{"id":10512,"date":"2020-01-30T12:16:30","date_gmt":"2020-01-30T17:16:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.brainstation.io\/?p=10512"},"modified":"2021-01-28T15:54:48","modified_gmt":"2021-01-28T20:54:48","slug":"6-great-super-bowl-digital-marketing-campaigns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/blog\/6-great-super-bowl-digital-marketing-campaigns","title":{"rendered":"6 Great Super Bowl Digital Marketing Campaigns"},"content":{"rendered":"

For a long time now, the fiercest competition of Super Bowl weekend might not be contested on the field, but instead between companies vying to win the attention of the largest TV audience of the year.<\/span><\/p>\n

Over the past decade, the fight to get noticed has spread far beyond the TV screen, with companies launching increasingly ambitious digital marketing blitzes to reach the millions of people glued to a second screen during the big game.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2019, the Super Bowl brought in an audience base of 98.2 million people and 32.3 million social media interactions. Capitalizing on that social-media audience is crucial, given that a 2017 study by Influence Central found that 78 percent of Super Bowl viewers would engage with social media while watching.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cSuper Bowl strategy is no longer limited to television, or even necessarily includes it,\u201d <\/span>said<\/span><\/a> Abbey Klaassen, New York President of 360i, an agency that authored a viral tweet for Oreo when a power blackout struck Super Bowl XLVII in 2013.<\/span><\/p>\n

Indeed, by 2016, companies as prominent as Nike and Gatorade decided to <\/span>pass<\/span> on buying TV advertising spots during the Super Bowl, and in the years that followed brands including Taco Bell, Toyota, Honda, and Snickers followed suit. Even Coca-Cola opted for a <\/span>pre-game slot<\/span> last year.<\/span><\/p>\n

But that hardly means brands have forgotten about the Super Bowl \u2013 they\u2019ve just moved their ads from the airwaves to the digital realm, often with creative results. With that in mind, we took a look at six of the best Super Bowl digital marketing and social media campaigns.<\/span><\/p>\n

Esurance<\/b><\/h2>\n

During Super Bowl 50 in 2016, insurance company Esurance managed to drag millions of eyeballs away from Denver\u2019s win over Carolina without footing the bill for a TV spot during the game. Instead, they simply offered to give $1.5 million away.<\/span><\/p>\n

Before kickoff, the company aired an ad that advised viewers to keep an eye on their corporate Twitter account during commercial breaks and share their tweets for a chance to win money. Each retweet of #EsuranceSweepstakes would assure participants another chance to win the seven-figure payday.<\/span><\/p>\n

The result? Esurance managed to triumph over much more prominent brands to secure the most Twitter mentions during the Super Bowl \u2013 835,000 tweets \u2013 along with a 100 percent favorable tweet rate. Further, #esurancesweeptakes accumulated nearly 2 million mentions, the biggest score for any branded hashtag during the game.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ultimately, the company gave out a little more than $1 million to 17 people. Esurance also further capitalized on the buzz surrounding the giveaway by posting videos with Face-time responses from winners soon after learning about their prizes.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to leverage second-screen culture,\u201d <\/span>said<\/span><\/a> Sarah Evans, Esurance Social Media Communications Specialist.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNo one these days is just watching the TV. We\u2019re surrounded by technology. We know the only way into somebody\u2019s house, into somebody\u2019s life, is not just through the TV screen, but through handheld devices and social media.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Doritos<\/b><\/h2>\n

For a decade, Doritos ran the innovative \u201cCrash the Super Bowl\u201d campaign and, although the company has since moved on to other marketing tactics, the influence of its user-generated content-fueled campaign is still being felt today.<\/span><\/p>\n

Beginning in 2007, Doritos made the risky decision to allow customers and amateur filmmakers \u2013 and not professional ad agencies \u2013 to take a crack at creating their Super Bowl ad. By the time the program wrapped, the company was offering $1 million to the winning amateur auteur along with the promise of a collaboration with Hollywood director Zack Snyder.<\/span><\/p>\n

Year after year, the consumer-submitted ads ranked among the Super Bowl\u2019s most popular.<\/span><\/p>\n