With roughly four weeks until Super Bowl 2012, families across the nation are updating their checklists to stock up on all forms of salsa, chips, pizza, beer and everything else required for a great party around the flat screen (sometimes newly bought for the big game). Some people even have back up plans in case the freezer runs out of their favorite ice cream. And while football fans everywhere prepare for the big game, advertisers and their agencies are preparing as well, making plans for their upcoming substantial marketing investment for 30 to 60 seconds of airtime in front of 100+ million viewers.

But the advertisers who stop with these viewers are missing out on a big chunk of visibility after the game is over – it’s no longer sufficient to air an entertaining TV spot during the game and let it ride the event. If the online engagement and resultant impact from the last few Super Bowl games are any indication of what drives overall success, the performance-savvy advertisers and their agency partners need a comprehensive online plan in place before game day.

Stay informed. Looking for the latest digital strategies for iconic branding? Attend the iMedia Brand Summit, Feb. 5-8. Request your invitation today.

Lessons from Super Bowl 2011

According to Visible Measures’ Super Bowl Ad Syndication Research last year (a study of over 75 Super Bowl ads in 2011, conducted in partnership with YouTube), people watched Super Bowl ads and associated creative executions approximately 300 million times spanning a four-week period, covering pre and post-game engagement online. In particular, about 30% of the total viewership came from audiences sharing the actual Super Bowl ads, associated content like campaign extensions, behind-the-scenes clips, and interviews, teasers for the in-game TV spot, and Web-exclusive clips for online viewing post-game.

Viewers love to share ads and related content on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and hundreds of other video-sharing destinations around the Web by copying and uploading them, emailing their links, commenting on them, blogging about them, and even spoofing them. The most successful advertising campaigns of 2011 fully leveraged this consumer tendency to share and, as a result, outperformed others with respect to reach and frequency. In particular, the most noteworthy and actionable results include:

-       Social Syndication Matters: Four of the five most-viewed ads also had the most socially syndicated views (meaning viewers were more inclined to share these ads over other ads).

-       The First Week Makes or Breaks the Campaign: Roughly 70% of all sharing happens within the first week post game. This means optimization, with regard to creative rotation or placements, must take place in real-time, literally.

-       There is Plenty of Action Before and After the Super Bowl Ad: Campaigns using pre-game teasers (“leaked” assets), followed by the release of additional post-game creative (e.g. “alternate versions”, “behind the scenes”, “making of”, “outtakes”) drove roughly 60% more views in aggregate than campaigns that did not.

-       Paid Socialization Delivers Incremental ROI: Advertisers who socialized the Super Bowl spot and related creative assets with paid, online promotions generated, on average, 40% more views than those who simply uploaded the assets to YouTube.

It goes without saying that successful campaigns also ran entertaining Super Bowl spots. The TV spot rightfully remains the center of focus for most advertisers up until days before the game, although there is less room to maneuver once the spot is set to run. On the other hand, as we saw last year, advertisers who capitalized on the real-time nature of online social interactions surrounding the game substantially enhanced the online reach and engagement of their respective Super Bowl campaigns.

The Final Checklist

So what can you do now that will increase the odds of your campaign doing really well?  Assuming budgets are relatively committed by now, the goal should be to focus on areas that help stretch the impact of existing commitments. Some of these include:

-       Leverage Supplemental Creative Assets: Believe it or not, creative agencies churn through a lot of creative concepts and extended footage leading up to the final, edited version that is reviewed and eventually approved by the clients for TV viewing. What remains in the cutout bin may be worth mining and parts of it could become the fodder for exclusive online consumption. While I am not suggesting that the Web should be the dumping ground for the clips that didn’t make the cut, online consumers enjoy behind-the-scenes clips and raw footage, which drives more engagement with the brand.

-       Front-Load the Paid Social Spend: Consider reallocating your media spend on video distribution that builds critical mass up front (a few days before and after the TV spot) creating anticipation for the spot and then extending the engagement once the spot has run on TV. A good partner with a strong serving infrastructure should be able to optimize the media for your campaign with real-time creative rotation as opposed to a media broker who is trading inventory for commissions.  Your due diligence here will pay off handsomely in terms of flexibility when you most need it.

-       Set Realistic Expectations: Get alignment on key metrics and best-practice benchmarks between you and your agency partners to ensure everyone is working towards common objectives.  Plenty of data is now available to baseline online social reach and engagement for your past Super Bowl campaigns or even competitive campaigns in your vertical industry.  Use it to your advantage and stop the stakeholders from second-guessing the performance of your campaign.

Calling an Audible: Your Plan B

If you think your current Super Bowl game plan is bullet-proof, think again. What if your ad fumbles like the one from Groupon last year? What if your ad sinks to the bottom 25% of the ads that generated little online engagement and minimal social sharing/buzz? Instead of panicking and finger-pointing, call the timeout, take control of the playbook in real-time and call the shots as good coaches often do. Having a clear set of metrics with benchmarks upfront would be a good start. Make sure you have a robust protocol for a backup plan with your agency partners and vendors in case the campaign doesn’t deliver as originally expected. You will quickly learn which partners are worth your long-term loyalty.

Author: Seraj Bharwani is the Chief Analytics Officer of Visible Measures and responsible for thought leadership and consumer insights on branded content, social video, and shareable media.

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