Superbowl goes UGC with Advertising
This weekend Chicago squares off against Indianapolis in the 41st Superbowl. As everyone knows, it's the largest TV advertising event on earth.
Close to 100 million viewers will watch with families and friends, and because it's live, marketers know that there is going to be very little ad-skipping through Tivo-esque devices. There's not much chance of that happening anyway... marketers have long convinced us that advertising during the Superbowl is the Oscars or Sundance film festival of advertising. We're hooked!
This year, the Year of You, marketers sat around marketing tables, thought YouTube, thought clever marketing thoughts, and came up with FOUR, no less, takes on incorporating user generated content into the Superbowl Ad Event.
All four are incredibly safe and in fact consist only of amateurs submitting ideas for commercials which are then shot professionally. There'll be no grandad in front of a video camera in his living room, no teenagers miming along to music.
The companies in question have all set up special websites and are Chevrolet, Frito-Lay, the NFL themselves and Alka-Seltzer.
Further coverage on this subject from The NY Times, Times of London, Campaign , Sports Illustrated and the San Francisco Chronicle.
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