|
 These include video ads that will play automatically on
Facebook's newsfeed, triggered by key words that members mention in
their posts as they watch the American football game on Feb. 1.
Smartphones and tablets provide a second screen for the Super Bowl's
100 million television viewers to comment about the game as it
proceeds, giving advertisers a more precise way to target messages.
Twitter is the leader in this arena that other social media networks
are seeking to emulate. Mondelez International's Oreo sent out
clever tweets when the lights went out during the Super Bowl in
2013, a stunt considered to be a marketing coup.
"Twitter has owned the mantel of being a real-time platform but the
sophistication of Facebook's ad targeting is unparalleled," said
Noah Mallin, head of social for north America at MEC, a media buying
agency that is part of WPP.
"That is a big change."
At last year's Super Bowl, marketers on Facebook could target ads to
segments of members based on their likes, profiles and demographic
information. Facebook has introduced real-time targeting features
since then, and this year the social network, with 155 million daily
users in the United States and Canada, will customize audience
clusters that advertisers can target in real time during the game.
 Maura Tuohy, head of social media at the marketing agency Eleven
Inc, said Facebook had to work hard to dispel the notion that people
do not use the network while watching live tent pole events. "People
are talking about these shows" on Facebook, she said.
For example, Toyota Motor Corp in the past had turned to social
media to amplify its creative TV commercials running in the Super
Bowl. Now, the Japanese automaker is making commercials specially
for social media.
Dionne Colvin-Lovely, director of traditional and emerging media at
Toyota, said the automaker is running two commercials during the
Super Bowl but has turned to digital platforms like Facebook,
Twitter, Google Inc's YouTube and Hulu to generate a conversation
around car buying.
"There is a lot more fragmentation," Colvin-Lovely said. "TV is an
important media; it's not as dominant. We need to make sure we have
a strong presence online and in mobile. It's more complicated now."
WAR-ROOMS
Twitter is staffing "war rooms" of 13 advertisers for the Super
Bowl, including PepsiCo and Anheuser Busch - triple the number of
companies that worked directly with Twitter for last year's big
game.
Staffers at the 13 companies will monitor social networks during the
game and pump out videos, tweets and graphical ads. Some companies
will have lawyers on hand to approve the spots.
[to top of second column] |
A growing number of big brand advertisers want to create "unplanned"
social ads for the Super Bowl, said Twitter Director of U.S. Brand
Strategy Ross Hoffman.
Twitter and Facebook are hoping that by executing memorable
real-time ads with a more precise way to reach consumers will be an
additional tool in their long-time efforts to grab a bigger slice of
the estimated $66 billion television advertising pie.
Many marketers are also turning to digital platforms, including
YouTube.
While many agencies executives said social networks do not
necessarily charge more for ads during tent pole events, total
spending rises as advertisers target more people.
This year, NBC is charging a record $4.5 million on average for a
30-second commercial. So far the network, a division of Comcast
Corp, has sold 95 percent of the game's inventory.
When the $5 million to $10 million cost to produce a TV commercial
is factored in, digital advertising looks even more attractive.
"It's a much more complicated ecosystem than 2 years ago," said
Winston Binch, partner, chief digital officer Deutsch North America.
His firm created the iconic "The Force" Super Bowl TV ad featuring a
little kid dressed up as Star Wars character Darth Vader in 2011 for
Volkswagen <VOWG_p.DE>, which is not airing a spot this year.
"The price tag keeps going up. It's not an easy decision now for big
brands," he said.
(Reporting by Jennifer Saba in New York and Alexei Oreskovic in San
Francisco; Editing by Peter Henderson and Richard Chang)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
