New Media Rewriting the Ad Playbook for Super Bowl XLVI

The hype and buzz surrounding Super Bowl commercials are big business for companies and have become a major attraction for viewers.

Taking advantage of the growing trend, this year’s ads are using a variety of tools that go far beyond the traditional TV commercial, said Abhi Biswas, a UT Dallas marketing professor in the Naveen Jindal School of Management.

“The Super Bowl is the one time of the year, the one event where most viewers embrace the commercials,” Biswas said. “Studies show people are actually taking their breaks during the game so they can come back, grab a seat on the couch and watch the ads.”

To capitalize on this, companies are using social media and targeted marketing to whet the public’s appetite for game-day ads.

“One of the newest methods is something called second-screen advertising,” Biswas said. “They are trying to entice consumers to use their laptops or cellphones and interact more with the ads by encouraging them to download apps and visit the company’s website.”

Another relatively new attack for companies is the use of crowd sourcing, in which companies encourage the public to submit their own homemade commercials.

“This worked out very well for Doritos last year,” Biswas said. “It’s brilliant in that the content submitted by the public is creative, funny and much less expensive than going the traditional route of making a commercial.”

Biswas says notable commercials this year will include the Coca-Cola polar bears, the Chevrolet “Happy Grad” spot, an Audi “Twilight” spoof, Pepsi Max and Doritos.