In the recent post, "Super Bowl LI Ads: Will they be worth the watch?" blogger Sara Micic revisits some of the most popular Super Bowl ads from years past. Here, I explore how advertisers this year are hoping to make their ads even more popular by advertising the advertisements in the weeks leading up to the Super Bowl.
Each year, the Super Bowl earns the ranking as the most-watched television event. According to CNBC, more than 100 million viewers tuned into last year's game. That's a huge already engaged audience for brands to reach, and they are willing to shell out big bucks to do it.
A 30-second ad spot during the Super Bowl costs brands more than $5 million--and that's just for the air time. Brands have to spend even more for production, writers, actors, etc. According to Ad Age Datacenter, ad spending during last year's Super Bowl reached nearly $380 million.
This year, to make ensure that brands get more bang for their ($5 million) buck, advertisers are advertising the Super Bowl ad before it airs. The New York Times reports that it's common for advertisers to spend an additional 25 percent or more of the cost of their Super Bowl ad spot on promoting the ad leading up to its debut during the big game.
Recently, Bai Brands and Snickers have utilized this technique in hopes to increase viewership and anticipation in the days leading up to Super Bowl Sunday.
Bai Brands enlisted the talent of celebrity Justin Timberlake to appear in their 30-second spot as the brand's "chief flavor officer." But in addition to using the singer's star power to sell the product in the actual ad, the brand also hopes to capitalize on Timberlake's social media following to sell the ad. Timberlake has posted two teasers of the Bai Brand's ad on Instagram, generating upwards of 2 million impressions for the brand before the ad has aired.
A week before the Super Bowl, Justin Timberlake posted the above picture to Instagram, tagging the Bai Brands Instagram account and using the hashtag #SB51. The photo received 661,792 likes and countless other impressions.
A few days after posting the photo, Timberlake uploaded a video teaser to his personal Instagram account, again, tagging Bai Brands and using the hashtag #SB51. The teaser received over 2 million views within the first 20 hours of posting.
Snickers is another brand that is promoting its Super Bowl advertisement before it airs. Snickers is featuring actor, Adam Driver, in the first ever live commercial to air during the Super Bowl. But before the 60 second spot airs, Snickers is releasing YouTube videos of trailers and casting calls for the live commercial.
The above video is a trailer for the live commercial. Since it's posting on January 27, the video has received hundreds of thousands of views.
The above video is a "casting call" for the horse that will star alongside Driver in the live commercial, intended to generate buzz for Sunday's live take.
Bai Brands and Snickers are just two examples of brands promoting their Super Bowl advertisements before the big game, other brands including Honda and Kia, have released teasers for their commercials as well.
Will advertising the advertisements result in higher viewership and higher approval rating for the main advertisements? Tune into Sunday's big game to find out.
I love that companies are teasing their commercials. Releasing them early and having the spokespeople hype them up will most likely increase not only viewership, but recall, among viewers. It's hard to remember an ad that you've only seen for 60 seconds sandwiched between other ads, but giving people something to look forward to should make it easier. Personally, I've watched some of the ads online already and I can't wait to see them on the tv during the big game. I definitely agree that if people like what they see in the teasers, they'll probably feel more inclined to stay tuned into commercial breaks during the game.
ReplyDeleteCreating a teaser for an advertisement is weird but it is a fun way for consumers to be engaged with a company. I do not think the teasers will get people to watch an ad later but i do think that people will remember the company better because they are more engaged with Instagram than television ads.
ReplyDelete