After an eventful Super Bowl XLVII, which included two brothers pitted against each other, Beyonce’s halftime show, the power outage, and the 49ers (almost) rallying, today it’s all about recapping the ads. According to Ad Age, fans eagerly awaiting the 2013 ads were not looking to connect with a brand; rather audiences simply wanted to be entertained. The entertainment this year was brought to audiences by extending the ads onto a second screen. For example, the Coca-Cola Mirage ads added in some humorous competition plus engaged audiences via mobile. As MediaPost points out, we might start seeing more of the creative and engaging side of the Super Bowl ads taking place on a second screen. The first screen might then be used as a teaser to encourage user involvement.
The key to asking audiences to engage further with your brand on a second screen is being sure the payoff is enough. For the Coca-Cola Mirage campaign, users were able to not only vote for their preferred team, but also were able to sabotage the opposition. This addition cleverly turned the ad from a poll to a game and heightened the personalization for players.
Overall, using mobile might be the future of drawing audiences’ attention during the Super Bowl. The potential for personalization, along with a choose your own adventure component also sets brands up nicely for follow-up engagement with consumers.
In the end, the audience chose the Showgirls to win the race for the Coke, but there is a lot of discussion about which ads stole the show. Which ads were your favorites for Super Bowl XLVII?
