As Super Bowl LI approaches, and brands start to preview their upcoming ads on YouTube, it’s becoming clearer and clearer that a long-developing trend has gone past the tipping point; the year’s biggest market no longer airs commercials.
At least, not in the classic sense. A Super Bowl ad is no longer a piece of marketing, it’s content from the brand. This year will see even more celebrity integrations, with famous faces “starring” in this content. Avocados of Mexico will feature Jon Lovitz as a mesmerizing talking head, and John Malkovitch appears in a sly sendup of “Being John Malkovitch,” for Squarespace.
The 30-second actioners, sci-fi rom-coms and art films that run in commercial breaks are aiming at something beyond just attention and conversions; they’re looking for buzz. To be a commercial hit, it has to be a critical hit. A successful ad is one that garners the most shares, the most word-of-mouth and comments. An ad has to enter the conversation. Social media helps cultivate that conversation through hashtags, and the number of commercials that will have a hashtag this year will likely approach 100%.
Who gets it
Because the Internet is driving the conversation, ads have to be aligned with what the internet values: funny, sexy, smart (or dumb!). Which brands have succeeded in using social channels to connect with their targeted demographic? Doritos (who won’t be represented on air this year), has historically had great success in the social space by asking fans to pick new flavors and even having fans submit their own commercials—and then airing them!
Last year the brands that won in terms of volume of hashtag mentions were Esurance—because it had a sweepstakes to win $1M, and Avocados from Mexico’s “Avos in Space.” They got lots of love largely because they were such an unexpected player on that scale (and they were really funny). They’ll be back this year.
But it was Oreos’s tweet during the blackout in Super Bowl XLVII that set the standard. Their quick-witted social media team was working the game live and ready to react, so when a freak power outage occurred, they quickly came up with a timely reaction: “you can dunk in the dark” that “won” the Internet for social sharing that year. Not an ad, but a killer ad lib.
Can technology help brands break out from the pack?
On the Super Bowl, everyone is bringing their “A” game, so, many brands are looking to technology to set themselves apart. Many technological advances—immersive advertising, VR, live streaming—are being touted as game changers, but the reality is that commercials on the Super Bowl will live and die as videos, viewable on a television, so many of these advances can’t be applied.
Instead, the hottest trend appears to be more biological than technological—it’s Live. First, Wix.com debuted their Super Bowl ad on Facebook Live. Now, Snickers is planning to shoot an ad live during the game, and Hyundai is one-upping them by producing the closing spot of the game during the game, in effect making the highlights reel in real-time and then turning it into a commercial.
In addition, we’ll see Intel’s “360 replay” system used during the game itself, since the technology has already been previewed in a spot featuring Tom Brady, and it will likely dominate the tech conversation.
In social platforms, Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram will continue to pump their video efforts, and the best commercials will be shared quickly on social media, which will gobble up a lot of earned impressions.
What comes next?
The successful, buzz-worthy ads for 2017 will be mined by agencies and effectively re-tweeted at Super Bowl LII, and the more adventurous brands will see what works this year and resolve to go a different direction in 2018.
But on social media, all brands have the opportunity for a Super Bowl interception, like Oreo, by being live, being alert and by being part of the conversation. If you’ve done the hard work of engaging with your target already, then you can kick back and enjoy the game, together.
Ben Hordell is founder of DXagency. He can be reached at [email protected].
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