Today’s top brands understand the need to extend the life of their Super Bowl ads – and their $3 million investment – by publishing supporting content across paid, owned and earned channels leading up to and beyond the big game. Engaging and entertaining an audience before and after the big show through content can amplify brand messages well beyond Sunday’s game.
We’ve highlighted a few top brands adding to the Super Bowl excitement this year through great content marketing campaigns.
#PepsiHalftime: Crowd-sourced initiative sparks fan poses
When Pepsi announced their Super Bowl Halftime sponsorship, the brand made it clear that the show would go above and beyond an exciting performance by Beyoncé. Halftime, after all, is a celebration for all fans and an opportunity to recognize one of America’s favorite pastimes. Pepsi took a crowdsourcing content approach and asked fans to submit up to 50 photos following pre-selected poses for the chance to be featured in the countdown introduction. By centralizing the experience around customers, Pepsi has created quite a buzz. Fans entered thousands of photos within the first two days. Encouraging the audience to participate in the brand story is a key way to generate compelling content and establish a movement that everyone wants to be a part of.
Coke: Soft drink creates a rivalry all their own.
Football fans do not have much say in who wins or loses on Sunday, but Coca Cola’s Coke Chase campaign is giving the audience more control. The campaign kicked off with a western-style video where a group of cowboys, badlanders and showgirls go head-to-head in the desert in a quest for one cold bottle of Coca Cola. Coke invited fans to determine who wins the final prize by casting a vote for their group of choice on cokechase.com. On social media, the brand continues to update fans on the race status and encourage participants to share their allegiance with friends and followers. By giving viewers something to cheer for, Coke hopes to lock-in the audience’s attention once the final clip goes live.
Nabisco: Snack giant brings life to the party
For many, the Super Bowl is as much about the food as the programming. Thanks to Nabisco, leading manufacturer of treats like Oreo, Wheat Thins and Triscuits, no one will go to bed hungry. In addition to a game time media buy for Oreo, Nabisco is publishing party planning tips and tricks on its Super Bowl focused website, Put the Party in Play. The site includes recipes, downloadable board games and hosting dos and don’ts. Commercials, although entertaining, are not enough to serve audience needs, especially for those preparing to entertain friends and family. By producing content to help individuals during specific occasions, Nabisco will boost their place within the customer’s consideration set.
Now that consumers are used to receiving never-ending streams of information from the search and social web, no piece of content will last by standing on its own two legs. The ROI on Super Bowl ads alone can no longer be justified. To make content efforts count, leading marketers must extend the lifecycle of every asset they publish. They must take an integrated marketing approach to their content and capitalize on the combined benefits of paid, owned and earned channels.
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