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Brands score touchdown with early release of Super Bowl ads on social

Super Bowl advertisers raced to release ads early on social media this year as they look beyond simply redistributing content to turning it into a key engagement strategy.  

Origami Logic?s Super Bowl Marketing Intelligence Report found that, five days before the Super Bowl, more than half of tracked advertisers had released their full-length commercials on YouTube or Facebook while many of the remaining advertisers had released teaser videos. Pokemon, which released its full-length commercial 13 days prior to the game had received more than 12 million views, 100,000 likes and 7,000 comments. 

?Brands are starting to think about digital activation with a mobile-first mindset,? said Kohki Yamaguchi, head of product marketing at Origami Logic. ?Commercial teasers are effective not only in drumming up interest before the game, but also in providing short and sweet content, between 15 to 20 seconds long, that can be easily consumed on mobile devices.

?The most surprising finding is the magnitude of increase in activation on platforms such as Twitter and Instagram,? he said. ?This shows that brands are thirsting after opportunities to reach their consumers in new and better ways.?

Digital content climbs
Brands often invest significant resources into creating splashy ads for the Super Bowl and plunk down big dollars for airtime during the game, which is one of the most widely watched live events of the year. 

In the past, brands typically waited until a week before the Super Bowl to release their full-length commercials. However, as use has grown of mobile devices to engage with and discuss entertaining content that is often found on social media platforms, brands are releasing digital content earlier. 

Some brands are using teaser videos in the weeks prior to the game to build excitement and interest while others are releasing their full-length commercials. 

The trend shows how digital content is taking on a life of its own, separate from television airtime. As a result, marketers are making their decisions about when to air digital content based more on the real-time opportunity to engage with digital consumers without as much concern over when the content is expected to air on TV. 

Diversified investments
Origami Logic also found that, rather than investing most of their social spend in Facebook, advertisers this year have diversified their investments, with Twitter and Instagram the biggest winners. 

Compared to last year?s Super Bowl, Twitter?s share of total engagement increased by 187 percent, and Instagram?s share of total engagement increased by 74 percent. 

At the same time, Facebook?s share of engagement dropped 33 percent. 

The findings suggest that advertisers are doing a better job of matching their strategy to each platform?s strengths. 

More specifically, Twitter?s new Promoted Moments offering could be an important draw for advertisers interested in amplifying their message around live events. 

With Instagram currently the most efficient social platform for organic engagements, its launch of ads is attracting advertisers looking to reach the platform?s highly engaged user base. 

Social influence
Pokemon was leading other Super Bowl advertisers in terms of social engagement five days prior to game day, with 650,000 engagement across 55 posts and videos. T-Mobile was in second place with 110,000 engagements across eight posts and videos. 

Several first-time Super Bowl advertisers also took to social media before the game. Among these, Amazon was leading with 89,000 engagements across 27 posts. Most other first-timers are seeing little traction so far, according to Origami Logic. ??Wix.com is the most active on social so far, with 101 posts, tweets, photos and videos across all five tracked platforms. LG came in second with 62 and Pokemon third with 55 pieces of content published. 

Anheuser-Busch is one of the marketers that have released ads for several different brands on social media prior to the Super Bowl game.  For example, Budweiser taps mobile?s potential to bring consumer utility to high-profile Super Bowl ads with a site that makes it easy to find the most convenient way home while also prominently featuring its ad (see story). 

Kia went a step further and is using social influencers to the drive the conversation around the early release of its ad (see story). 

?Our findings show that today's high-profile live events are opportunities to not only reach eyeballs, but also to engage,? Mr. Yamaguchi said. ?Forward-thinking brands are exploring ways to interact with modern consumers not only within the event itself, but also during moments of interest, before, during, and after the event - on their mobile devices and on the go.?