Brandcurve - branding and marketing

Super Bowl Commercials: Strategy Discussion from Nationwide

by Susan Gunelius on February 1st, 2008

As a blogger, I get emails all the time related to marketing programs and campaigns that public relations people want me to write about on my blogs. Today, I actually received one of those emails that was both timely and appropriate for Brandcurve, so I’m sharing it with Brandcurve readers. It provides a nice follow up to my post yesterday about the companies and people profiting from the Super Bowl as well as some insight into the strategies behind Super Bowl commercials.

Last year, no Super Bowl advertiser generated buzz like Nationwide Insurance when it featured Kevin Federline in its Life Comes at You Fast campaign. The ad built the most buzz of any Super Bowl commercial in 2007 and earned a place in Super Bowl history as one of the most talked about ads ever.

Following is a Q&A with Steven Schreibman, vice president of advertising and brand management for Nationwide, and architect of the company’s 2007 Super Bowl Campaign.

Q. How did you choose Kevin Federline for Nationwide’s 2007 Super Bowl ad?

A. We’ve worked with celebrities in the past with great success, including Fabio in 2006 and MC Hammer in 2005. Kevin Federline’s life story was a perfect illustration of a Life Comes at You Fast experience. He went from an unknown back-up dancer to husband of the hottest pop superstar. The Super Bowl came at a time when many people were curious about what would happen next in his life. It was one of the hottest topics in the media, and people were hungry for any information they could get about Kevin Federline.

Kevin showed he had a great sense of humor and was perfectly comfortable poking fun of himself. Since then he’s had a number of successes and probably surprised a lot of people with his staying power. He was great to work with.

Q. Was Nationwide concerned with generating negative buzz by partnering with a controversial figure like Kevin Federline?

A. We were respectful of the fact that Kevin Federline could elicit a diversity of reactions from people. But we never positioned him as a spokesperson or representative of our brand. We were pointing to his life as a cautionary tale to remind people that you need to plan for your life to change in unexpected ways. When people saw this, they got the joke.

We knew there were risks, but we did a lot of planning in building a flexible PR strategy that gave us room to adjust to the buzz. For example, when we received criticism from the National Restaurant Association, which speculated about the Super Bowl commercial before it was available to the public, we had some initial concern that the attack could harm our brand. That’s when we released the ad to the public and gave everyone a chance to develop their own opinion. At that point, there was a massive demand to view the ad. Soon after, the negativity subsided. We didn’t plan for this to happen, but in the end, we turned it into something that built positive buzz.

Q. Were you surprised by all the buzz about K-Fed?

A. We felt like we had a real opportunity to build buzz about the ad, but I’d say we surpassed even our own high expectations. When you make an investment like the Super Bowl, if you’re not thinking about building buzz outside of the game, you’re not leveraging the whole opportunity.

It was no accident that we were able to build buzz. We were very thoughtful in our strategy to share news about the ad with both traditional and social media in advance of the game.

Q. What are the key factors in building a Super Bowl ad that is going to generate buzz?

A. Here are some tips that worked for Nationwide:

Make sure you invest in an outstanding creative concept and first-class production. You’ve got to create a quality product before you even think about buzz.

If you’re going to involve a celebrity, look for someone whose hot now, with a topical story and built-in buzz value. When people are hungry for information about a celebrity, you can capitalize to build buzz about your ad and your company.

Give the media access to your celebrity. An opportunity to interview a celebrity can make the difference in an ad being covered or not. Build media days into the celebrity’s contract.

Don’t be afraid to share the ad early. The media is hungry to provide fans with a preview of what they can expect from advertisers. By providing more than other advertisers, you will position yourself to be featured in thousands of news stories leading up to the game. Remember, only half of the country watches the Super Bowl. The only way to reach the other half is to make your ad available to media outlets they are paying attention to.

Make sure you leverage electronic and social media. Social media is the best place to initiate buzz. A strong social media buzz can be a catalyst for coverage in traditional media. When you build your PR strategy, don’t forget about bloggers, on-line communities, video sharing sites, etc. When you engage these groups, point them to your company’s web site, and make sure there’s compelling content there.

Look for opportunities to share bonus material. Provide access to outtakes, behind the scenes footage and other unexpected extras. The more you make available, the more there is to buzz about.

I like Steven’s comments related to creating a buzz before the Super Bowl. The investment in Super Bowl commercials is so big for just 30 seconds that a lot of promotion needs to be done before and after the big game to get the biggest bang for the buck.

What do you think?

Tags: Super Bowl commercials, Nationwide Insurance, Super Bowl advertising, Super Bowl, Super Bowl ads, Kevin Federline, marketing

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