Made For Moments, Or Really?

With auto makers airing both teasers and spoofs over the AFC and NFC Championship weekends, it begs the question of buying commercials for SuperBowl 2015? Trying to build excitement early needs to be a part of the standard Super Bowl advertisers’ strategy.

Both Lexus aired teasers of their long-format, SuperBowl content during the NFL playoffs, while Mercedes promoted their fictional championship.

For Mercedes, Hall of Fame receiver Jerry Rice hosted a faux sports talk show where guests debated who will win “The Big Race.” The competitors were two iconic characters from fable, the Tortoise and the Hare. Mercedes even built Twitter accounts for the Tortoise and the Hare where viewers can actively engage and make their own predictions here for the next two weeks.

While teasers and sneak peeks may run up until 2/1, the soft TV ad market this year is extending even to Super Bowl XLIX, where NBC said in November ad sales were moving along slightly more slowly than in prior years.

PREGAME MIGHT JUST BE THE REAL GAME and it begs the question :: Are we beginning to see a shift in where dollars are be spent? Are brands strategically aligning against the BIG DAY?
Rather than going big against a 2/1 air date, other advertisers taking this tack include Doritos’ filmmakers contest, Beats, Newcastle and many more.

Dez Bryant might have been out of the NFC Championship game, but he was still winning with Beats and their Hear What You Want Campaign. Per iSpotTV.TV, the view count has doubled since the launch on 1/11. Richard Sherman is continuing to stay in the zone with his Studio Wireless headphones and has a large pre-game presence within both YouTube, ESPN, and Complex Magazine’s social and digital support.

With Anheuser-Busch InBev holding the exclusive beer advertising rights, Newcastle Brown Ale is going the crowd-sourcing route with their Band of Brands campaign. It isn’t a sweepstakes or a contest, but with the brand has secured some local air time during game’s broadcast on Feb. 1 on NBC and is recruiting other brands to star in the ad and help pay for it.

The name of the game is digital, and Super Bowl advertisers should be focused on gaining online attention in the form of earned media, online views, social chatter and so on through their Super Bowl ad spend. Advertisers have to think multiplatform. Think not only of the ad, but think ahead to where that mindshare goes next.

So just who is buying TV on SuperBowl Sunday? We can expect Anheuser-Busch, Coca-Cola and Go Daddy, but we might just need to tune in to see the rest.