How did you like the big game? No, not the one with the Saints and Colts – the one with the Snickers and Doritos. The phenomenon probably began during the first dot com boom of the late 90s, but in recent years the commercials that air during the Super Bowl have attracted almost as much attention as the game itself.

Drew Brees, Jan 7, 2010

It’s fun for those of us whose marketing budgets don’t include the $2-3 million it takes to buy a spot or even the mid-six figures it costs for production.  It’s like going to the marina to gawk at the hundred foot yachts.  Still, there are some things small business people can learn from the big game.

One thing is the value of leverage, getting extra value out of your marketing dollars.  Long before the game is played and the commercials run, there are stories in the media about different marketers’ strategies and even teaser clips of upcoming spots. Using public relations to generate interest ahead of the air date makes sense because it’s a low-cost, effective strategy for increasing awareness and impact.  This year the story lines included Pepsi’s decision not to advertise on the Super Bowl, Budweiser’s decision not to feature its iconic Clydesdale horses (a decision that was ultimately reversed) and CBS’s decision to air a “pro-family” spot featuring Florida QB Tim Tebow.

According to most commentators, this wasn’t a vintage year for Super Bowl ads. “There were no standouts,” according this post on AdRants that summarized industry and consumer reactions to the ads. Seth Stephenson of Slate agreed. Bob Garfield of Advertising Age liked Audi’s “Green Police” ad, the “men’s liberation” themed spots from Dodge and FloTV, and not much else. Barbara Lippert of AdWeek and Slate’s Stephenson liked Google’s simple, effective execution that combined narrative with product demonstration – and cost next to nothing to produce. But just about everyone seemed to like the Snickers spot in which young athletes played like Betty White and Abe Vigoda until they ate a Snickers bar.

As always, advertising insiders took their shots at USA Today’s Ad Meter, which records the real time reactions of a panel of consumers to each of the spots as they run during the game. The Ad Meter can drive professionals nuts – especially since 2007, when CareerBuilder fired its agency after a poor Ad Meter showing. The Ad Meter doesn’t measure strategic insight or clarity of message – it’s the People’s Choice Awards of advertising, and it was won this year by the Snickers ad.  Lippert observed that “[t]he spots that do well on the Ad Meter are the ones that feature the kind of tricks viewers have been trained to expect, like man-on-man violence and/or cute animals. It’s like teaching to the test.”  Garfield called the consumers on the panel “AdMeter-ocrities.”

Another takeaway of interest to small business is the increasing impact of Social Media on conventional media.  While insiders might not like it, Social Media makes consumer reaction to advertising easier to track, and agencies are starting to see the value in doing so. In addition to the Ad Meter and Ad Bowl (another panel-based ranking), Social Media provided a way to gain insight into consumer reactions to the ads. Ad agency Mullen and Social Media monitoring firm Radian6 tracked Twitter feeds to determine the top brands coming out of the Super Bowl (Doritos, Google and Focus on the Family took the top three spots). Several other firms had similar strategies.

As for me, my Super Bowl Sunday was made by Google, Snickers and E-Trade (I know, but imagine another category that has room for both trash-talking babies and Sam Waterston).  And the Saints. Definitely the Saints.

The Zavee takeaway:

• Make your marketing part of your company’s story – it will make your marketing budget do more and go farther.
• You can do it inexpensively – conventional PR is one way, Social Media is another.
• The most distinctive and creative way to tell your story doesn’t have to be the most expensive.