Advertisers get failing grade for mobile marketing during Super Bowl broadcast

February 9, 2010

Jeff Hasen is chief marketing officer of Hipcricket + Augme Technologies

By Jeff Hasen

It is a different kind of call to action that is on my mind after mobile marketing’s virtual absence from the Super Bowl broadcast.

Clearly, the mobile industry has to work harder to convince the world’s biggest brands and agencies to add mobile components while reaching the world’s biggest audience.

So why aren’t Super Bowl advertisers leveraging their huge investment in broadcast media by adding a mobile call-to-action to their ads?

With a nod to Sunday night’s halftime entertainment, why didn’t Super Bowl advertisers join the mobile generation? Obviously because at this point they do not think it is necessary.

Beyond deciding the winner of the Lombardi Trophy, the Super Bowl is about reaching the mass market.

But just like the NFL appears to be stuck in the past with its recent halftime guests – The Who, Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones, Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen: all pushing 60; even the funky Prince is, like me, over 50 – advertisers are using a 20th century approach to the Super Bowl. I counted more URLs shown than points recorded.

As mobile marketers, we tell ourselves and those who will listen that our medium has finally crossed into the mainstream.

There are more than 270 million mobile subscribers nationwide, the majority of whom can receive text messages on their phone. Consumers are interested and waiting for advertisers to reach out to them where they can be reached anyway, anyhow, anywhere – their mobile phones.

We recently commissioned a survey that found that while 37 percent of consumers would be interested in participating in mobile customer loyalty programs, a whopping 83 percent have never had their favorite brand reach out to them via mobile. 

Coulda, shoulda
We speak often of the benefits of mobile to advertisers: reach, measurability, intimacy and re-marketability. Would mobile have made existing campaigns even stronger? You better, you bet.

While I could make an argument for mobile on the majority of ads I will point to four:

• Denny’s is giving away Grand Slam breakfasts Tuesday. Why not have viewers text in for the offer, then create a mobile club where customers could opt in for future trackable offers and product information? We have seen databases of consumers built that are well into six figures.

• Go Daddy.com could have easily directed viewers to a WAP site or even an iPhone application to watch the series of “too hot for TV” shorts. You don’t think those would have been shared at water coolers all week long?

• NBA TV recently showed a series of bloopers from Charles Barkley’s Taco Bell spot. Viewers could have been sent to a mobile Web site or opted in to receive access to these clips—and trackable coupons—by SMS.

• Snickers could have offered a ringtone of a trash-talking Betty White—and, again, trackable coupons—for customers.

The opportunities are certainly there. And major brands are certainly embracing mobile, as seen by the multimillion-dollar annual investments in mobile from Nike and Coca-Cola, among others. The consumer demand is there.

I just hope that next year mobile marketers will do a better job of convincing advertisers to get into the game.

Jeff Hasen is chief marketing officer of Hipcricket, a Kirkland, WA-based mobile marketing company. Reach him at .

Comments on "Advertisers get failing grade for mobile marketing during Super Bowl broadcast"

1. Greg Hickman says:

   February 9, 2010 at 4:15pm

   Very well put! I was astonished at the lack of mobile call to actions. Cars.com saw 6500 app downloads in one day from their spot but still the lack of text call to actions was upsetting. If I was a brand that had a spot in the super bowl I'd first be upset if my agency did not recommend mobile...shame on you agencies! Brands, if you thought it wasn't worth it...shame on you! Mobile is here and here to stay. Missed opportunities across the board this superbowl.

2. Kevin Planovsky says:

   February 9, 2010 at 1:57pm

   While I agree to an extent - the fact of the matter is that when a brand is willing to spend $2,000,000+ on one ad, they better know darn well what the ROI is going to be...
   
   You said it best, that the Super Bowl ad is meant to hit the largest and broadest audience of all. So why would a marketer want to risk alienating a huge percentage of that audience with an app CTA, or run up a huge SMS bill when direct-response is clearly not the purpose of the placement.
   
   We recently wrote a similar article on our blog (http://www.vertmob.com/blog) that complements this one well.
   
   Keep up the good work!