If it seems as though messages from Super Bowl marketers are flying at you from every direction — even from inside Kim Kardashian’s private gym for Skechers — you may understand why many advertisers view Sunday’s Super Bowl as a tipping point for traditional media and social media.
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Old media: 30-some advertisers will air about 60 TV commercials, having spent up to $3 million per 30 seconds of ad time in the Fox telecast expected to be seen by more than 100 million.
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New media: Advertisers’ social-networking lead-up and follow-up to their game ads are going non-stop on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and more — on phones, computers and iPads.
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Not that the ads will be the best ever. It may be that 2011 Super Bowl advertisers now are so focused on spreading the message across so many media channels that many forgot to focus on the content of the central message itself.
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But if the famous 1984 commercial for Apple’s Macintosh instantly changed the way Super Bowl ads were created, 2011’s game may be remembered for changing forever the way marketers expand their campaigns — via new media far beyond the ad they buy in the Big Game.
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Welcome to the first Transmedia Bowl, offers futurist Watts Wacker. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Bud Light roving reporters in the stands, providing lucky fans with 15 seconds of fame through video feeds to their sites.
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Fox’s 30-second Super Bowl ad slots have been sold out since October — among the earliest sellouts ever. The ads may be old-style media, but even Groupon, the hotter-than-hot group coupon Web site that’s as new media as new media gets, has bought a slot to gain brand buzz.
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We know it’s ironic to use the offline world of Super Bowl advertising to build our brand, says Rob Solomon, president of Groupon….