Denver Social Media: Super Bowl XLV to be Social Media Marketing's "Coming Out" Party

Mike Hanbery - 2.3.2011 8:00 AM

This article is not about how smartphone gamers will be watching attentively for the secret code for "Angry Birds."

It's about Audi's CMO stating that the effect of a Super Bowl TV commercial, "can only be sustained by social media."

Some facts about Super Bowl viewers age 18-34:

• 66 percent will be using a smartphone while watching
• 59 percent will be sending texts and/or emails about the game
• 18 percent will be checking out ads online from their phones (and before we decide that 82 percent will not, let's remember phones get passed around. "Here, watch this.")
• 32 percent will be posting comments about the game on a social network.

Audi wants to sustain a conversation about their advertisement by putting a Twitter hashtag, "#ProgressIs," in the spot.

Twitter looks like hieroglyphics to a newcomer and the use(s) of the "hashtag" are mysterious even for many experienced social media marketers.

The aftermath will be interesting.

Audi wins anyway for being the first to do it, and the free market research they'll get about their TV spot is great. They'll be introducing to the mass markets what forward-thinking, tech-savvy event attendees have known for a few years now. They'll also be able to track the reach and impact of a TV spot using the much more attainable metrics available through Internet marketing tactics.

Is this the tipping point that moves social media marketing into the mainstream?

What this Means for your Business

Designing a social media leg for your traditional advertisements is likely to evolve from "neat idea" to prerequisite, in rapid fashion.

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