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Second Screen Quarterbacking At Super Bowl Steals The Half-time Ad Blitz
February 03, 2012

Tune in tech fans, this isn’t your Grand Dad’s Super Bowl. There’s a new wide receiver in town – and he’s making some noise from the YouTube pre-game Ad Blitz Show. The “Second Screen” steals the tip and runs with the Madison Avenue pigskin all the way to Sunday’s half-time goal line. Already over 6,993,176 pairs of eyeballs have seen the Ferris Bueller Honda CRV Super Bowl ad and it’s only 1:15 on Thursday afternoon.

There’s no debating it -- the 2012 Super Bowl ad playbook is a game changer for sure. Witness the internet lighting up with Super Bowl Ad videos (often in full extended versions) as fans get busy tweeting and posting their favorites across social platforms at a rate that makes Eli Manning’s head spin. In this supercharged East Coast contest where the New England Patriots are looking to avenge their 2008 loss to the New York Giants, the early favorite is definitely YouTube and “second screen” viewing on hand held devices across the astro-turf of the internet super highway.

Long awaited big-wow halftime advertisements are a marvel of the past as the number of eyeballs viewing Honda, Chevy, Acura, Volkswagen and Pepsi Super Bowl spots steadily edge upward on the internet. Admittedly far from the coveted 111 million viewers expected to saddle up to Sunday’s half-time show, they are quickly securing a second market viewing, making their air-time investment a little more cost effective. Releasing the halftime ads of the gridiron spectacular for free viewing on YouTube is like sneaking a dress rehearsal of the red carpet parade at the Oscars – all the hype and buzz begins days in advance thanks to every mobile device clutched in the ready at the water cooler.

Some may argue the pre-release of these ad spectaculars diminish the wow factor at half-time, but the more savvy account manager among you know this kind of pre-game hype only ups the spin factor and, before you can say “hike,” a second market viewing on “second screens” has supersized your market reach. Kick that ball a few yards further by scanning your hand held to the QR code on the screen and you are transported to the website directly. Marketing wins possession and a first down.

As evidenced in a Nielsen survey, Nic Halverson reports for Discovery News, “about two-thirds of smart phone and tablet owners use their devices to text or post to Twitter while watching TV. With Super Bowl Sunday being an ultimate day for posting online comments and taunts, companies far and wide are going deep with their marketing strategies to reach fans on their "second screens." It’s an all-out marketing blitz in the making as
Chevrolet introduces a Super Bowl smart phone app “that allows users to enter a contest to win everything from pizzas, tires, music, even a new Camaro.” In tame comparison, Coca-Cola’s Facebook prompt to interact with the company's iconic animated polar bears, is well, so second string.

With an additional 7,691,208 viewers previewing Jerry Seinfeld’s Acura NSX spot and 1,266,460 viewers previewing Volkswagen’s “The Dog Strikes Back” Super Bowl Ad sequel, the pre-show ad viewing numbers are starting to gain yardage even if they are relegated to the sidelines. When you consider how many non-football fans are likely to view the ad links circulating in emails and Facebook postings weeks before and after the big event, there’s more shelf life to this “second screen” viewing long after the Gatorade is tossed.

What better way to prove the power of social marketing than a never-ending tailgate party on Facebook and YouTube?

Go Giants!

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