I know, I know... you've probably read your share of posts and articles relating to the Super Bowl and brands and advertisers. And Lord knows the postmortem will bring even more posts and articles and opinions of which spot was best, which was worst, which one featured the best use of a wild animal and so on.
But today I want to you think about what will happen during the game. In today's all-too real-time world we live in, you can bet your blitz package that people all over the world will have their laptop, tablet and/or smartphone nearby to not only express their thoughts on the game itself but also on the "barrage of branding" the Super Bowl has become for consumers and advertisers.
Consumers of all ages will be at the ready to share their thoughts and comments via any number of social media platforms. You know all the usual suspects by now.
And rest assured not all the comments, thoughts, etc. will be of the positive variety. Where would the fun be in that? Oh no, the minute someone sees an ad they don't like, they find offensive or is guilty of any other egregious crime, they will reach for their nearest instrument of engagement to spew their venom.
Not long ago I wrote an article "Is A Crisis The Real Test Of A Brand When It Comes To Social Media?"
The inspiration for the article was the debacle unfolding in Happy Valley around the once pure-as-the-driven snow Penn State. Clearly that crisis was mishandled on many fronts, one of them being social media.
But it got to me thinking and wondering aloud, "Is A Crisis The Real Test Of A Brand When It Comes To Social Media?"
Now let's put that in the context of the Super Bowl.
What if, after watching a ad for a given brand, a large number of people take it to the streets-the social streets?
They bombard the brand's Facebook page with comments, complaints and so on. They blast en masse to their Twitter followers all about their disdain for this particular TV spot.
And they do all this during the game itself.
Obviously, at least hopefully, anyway, there will be someone "minding the store" during the game -someone monitoring the social seas for comments, positive and negative alike.
So assuming someone is on guard for these brands, what will the response be if such a deluge of negativity comes across their screens?
I mean, after all, you (the brand) just forked over millions of dollars to run the spot, not to mention all the money that went into creating and producing the damn thing, too. You surely didn't do all this to get lambasted before the commercial is even done running in the first place.
Oh sure, let them come at you afterwards. That's to be expected.
But what about during the game itself?
If you're a brand...
- Do you hope people are too busy watching the game to see what's being said online?
- Do you only respond to the positive comments?
- Do you have a standard pat answer at the ready to use to respond to any negative comments?
Obviously only time will tell but it will be interesting to see how it all plays out, not only on the field but off it as well.
And for the record, I want the Patriots to win (I'm a lifelong Eagles fan so there's not a chance in hell I can root for the Giants), but I think the Giants will win, much to my chagrin.
Sources: Google Images, Forbes
Steve Olenski is a freelance writer/blogger currently looking for full-time work. He has over 20 years experience in advertising and marketing. He lives in Philly and can be reached via email, Twitter , LinkedIn or his website.