In case you somehow escaped the news, the New York Giants took home the Lombardi trophy last night as the Super Bowl XLII champs. Next to the game itself, the television ads that run during the game are the next most talked about thing. Reprise Media released the results today of their 4th annual Search Marketing Scorecard (SMS), which ranks Super Bowl advertisers based on the level of integration between their TV ads and presence in search and social media.
What the SMS does is it measures how prepared each of the brands are to capture online interest and buzz. Afterall, we all know that any good marketing campaign -especially at the level of those who can afford to advertise during the Super Bowl – requires a multi-pronged plan of attack.
The Winners:
- Pepsi was named as this year’s most valuable player by the SMS, having rebounded “from its performance in our 2005 inaugural SMS, where it finished at the bottom of the pile.”
- Web-based direct marketers including CareerBuilder.com and GoDaddy.com scored “touchdowns” again, and have done well with search and social media.
- T-Mobile, Tide, and Cars.com were named to this year’s winner’s circle, with the best integration of Super Bowl TV commercials and search and social media.
The Losers:
- Disney, Zantac, and Hershey’s “miss their opportunities for cross-channel integration, with nearly no connection between game-day ads and their online presence.”
- The entertainment industry was slapped with an “under-perform” rating. Movie studios are given kudos for the buzz they generate with their 30-second spots, but most are “still missing the boat…. Most studios are not buying search ads for their films, and none are using Super Bowl specific keywords or copy to capture the attention of Giants and Patriots fans.”
Interceptions:
- While Edmunds.com (you know, the car site) didn’t purchase any advertising to air during the big game, they did at least buy paid search ads that capitalized on the Super Bowl audience headed online for additional information.
Other Observations in the SMS study:
- Pepsi was smart, and included their URL in ads, but the rest of the non-alcoholic beverage industry forgot this important piece of information.
- None of the ads pointed to their presence on social media sites like MySpace, YouTube, or Facebook.
- Less than 1/5 showed Super Bowl related content on social networks.
- 70% bought placement in paid search against their brand name, nearly a 20% increase over last year.
- Less than 10% of advertisers worked their mascot, celebrity, or tagline into their paid search terms.
- 84% of advertisers including a URL in their TV spot, and all went to the right place.
Hopefully the marketing people at the various advertisers take note of Reprise Media’s findings and fix their mistakes next year. I can’t believe that any advertiser in this day and age would NOT include their URL in any and all advertisements.
