A Look Back at NBC’s Digital Marketing Tactics for Super Bowl XLIX

On Super Bowl Sunday, the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks weren’t the only teams facing off.

In the background, companies from across the country were battling for social media presence, as the event held in Glendale, Arizona was TV’s biggest occasion of the year. From small-time blogs to giant news sources, everyone was trying to attract the eyes and ears of viewers online.

Every year, coverage of the Super Bowl rotates through the different network providers. This year, coverage of the big game took place on NBC, but the network didn’t stop there. Before the game, NBC announced a new campaign centered at dominating digital media throughout the weekend. Not only did NBC broadcast the game, they also tried to draw as much attention to themselves as possible through other online platforms, such as social media.

Before the game, NBC showed their dominance with advertisement by selling all of their available commercial slots for the game. The network actually set a new record for revenue generated in light of the NFL championship.

“Social Central,” NBC’s social strategy team for the big event, attempted to cover every social media platform possible. Last Tuesday, less than a week before the big game, NBC teamed up with Guinness World Records and Patrick Peterson, cornerback for the Arizona Cardinals, in an attempt to break the selfie world record. Pictures and videos of the attempt were covered throughout the weekend leading up to the game, giving NBC more publicity of their accomplishment.

On top of that, NBC partnered with YouTube stars Dude Perfect, who delivered a video highlighting the culture of Super Bowl parties. They also aired a Dude Perfect “trick shot” video on NBC’s social media. Dude Perfect even teamed up with Rookie of the Year Odell Beckham Jr. for the video.

Other new attempts at online presence for the company included their first Tumblr page, with their goal of getting content out to every social media channel, including Facebook, Twitter, Vine, and Pinterest, as fast as possible.

“We’re not focused on having an Oreo moment,” said Lyndsay Signor, Director of Social Media Marketing at NBC Sports and Olympics.

“But what we want is to have people coming to us for the the news. We learned that during the Olympics.”