Super Bowl Ads 2011: Winners and Those Who Wasted a Lot of Cash
While the cost of running a 30-second spot during the most watched TV event in US history is not cheap, some brands were able to convert the $2.5 to $2.8 million cost into significant brand awareness and engagement. Presented by Mullen and Radian6, Brand Bowl 2011 is a leader board of the top Super Bowl commercials calculated by reactions posted on Twitter. The big winners are Chrysler, Doritos and Volkswagen. While those that ranked at the bottom and maybe should be looking for a new Chief Marketing Officer are Cars.com, Homeaway and Groupon.
While the Green Bay Packers thumped the Stealers, Chrysler with their ode to Detroit drove straight to the top of the Brand Bowl Rankings. Much like the Blue Collar workers who built Detroit, this ad brings out not only Detroit pride; it brings out the heart and soul of America. Chrysler very strategically launches a battle that the import car manufactures cannot compete with, the battle of American pride. With over 32,514 tweets and a +16.5% sentiment, Americans responded.
With almost 34,000 tweets, Doritos’ ”Crash the Super Bowl” campaign certainly generated a lot of publicity prior to and during the Super Bowl. The Doritos commercials worked for consumers because it was based on consumer insights they got online from actual consumers. They are simple and real and used memorial humour to resonate a lot more than the clips with celebrities and crazy graphics.
A noteworthy standout for leveraging the power of social media and their TV spot has to be Volkswagen. Their ad “The Force” had 15 million views, 72,000 likes, and 13,000 comments by 8 a.m. Monday in addition to the 25,674 tweets during game time. The more powerful metric and probably the reason that it did so well in the social media was the +32.1% positive sentiment. Volkswagen strategically leaked the commercial on Facebook 24 hours prior to the game.
While Chrysler, Doritos and Volkswagen hit the mark, Groupon generated a very strong negative sentiment to their ad by depicting the troubles in Tibet and then moving on to a discussion of a group-buying deal for Tibetan cuisine in Chicago. The spot appeared designed to humorously communicate that the money social buyers save with Groupon's vouchers could be donated to charities like The Tibet Fund. But the "Save The Money" microsite never appeared in the commercial, and many viewers were anything but amused.
So what can we learn from this collection of high-priced advertising talent? Here are three takeaways:
- Use Emotion
There’s no question that the Chrysler and Volkswagen ads, along with those from Audi and Motorola, succeeded because they told an emotionally resonant story. Whether “our stories past” (Chrysler), “father and son” (Volkswagen), “boy meets girl” (Motorola), or “beaver meets driver” (Bridgestone), the emotional connections between the characters fueled the strongest audience responses. All were among the most positively referenced of the night.
- Use Humour carefully.
Doritos probably had the funniest moments of the night, referencing its finger-licking, and pants-licking, good chips. Volkswagen’s Darth Vader spot was one of the most talked about ads before the Super Bowl aired. Even otherwise maligned GoDaddy seemed to win when it revealed its “new” GoDaddy girl. But as HomeAway and, yes, Groupon learned, not everyone finds the same things funny you do. And a poorly told “joke” can seriously backfire.
- Leverage the power of Social Media
Volkswagen really understood their marketplace and leverage every possible $$$ out of their Super Bowl 2011 strategy. Volkswagen didn’t go for cheap laughs or celebrity stunts. Instead, the car maker aimed straight for the heart that resonated in a big way. The final scene may be the cutest scene in commercial history and for any parent of a little Darth Vader will have them thinking Volkswagen for some time to come.
Social media lets advertisers see the impact of their ads in real time. The top advertisers on the Super Bowl prove how a traditional TV spot can potentially be leveraged on the social web. As technology advances, the line between TV ads and social media will continue to blur.