Super Bowl ads 2014: It’s all about the PR

While I won’t go into a blow-by-blow grading of the Super Bowl fare dished out by our ad agency brethren (although special kudos to Radio Shack and our friends at CarMax just to name a few), I found myself underwhelmed by the latest batch.

After spending more of the game on Twitter watching reaction to the Broncos’ lack of action and to the knee-jerk reaction to the spots, something screamed at me loud and clear.

It’s not about the ads anymore, it’s about the PR and social effect the “ads” have in the days and weeks before and after the game.

And…

I think that’s why the overall quality of the actual advertising is down. Maybe significantly down.

Here’s what it comes down to:

• In the old days, the spots were leaked directly to the media about a week ahead of time to get buzz in earned media coverage before the game. Now the spots get “leaked” directly to the consumer through social channels so you see them (a lot) in most cases before they run.
• It’s not enough to “leak” the actual spots on social channels. You need to put out longer form versions or alternative versions ahead of time to get the buzz. This is why the Bud Light spots with Arnold fell flat, since they already were seen as a full three-minute version before being edited for the actual game.
• Given the pressure put on advertisers and agencies to justify the high ad rates, it’s just not enough to run the commercial during the game. You need to make them online/social/PR experiences that will live on for days and weeks or quite frankly… you fail.

The trickle-down effect is the advertisers who, in the past, circumvented the game and used social to communicate their message now have to find other ways to hijack the night.

This is why social and digital war rooms burned the Sunday night oil trying to create their own “Oreo moment” by winning the night on Twitter. Newcastle’s alternative ad campaign was a prime example. Or it’s why Esurance brilliantly saved 30 percent of the ad buy by running its ad right after the game and then parlayed that savings into a $1.5 million Twitter contest.

Here’s the bottom line: In this $5-million-a-spot world where sex and violence and monkeys just won’t sell anymore, it’s a truly defining time for America’s ad industry.

Can it win the night on the creative alone, or is it going to be forced to play in our PR and social sandbox to justify the buy? It will be very interesting to see how the industry answers this question.