Move over football, there’s a new Super Bowl spectator sport: Ad Tweets
Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009I attended four Super Bowl parties last Sunday; one was physical and three were virtual parties. Along with thousands of other Twitter users, my party check list included assorted chips, beverages, savory treats and hashtags. According to New Media Strategies, there were 49,000 posts on Twitter that referenced Super Bowl advertising. From kick off through Monday morning, we all commented on the TV spots using 140 characters or less and tagged these comments with either #SuperAds09, #SB43Ads or #Superbowlads so that we could track the conversation.
The hashtag #SuperAds09 was introduced by media critic Steve Hall and tweets also streamed live on Steve’s site Adrants . Edward Boches, Mullen’s chief creative officer, and his team introduced #SB43Ads and also streamed it from a separate site entitled “Trash Talk from Section Twitter.” Prior to Sunday, Boches told the Boston Globe that in participating in the Twitter experiment on Super Bowl ads, “We’re looking to use a new medium to comment on an old medium.”
Lisa Hickey, creative strategist, joined Steve and Edward to explore how pre-game advertising exposure online and real-time reactions to Super Bowl television advertising may begin to change the nature of the “Water Cooler” chatter and how consumers interact with brands.
Is this Twitter Super Bowl party idea an example of online community, just an event or a little of both?
@stevehall:. “I think it’s a little of both. You have TV event with an online event and with the tools you have to interact online, Twitter makes it a gigantic group chat.”
@lisahickey: “To me, it’s highlighting the way Social Media will evolve in the coming months and years. I was sitting in a room with my real-life friends and family watching the game. At the same time, I’m connected with hundreds of Twitter friends. A commercial plays. I get instant feedback from people in the room. I process that, add my own thoughts and broadcast it to the Twitter world. My family then shouts out ‘What did everyone say? Did they like that?’Advertisers would be smart to realize that their commercials can be an event as well as a message.”
@edwardboches: “Things moved pretty fast. I think it was less of a community and more of an experience, like going to a rock concert. You’re sharing the same thing in an interactive way so you’re sort of feeling connected.”
| Will real time group interaction change people’s perception of the advertising messages or judgment of creative? (I’m thinking of the group think you often see in focus groups — peer pressure to agree or disagree)@stevehall: “Well, with Twitter, I think there is enough physical detachment that people feel they can be more truthful.”@lisahickey: “I looked for the effect of peer pressure, but didn’t see it. Everything was happening much too quickly – and that’s a direct factor of Twitter itself. In that sense, I think the feedback was perhaps more real and honest than what you might find in focus groups.”
@edwardboches: “No, there is enough difference of opinion that you can always find something that validates your point of view.” |
Many of the Super Bowl spots had been online for at least a week prior to game. Does this help brands or take away the suspense or interest in creative? Will some feel they’ve seen it all so it will seem like a big “so what?”
@stevehall “As a critic, I had seen about one-third of the spots ahead of time, so there were still spots I had not seen. In fact, a few of them I missed during the game and watched them later at AdAge.com. I don’t think your average person would have seen much before the game. Most people out side of media don’t seek this out in advance.”
@lisahickey: “This year, I found there to be an enormous amount of pre-game chatter. And I found it interesting how many companies released their ads to the public before the game. In the ultimate irony, you would often have to watch a commercial before you could see the commercial you were looking for. Advertisers, take note: the ads I liked the best, and talked about the most were the ones I hadn’t seen ahead of time.”
@edwardboches: “I almost prefer not seeing them before hand. The majority of people don’t see them ahead of time. It’s mainly those of us in the business.”
| What was your overall Twitter Super Bowl Experience like? Anything surprise, amuse or impress you? @lisahickey: “I loved participating with so many people in real time. At first it was actually quite stressful. My kids (in the room with me), let me know in know uncertain terms that they didn’t like my attention being divided between them and the rest of the world. And it was all happening so fast; it was really hard keeping up.”@edwardboches: What I thought was very interesting was the momentum we created only by sending out a few tweets, emails and invites to the #sb43ads and our site stream. It seemed like within days we had thousands of followers. So an individual can create this attention but the key is you have to create something that people want to participate in.”
Anything stand out for you in terms of TV spots demonstrating interesting integration with social media platforms? Or Tweets providing link to that integration? @stevehall: “I didn’t notice anything specifically integrated within the spots themselves. In fact, someone at the (physical) party I attended had said, ‘If the brands had put their twitter ID on the spots they might have had instant followers.” @edwardboches: “Watching all the spots made me realize that television is getting old.” Which brands did you notice participating within the tweet chat? Anyone demonstrating that they are using the medium to really listen to the consumer? @stevehall: Definitely SoBe (@sobeworld) was very active. They got involved with Twitter prior to the game and during the game they seemed pretty engaged. I noticed E-trade showed up on Twitter after the game started and they were on for a bit afterward. I didn’t notice anyone else. @lisahickey: “I felt like SoBe was really trying to listen, where e-Trade was more intent on just broadcasting. No brands really got involved with the conversation while it was happening. That is one of the fascinating things about this medium that I have been tweeting a lot about recently. How can you participate in rapid-fire, real time dialogue without getting yourself in trouble as a brand? Is it possible?” How did the experience affect your participation in watching the game itself? @stevehall: “Well it was multi-tasking and hard to react quickly to everything real time. When you critique ads, it is hard enough to pay attention to the game itself, but now you have tweeting and reviewing ads and oh, yeah, there is a game too.” @lisahickey: “I thought one of the funniest things someone said was ‘I’m trying to concentrate on the commercials, but a football game keeps breaking out.’ It was a little hard going back and forth, especially at first. But, my overall experience was great. In my observations, this is the way the world is evolving: Moments where individuals have short, discreet, focused activity followed by moments of connection with the entire world.” Final thoughts? @lisahickey: “For me, the biggest thing is: what’s next? For example, next year, a commercial might show in the first half without an ending. People could vote in real time, and in the second half the ending voted for could air. That’s just one idea… there are so many amazing things that can be done with this media. I, for one, can’t wait to participate.” @edwardboches: “Well, the Super Bowl was a fast moving event. But in thinking of everyday use of Twitter, I’m struck with how collaborative the users are. People encourage the sharing of ideas and attribute ideas to others. It’s really a pretty positive experience.” Please join us in the conversation on Twitter: @edwardboches, @stevehall, @lisahickey,@sarahmontague |
Sarah Montague, an AMA Boston blogger is a brand strategist and marketing communications professional that has directed integrated marketing programs for diverse, emerging and high-growth national and global companies. Sarah’s first advertising agency experience at Arnold Worldwide included working on the Digital Equipment Corporation account where she was part of the world’s largest global email system. Sarah remembers the time everyone asked her, “What’s an email?” and is fascinated with how technology continues to shape new ways to connect with the constituents that matter most. Join in the conversation with Sarah on Twitter: @sarahmontague
