Super Bowl Ads Touching On Political Themes See Minimal Social Media Backlash
The fallout for brands from their controversial Super Bowl ads "could take time to materialize, but for the moment there’s no evidence any advertisers are facing a serious backlash," according to Marshall & Bruell of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. Marketers like Budweiser, Airbnb and 84 Lumber "knew they were taking risks" by airing ads on "sensitive political and social issues." Some brands "took more heat than others on social media." Budweiser "had a spike in social media mentions after the airing of its ad." Research firm Networked Insights, which analyzed Super Bowl ad campaign mentions across social channels, said that there "were 98,952 online mentions of the Budweiser brand on Sunday, of which 20% were positive and 28% were negative." Anheuser-Busch said that its own data tells a "different story," suggesting that reaction to the ad has been "overwhelmingly positive on social media, even around the '#boycottbudwiser' hashtag." A-B VP/Communications Gemma Hart said, "When you look at ‘boycott Budweiser’ it would be easy to say that’s potentially negative." But she claimed many social media users were actually "expressing solidarity with the message" of the ad. Meanwhile, 84 Lumber's commercial was "perhaps the most politically-charged commercial to air during Sunday’s game," but some data suggests it "wasn’t greeted particularly negatively." Networked Insights said that out of 79,334 online posts, "10% were positive while 7% were negative." Ad agency FCB Global Chief Creative Officer Susan Credle said that she "wouldn’t necessarily advise advertisers to stay away from political statements, if they are in line with the company’s mission and brand" (WSJ.com, 2/7).
AD EXECS WEIGH IN: In Boston, Dan Adams writes the "toxic zeitgeist" that currently exists in American society "puts consumer companies in a tough spot." Boston-based ad agency Hill Holiday Chief Strategy Officer Lesley Bielby said, "If you’re not culturally relevant, you’re not relevant -- period. And not a day goes by that we’re not having conversations with clients about the political situation. It’s impossible to ignore the shift." Bielby and others "cautioned that authenticity remains key." They said that brands that "try to seize on current events in a clumsy, opportunistic way will be rightfully roasted on social media." Ad execs agreed that brands "shouldn’t kowtow to critics who are overreacting to relatively innocuous ads" (BOSTON GLOBE, 2/8).
WHEREFORE ART THOU ROMEO? Jumpstart Automotive Media yesterday released the findings of its annual Super Bowl ad performance report. The automotive marketing company monitored auto shoppers visiting its portfolio of publishers. The five brands that drove the highest spikes in traffic also saw the highest share of active pages viewed in the two minutes following their Super Bowl LI spots. Alfa Romeo, which aired three ads during the game, came out on top. One minute after the first commercial aired, overall site traffic increased tenfold, and four of the top five searched terms included Alfa Romeo. After the second commercial aired, the site reached its highest numbers in traffic and eight out of the top ten searched terms included Alfa Romeo (Jumpstart).
