Did Social Media Kill the Superbowl Ad?

The Superbowl ad has long been the annual showcase for large brands and well-funded start ups. Many people have been predicting its demise, saying it’s only a matter of time before brands start moving their budgets into more efficient and effective media. Some brands have begun that process in earnest, driving marketing dollars into social media and other online properties. Mass media, it seems, is no longer an effective and efficient way to reach people.

But what if the complete opposite were true?

What if, instead, social media made the Superbowl ads more important and effective than they ever were? Consider the fact that a few short years ago, most of those ads were shown during the Superbowl, never to be seen again. Sure, they generated a lot of buzz and water cooler talk, but a 30-second campaign life is a pretty steep investment. So what if mass media wasn’t the campaign, but the catalyst for something much larger?

The one commercial that everybody has been talking about from this year’s game was the Volkswagen “The Force” commercial featuring an unbearably cute toddler dressed up as Darth Vader. I dare you to watch the commercial without a full ear-to-ear grin by the end (it’s impossible). In the last few days that video has racked up 22,356,617 video views from YouTube alone, generated over 100,000 “likes” and sparked countless discussions online.

What does this mean for your company and your marketing department?

The future of marketing and advertising is creating products, services and communications that people want to share. When you do it right, mass media can be an incredible catalyst for a longer, intricate online campaign. This means that your marketing team needs to understand how to conceive and execute ideas that can spread across multiple platforms.

By Steve Cunningham From Financial Post