Usually, marketers that decide to buy commercials during the coming Super Bowl wait until after New Year’s Day to start telling the public and press about their plans. The rationale has been that what they had to say would probably get lost during the holiday hoopla.
For Super Bowl XLVII, to be broadcast by CBS on Feb. 3, several sponsors are taking a different tack by confiding game strategies while shoppers still seek Christmas gifts. Last week alone, two brands, SodaStream and Lincoln, disclosed that they would, for the first time, become Super Bowl advertisers, and a third, Mercedes-Benz, offered details about what its commercial would be like.
The reason the information is coming out so soon is the same reason that led many advertisers buying commercials during Super Bowl XLVI to tease the contents in advance and even provide entire commercials before the game: the rapid rise of social media.
The increasing interest among consumers in discussing and sharing Super Bowl spots on Web sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube is encouraging sponsors to speak up sooner. Sponsors say they believe the additional publicity stimulates not only word of mouth, but also viewing of the commercials when they finally run in the game.
Given how costly a Super Bowl spot is, “it makes a lot of sense” to begin publicizing it early, said Ellis Verdi, president of DeVito/Verdi in New York, which is creating a commercial, scheduled for the third quarter of Super Bowl XLVII, for the Gildan line of apparel sold by Gildan Activewear. The average price that CBS is charging for each 30-second commercial in the game is in the range of $3.8 million.
“It’s only smart to extend the conversation,” Mr. Verdi said. “You want to get as much benefit as you can.”
Among the ways DeVito/Verdi and Gildan will try that are a pair of initiatives on Facebook, including one that will let people insert photos of themselves or their friends in a scene of the commercial, paid search ads, banner ads and preroll ads that appear before online videos.
The Gildan spot is to be formally announced on Wednesday. Like the spots for SodaStream and Lincoln, it is the first time the brand has advertised in a Super Bowl. Oreo, another brand making its initial Super Bowl appearance, first talked about its plans in early October.
For such first-timers, looking for attention before the Super Bowl mainstays like Anheuser-Busch InBev, Cars.com, Coca-Cola, GoDaddy.com and PepsiCo start their own considerable promotional efforts seems to make sense.
“There is no bigger stage than the Super Bowl,” said Rob Packard, vice president for marketing and merchandising at the Gildan Retail unit of Gildan Activewear, “and no bigger, better stage to announce the brand’s arrival.”
The Super Bowl commercial is part of the first campaign for clothing like T-shirts, underwear and hoodies bearing the Gildan brand and being stocked by chains that include Kmart, Kohl’s, Shopko, Target and Walmart. The company has until now been known as a supplier of the kinds of printed T-shirts and sweatshirts that are sold in stores frequented by tourists or given to runners who finish a road race — apparel rarely chosen on the basis of brand name.
“We’re stepping up every facet of our marketing,” said Mr. Packard, who is based at the company’s United States headquarters, in Charleston, S.C., “to develop a national brand presence for Gildan in the consumer arena.”
The Super Bowl also appeals to Gildan, he added, because the campaign is being aimed primarily at younger consumers in the so-called millennial generation, roughly ages 17 to 30, “and where else can we get so many of our target audience watching at the same time?”
Gildan and DeVito/Verdi also hope to whet appetites for the Super Bowl commercial with two spots, “Fire” and “Rollercoaster,” that strike a similar chord to “Getaway.” It is “likely we will place one” of the two, Mr. Packard said, during the coverage on ESPN on Saturday of the Gildan New Mexico Bowl college football game.
All three commercials recount what Mr. Packard described as “edgy moments in a millennial’s life,” with plots imbued with exaggerated humor. “We’re not quite the X Games, but it’s a little extreme,” he added, declining to give away details.
Although such content can be risky, Mr. Packard said, “there’s a risk to every marketing move.”
Besides, he added, the Super Bowl is known for “edgy” commercials. “We obviously think the creative is good enough to be talked about the next day.”
The Gildan commercial also represents the first spot that DeVito/Verdi has created for a Super Bowl.
Although “these are not easy decisions,” Mr. Verdi said, “I think we made the right call.”
“It’s the right moment, the right time for” Gildan, he added, and “we know viewers are engaged in the watching of the commercials. There is no other place where you get so many purposeful eyeballs.”
Mr. Packard estimated that Gildan Activewear intended to spend more than $25 million on the campaign for the Gildan brand and a campaign, also by DeVito/Verdi, for Gold Toe socks, which the company acquired last year.
The Gold Toe campaign, in print and on mall signs, carries the theme “The best socks on two feet.” Headlines include “Don’t be surprised if your socks outlast your shoes,” “They say the knees are the first to go, but actually it’s the toe” and “Pick a design he’ll like. He’ll be looking down at it for a long time.”
Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/12/business/media/marketers-start-super-bowl-campaigns-early.html?partner=rss&emc=rss