We came. We saw. We experienced the Super Bowl.
It’s truly a special time for all of us to come together, watch some football, and as professionals in the marketing/PR/social media field, analyze and review all of the ads that came out before, during, and after the game.
There are are already ads that are discussing which ones are the best from the 2020 game, but here are some of my thoughts and takeaways from a social media perspective.
Doing something unexpected. Super Bowl and Groundhog Day fell on the same day. Everyone focused on the Super Bowl, but Groundhog Day had potential in getting some attention as well. However, when you think of Groundhog Day, you think of Phil, but also the classic 1993 Bill Murray movie. Can we just say how BRILLIANT Jeep was to do this?!! This was by far the one that I felt generated a lot of buzz, energy, and excitement.
However, while the commercial was great and entertaining, I felt that there could have been some additional social media components that Jeep could have definitely capitalized on. An interactive feature where people could suggest what Bill and the groundhog could do? What Jeep did was really a push message strategy on social, but there could have been some great opportunities to create an overall engaging experience. Still, my favorite, but like all things – we can learn from this and see what we can do next time to take it to the next level.
Tapping into social media talent in new ways. Sabra tried to do this in their YouTube commercials with getting celebrities, reality stars, and even TikTok stars like Charli D’amelio to be part of their Super Bowl commercial. Tapping into the next generation (Generation Z) is one thing, but execution and thinking outside of the box is key.
For example, in this particular campaign, you could tell the type of content that was the top priority for them is of course video (with their commercials), and then visuals. Sabra’s IG is colorful and on brand for the most part, but I was surprised with some of the smaller pieces of details missing. For example, the highlight covers for IG were not consistent, which could have been addressed to make it all aligned with their overall content. I would have encouraged them also to 1) engage more with user-generated content to spark a sense of community and 2) have their influencers and creators share their thoughts and engage with the community as well not just with branded content, but content that would be personalized and fit their own brand voice.
Sprint did something that was pretty creative. They flew in Seth, who oversees the popular IG account Dude with Sign to the Super Bowl, and were able to get some attention from what he shared with his community on Instagram.
This is what you do to break from the crowd and how you can really stand out in partnering and utilizing talent in a creative way. Genius, Sprint.
Brands engaging other brands for the most part. This was probably one of the things that I saw that really surprised me. Brands were engaging with each other – but not necessarily with the audience members to a certain degree.
I felt that there were some brands that did engage more than others. For example, Cheetos and Chester Cheetah really did a good job in this effort on social – not just with branded content they shared across the board, but they created specific gifs that were designated just for the game. This tool planning to a whole other level.
Other brands that were engaging for the game included Mountain Dew, Walmart, Olay, and Genesis.
Baby Yoda > Baby Nut. Planters created a commercial that basically marked the end of their iconic brand character, Mr. Peanut, after 104 years. This commercial got a lot of buzz before the game, but the campaign was paused after the news of the passing of Kobe Bryant.
However, it appears that Mr. Peanut (or VaynerMedia that was behind it) really tapped into all of the possible tactical elements of social media in the hopes of going viral. Livestreaming Baby Nut via Twitter. Contest to give away money from Mr. Peanut’s estate. It definitely was one of the only brands that fully capitalized on all aspects of social media, but with huge risks. Asking people for suggestions on what Baby Nut should do in a live video – well, you can imagine the comments that could go through. Hopefully they had a good crisis management plan in place!
The other thing that was brought up w/ Baby Nut of course here as well is how it compares to Baby Yoda. This created quite the conversation on social media where some said – yay for Baby Nut! Others, well, they fully supported Baby Yoda. Applegate put on their detective hat and went to the source itself – the parody account for Baby Yoda on Instagram (Twitter suspended their Twitter account a few weeks ago). Here was the result:
Takeaways from Super Bowl
There were a lot of takeaways from the Super Bowl from a social media perspective I would like to share. Some were not too surprising, but others I felt were so and I think this is something for all of us to note for the future.
Having the $$ to spend on a Super Bowl ad does not mean you will get the best creative. This was a big takeaway from me. Having money to spend on a Super Bowl ad does not always mean you will be the one changing the game here for the industry.
Brands like Pepsi, Coca-Cola, and Tide really fell flat to me for the Super Bowl. Sure, they have had great commercials and efforts in the past, but the lack of connectivity, creativity, and relevancy to social media expectations and audiences was puzzling or me. With all of the resources in the world practically, this is the best the top brands can do?
Ryan Reynolds, again, showed everyone what marketing is today in 2020 with his Super Bowl announcement with Mint Mobile. I seriously think Ryan, and his team, should host a masterclass on the new trends, expectations, and practices for marketing before the 2021 game.
Teasers done well spark viral conversation. We saw a lot of brands teasing their way through their commercials for the Super Bowl, but the best execution of this was with Hulu and Tom Brady.
Brady shared a picture a while ago, and everyone was buzzing and talking about – is Tom retiring?! Of course, no one knew what he was sharing was his Hulu commercial appearance. Again, it’s all about the execution and strategy here for how to generate engagement, excitement, and conversation.
Data is everything, but insights is what drives social media. I think it is great to see brands and others set up war rooms and see what are the latest trends and pieces of content that are being produced and shared on social, which is great. We need this data for sure. But, what drives the conversation is gathering what insights we can takeaway and apply in our own work.
This is where brands like Talkwalker come into play, and they have a great recap on what was trending, what people were saying, and which campaigns sparked the most engagement and conversation. Will these brands see an increase in sales and brand awareness? We will have to wait and see what happens.
Little to NO call to actions (CTAs) on social media. Except for a few brands like Olay and Doritos, there was little to be said here in this category. I was surprised since this is something that is encouraged and emphasized in pretty much ALL marketing and social media efforts. Unless you tell people what you want them to do in response to your messages, they will not do this.
Let me know what you think and if you have any favorites from the Super Bowl.
Hope all is well and have a great day!
Best Wishes,
