To create buzz, it’s no longer enough for marketers to simply get people talking at the water cooler the morning after the game. They also want to engage the people who like reacting to big events by posting on Twitter
By MAE ANDERSON
Associated Press
NEW YORK — Call it the “second-screen” Super Bowl.
About two-thirds of smartphone and tablet owners use their gadgets to do things like text or post on Twitter while watching TV, according to research firm Nielsen. So, for Sunday’s game, companies from Coke to Chevy are trying to reach fans on all the “second screens” they have.
Chevrolet rolled out the first Super Bowl smartphone app that allows Big Game watchers to enter a contest to win everything from pizza to a new Camaro. Kia is the first company to show its Super Bowl ad ahead of the game in movie theaters. And Coca Cola set up a Facebook page and website so viewers can see its animated polar bears — one cheering for the New England Patriots and the other for the New York Giants — reacting to the game in real time.
“The world is changing,” says Pio Schunker, Coca Cola’s vice president for creative excellence. “We needed to come to the party with something new and different.”
Advertisers have big incentives to stand out. With more than 111 million viewers expected to tune into the game. It’s also not cheap — NBC is charging an average of $3.5 million for a 30-second spot. And the competition is fierce: there will be more than 70 TV ads during the Super Bowl battling for attention.
To create buzz, it’s no longer enough for marketers to simply get people talking at the water cooler the morning after the game. They also want to engage the people who like reacting to big events by posting on Twitter or Facebook.
