It’s over. Super Bowl 50 is now a part of history. Living in Indianapolis, I am very happy for Peyton Manning. Whatever he decides, and I think we all know what’s coming, he can go out on top, proud of the legacy he left behind in two cities that grew very fond of him.
Enough About The Game!
Aren’t we really here to talk about the ads? After a somewhat lackluster game, the ads should still have us talking, analyzing, and honing our craft to become better and smarter marketers, right?
You probably had your favorites…or maybe only one or two of them judging from the reaction on Twitter and Facebook during the game. One or two were ads seen before the big game. Many might be ads we will never see again.
That Is A Problem!
Hey, more power to you if you had $5,000,000+ to spend on ads last night, and even more to have your agency create and produce the ads, but I am waiting to see who the real advertisers were and are from last night.
Just because you spent a bagillion dollars during the game doesn’t mean much if you don’t know how to surround that ad with a fully integrated campaign surrounding it. If I never see you again after last night, then you have fallen short.
You have fallen short because you can’t win your audience over by being a one-trick, or a one-game, pony. You can’t expect to put all of your promotional eggs in one Super Bowl basket, hoping your brand will be so boosted by your brilliant creative and stellar placement that you forget what should come before, during and after the big buy.
If your target audience doesn’t see related follow-up during and after the game…and I don’t just mean once…then you have fallen short. If you have not created a real “promotion,” developing messages and creative that you then scatter all over the Internet like digital breadcrumbs so that, when I have a need for your product of service, you have made yourself memorable and easy to find, then you have fallen short.
If, however, you began teasing us with digital messages on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, SnapChat, Periscope, or in traditional spaces like print, outdoor, TV, radio and others, then you can win.
If you also played and interacted with your target audiences online during the game, showing us how your digital presence, wit and response matches the creative brand you spent all that money to advertise, then you can win.
If you then committed resources to talk to us today, tomorrow, next week and the week after, reminding us what we have already forgotten about you since last night, and you have shown us what a pleasure it is to do business with you, then you can win.
But you will be fighting an endless, resource intensive, and very expensive promotional battle if you are simply relying on one seemingly blockbuster ad, or even two, during one game on one night to one audience.
All of us need to remember that integrated marketing that is built as a campaign is critical to effective communication of our brands. We need to make sure we plan all 3 phases:
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Before
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During
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After
If we are not willing to step up and do that, then we need to reconsider being in the game in the first place.
