000 following on Instagram.  I would say that was a success.

In summary, what we have seen here with this Super Bowl is the emergence and importance of several key strategies for public relations and strategic communication professionals to recognize.  First, you have to be on top of things for your brand in terms of social media.  Opportunities may arise to tie in your brand with a popular topic or issue, so timing is everything.  Storybranding is key for brands to integrate into their various messages to reach their audiences.  Crises do happen and it really all depends on how you react to them – and we got a chance to see some brands interact and engage with each other in making the most out of the power outage.

Overall, I think we are going to remember this Super Bowl for a long time for many reasons, but this was the one that brought about newsjacking, storybranding, and showcased power of brand personalities.

Hope you all are having a great day.

Best Wishes,

Karen

I actually got myself an early birthday present today – even though my birthday is not till the end of this month, I thought this was as good time as any to buy something fabulous.  So, what did I get?  I got myself an Apple TV. So many of my friends and family members got one and have since raved about it, so I thought I should explore this.  Now, I can’t imagine how I lived without it for so long!

Apple TV = fabulous device to combine storytelling and social!

One of the other reasons I decided to invest in an Apple TV is for research/teaching purposes. One of the areas I am focusing in is in mobile technologies, and social TV is one topic that I will be covering this upcoming Spring semester in my Social Media and Mobile Technologies class at the University of Louisville. 

We are seeing a rapid increase in multi-screen use among individuals – meaning, they are using their smartphone or tablet to follow conversations, updates, and discussions that are happening in real-time while watching a television show, reality show, or even an athletic event on television. The London 2012 Olympics was one of the recent athletic events that we saw a huge emergence of use of multiscreen devices for audiences through apps while watching the traditional broadcast coverage of the Olympic events.

There are clearly some shows that have been dedicated to engage their users when it comes to social TV.  USA Network has established this across their various shows as as others like Bravo.  Of course, there are some shows that dominated social TV during their premiers like Dr. Who (I come from a family who loves scifi, and this show is pretty fabulous!)

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There are some good lessons PR professionals can look at when they are looking to possibly incorporate social TV into their client practices from USA Network. Other suggestions including opportunities to connect with others who are fans of various shows, inclusion of rewards and gamification practices, and targeting audiences and fans of shows with social activities.

Lewis PR has a good blog post outlining what are some of the lessons we can take away as PR professionals when looking at some of the shows that have been successful in engaging their fans with stories as well as engagement. Social@Oglivy also pointed out for a lot of television shows is to determine what are the other competitors are doing in terms of engaging their audiences through social and mobile media while watching the shows.

So, what is social TV important to consider?  There are several things that we have to take away from a PR perspective.  First, social TV involves the opportunity to provide dynamic content to engage users to be part of the story.  Audience members can use social apps to have conversations with characters, which puts them in the same social ecosystem unlike anything that was available before.  Second, the audience is not the receiver of the storytelling, but also the one that can have an equal playing part in the story by sharing these experiences with others in their social communities.

Lastly, real-time analytics can be viewed instantly by the networks to determine what people are discussing and sharing based on what they are seeing and reacting to through these various apps.

Hope you all are having a great day.

Best Wishes,

Karen

The London Olympics was classified in many ways as being the “Social Olympics” with the increase presence of sponsors, athletes, athletic associations, and others using social media as a major platform for updates, pictures, and real-time coverage of the games. While there were many highlights from the US team, there were some crisis situations emerging from the games.  One in particular I think will not only impact many professional athletes, but will have an effect on collegiate athletes as well.

The issue I am talking about is about Rule 40 from the IOC, which focuses on the fact that athletes could not thank their sponsors during the games, but only thank the Olympic sponsors of the event.  Many of the track and field athletes took this initiative to Twitter in particular by launching a hashtag campaign #WeDemandChange.

Now, Michael Phelps has had to deal with this very issue recently due to a photo ad with Louis Vuitton.  The ad was released early, and there was some talk about whether or not this was a violation of the IOC rule, but according to Phelps’ agent, it is not a violation.

This raises an issue not only for future athletic events at the Olympic and professional sports community – but also for collegiate athletics.  Some are siding with the IOC, and others are saying that they like the fact athletes were using social media to bring about this issue to the mainstream media.

One of the main reasons this issue came about was the fact that many of the athletes coming to the games were not being sponsored by the Olympic sponsors.  Track and field athletes in particular do not make as much as other athletes like in basketball or football.  In track and field, the ones who are making money have to break world records or be #1 in their event – and most of these athletes are runners. Personally, this is one of the main reasons I decided to retire from track and field as a shot putter in 2006 – for a female thrower, it would have been extremely difficult to make a living competing as a professional athlete.

Will there be more restrictions due to these new trends with social media for collegiate athletes?  What about those associated with teams? The issue of free speech within the social media community has been a hot topic of discussion, and I think with this case involving Rule 40 and the IOC, I think we are going to see more of these initiatives being implemented at all levels of athletics across the board.

Hope you all are having a great day!

Best Wishes,

Karen