Jeff Bennett's Blog

It was not too long ago that the strategy was to build as much excitement about the Super Bowl 30-second ad before the game so the audience would be glued to the set waiting for the ad.

For some advertisers that have moved beyond the “branding” only strategy for Super Bowl ads, this is now not the case.

These types of advertisers are looking to drive engagement, brand and leverage as many media outlets as they can to get their message out.  Most of these media extensions happen to be Facebook, YouTube, Google Search, Twitter, Blogs and more.

For this Super Bowl we witnessed (and participated) in campaigns for Miller High Life, E*Trade, Doritos, Nationwide and GoDaddy well in advance of the Super Bowl.  Elements of these campaigns were running the whole month of January in some cases.  One site SuperBowl-Ads.Com was set up to feature the best ads of the past and to track activity on this years campaigns long before the game.

These brands are trying to maximize and extend their ad dollars way beyond the $3m 30-second spot.  These brands have also realized that the rules of advertisting have changed.

Social media allows a brand to connect to consumers, get them engaged in deciding which ad gets placed through polling, capture emails/cell phones to message and set up for follow on marketing.

My colleague Brian Carr has blogged today that in years past Super Bowl advertisers would “tag onto” their 30-second spot with print ads on the Monday following the big game.  Today the Boston Globe features no such advertising.

Indeed the game is changing.  The economy is tough on advertising.  The smart adverisers are also “going where the puck is.”

Another very strong indicator for power of social media and it’s impact and effect on advertising.