Editor’s note: Scott C. Purvis is president of N.J.-based research and consulting firm G&R and author of Which Ad Pulled Best? (McGraw-Hill, 2010).
Social media is changing the advertising game. In addition to providing new channels for brand-initiated communications and introducing a new platform for consumer-generated, brand-related conversations, online and social media enable brands to cost-effectively increase exposure – in terms of both reach and frequency – to their traditional campaigns. A recent study by G&R of Super Bowl advertising investigated how brands can use social media to leverage the effects traditional media has on both advertising and brand engagement.
The study identified several multipliers that social media can have on traditional advertising engagement. It found that social media can not only be used as an outlet to increase the accessibility of advertising messaging to the public but that traditional advertising and social media can be used together during a golden window to increase the amount of time that brand messages are lodged in the market’s thoughts and conversations to effectively amplify brand engagement.
For the modern shopper, social media is transforming the consumer-brand experience. Online and social channels provide consumers access to new information sources about brands and enable them to share content and initiate conversations that influence others. This pronounced relationship between online brand engagement and consumer buying behaviors has prompted an exponential growth in social media ad spending.
It makes sense that social media would transform the consumer-advertising experience as well. Traditional brand advertising influences purchase decision-making by increasing brand awareness, reinforcing motivating messaging, being likeable and/or encouraging trial-seeking behavior (providing a coupon, for example). Social media adds value to traditional advertising programs by providing new, cost-effective opportunities for paid messages to be discovered, watched and discussed. Additionally, online platforms facilitate the social sharing of television advertising content outside of its original context, serving to significantly amplify reach, frequency of exposure and saliency of messaging. In short, social media can multiply the benefits that were traditionally available from 30 seconds of paid airtime.
Super Bowl advertising and social media at work
Attitudinal data was collected as part of the annual Super Bowl advertising study. The sample consisted of adult viewers of the game who were sourced from an independent online sample provider. Qualified respondents were invited to complete an online survey about the game the day after the broadcast and asked standard questions of advertising engagement, including recall, ad liking and persuasion. Social media conversation data were compiled by an independent social media data provider along with another sample and separated based on positive, negative and neutral sentiment. Both sets of data were aggregated to the brand level for analysis and modelling.
The study found three distinct patterns in Super Bowl advertising and social media interaction.
1. Social media increases the shelf life of traditional advertising by making it more available to the public before and after on-air viewing. However, the shelf life is limited. In the case of the Super Bowl there was a period of 22 days during which the vast majority of all conversations took place, with 89 percent taking place during an 11-day window of opportunity (Table 1).
2. Pre-releasing strong advertising that generates positive social media conversations enhances engagement in the advertising when it is telecast on-air. The top 25 percent of brands based on pre-game positive social conversation scored 80 percent higher on in-game advertising engagement than the bottom 25 percent (Table 2).
3. The relationship between social media and brand advertising may be symbiotic. That is, generating positive social media conversations before a commercial airs has higher engagement in the advertising when it does air, and advertising that generates strong engagement when it airs has more positive social media conversations after it airs – all of which lead to higher brand engagement. Brands in the top 25 percent based on advertising engagement generated almost four times the post-game positive social conversation volume than the bottom 25 percent (Table 3).
Super Bowl advertisers spend $4.5 million for a 30-second spot. To put that number in perspective, it is the equivalent of 12 spots on prime shows like The Blacklist and The Big Bang Theory. Or, full-page, four-color ads in every issue of Men’s Fitness, Details, Men’s Journal, Rolling Stone, GQ, Golf Digest and Golf Magazine for a year (96 ads). Or, approximately 1.3 billion banner ad impressions on Web sites featuring arts, entertainment and news content.
Over the years, many advertisers have willingly paid this amount in order to get their messaging in front of the largest television audience of any broadcast event, with little DVR-skipping and among people with the highest interest in watching the advertising that will be appearing. Now, using social media, Super Bowl advertisers are able to significantly enhance the value of paid advertising investments. While Super Bowl audience size and advertising attitudinal characteristics are not typical of most advertising consumption, these results may also indicate the kinds of behaviors than can occur when social media strategies are integrated with on-air commercials, particularly when brands are able to engage consumers with immersive content and strong messaging.
Study method and findings can be found in the research article, “How Digital Conversations Reinforce Super Bowl Advertising: The Power of Earned Media Drives Television Engagement,” Journal of Advertising Research, Volume 54, Number 4, Winter, 2015.