When the buzzing stops, and the confetti is swept up from the Canyon of Heroes, the memory of the Giant’s Super Bowl victory will quickly fade from memory.
But Monday (and the next few days) is all about the stats.
How many people watched the game (111.3 million)?
Which commercial generated the most views online (Honda)?
What were the Tweets Per Second (TPS) during the half-time show (10245) and last three minutes of the game (12,000)?
How many social media comments were made during the Super Bowl (12.2 million)?
How many views of the top five commercials were generated (63.5 million)?
From a viewing audience perspective, Super Bowl XLVI was a record breaking/setting year.
What does it all mean?
A big fat donut hole!
It doesn’t mean a friggin’ thing!
Bear with me for a moment.
The real impact of these numbers will be seen in the days, weeks and months that follow.
And it will be judged, not by the bragging rights of the advertisers who created these commercials.
And if I were any one of them, I wouldn’t be bragging too much – this year’s crop of commercials were so blasé.
The success of these uber expensive commercials will be judged by whether their clients, who forked over big bucks for these prime time slots, actually made any money.
Not one cares, really cares, about how often their commercial was watched on YouTube if it doesn’t drive consumer behavior.
If you don’t buy a Coca Cola, Pepsi, bag of Doritos, purchase a Honda, Chevy, Acura, Cadillac, an insurance policy, go to the movies to see The Lorax, Act of Valor, G.I. Joe, or watch Swamp People on tv, then the J.W. Morton & Associates, Wieden & Kennedy, CP&B, and Red Tettemer & Partners of the world failed miserably in the performance of their high-priced jobs.
The reality of the Super Bowl spots is that there is no real way of knowing whether they were effective or not.
Sure we’ll share them, comment upon them, spoof them and they’ll be the fodder of countless water cooler chats.
But how many of us were actually influenced to do anything because we watched them?
For all the Tweets that flashed across connected devices, how many contained a purchase decision?
One problem (as I see it) was that there were no explicit calls to action.
With the exception of GoDaddy (QR code), the NFL Fantasy promotion (short code and keyword), or any of the brands that used hashtags or a Facebook page (and only immediately during the broadcast), there was no way to track the efficacy of any commercial.
For advertisers and marketers, it’s all about the numbers.
And when the biggest driver for the makers of these commercials was views alone, a huge opportunity was lost.
I know you’re thinking, “it’s a commercial, shouldn’t I be looking for as many eyeballs as possible?”
Well yes, and no.
Yes. You get what you paid for. Advertisers witnessed the most highly watched Superbowl of all times (I think). So eyeballs were in abundance.
No. We live in an age where social media is increasingly important.
If you’re looking at social media as another venue to air your commercial, then you’re missing the point.
Social media enables deeper level of engagement than a simple one-way commercial.
But most of the advertisers who created these commercials, missed the point, entirely.
Years from now, when we think about the winners and losers from Super Bowl XLVI, I doubt we’ll remember any of these commercials, but rather, how many missed the opportunity to do something…memorable.
Stephen Chukumba 