The 2012 Super Bowl Activation Index:

The 5 Brands That Crossed the Goal Line

February 09, 2012By Ted Kohnen, Vice President, Integrated Marketing, Stein + Partners Brand Activation

Most of you reading this post watched the New York Giants narrowly defeat the New England Patriots in yet another record-breaking, cost-per-spot Super Bowl. But, did the $3.5 million spend for 30 seconds ‘activate’ those brands – the way that Tom Stein defines brand activation in his 'Activating' Brands In A Hyperactive World post?

Marketers have come to realize the real value of a Super Bowl spot is not realized through the 30 seconds of airtime. Even the best spot in and of itself will not activate a brand. But the right ad will be a catalyst for engagement – ultimately leading to brand activation. To that end, many of the polls, analyses and reporting devices/meters rating ad popularity and brand impact only tell a partial story.

We’ve taken it a step further with the first-ever Super Bowl Brand Activation Index (SBAI).

During and following the Super Bowl, we set out to examine what consumers do and say after commercials air. Specifically, we examined branded search engine queries, Tweets and Facebook posts, and the sentiment (positive, negative, or neutral) of that activity. All data, including spend, was normalized to arrive at a fair and balanced index.

In sum, we wanted to see which brands generated extended and positive engagement beyond Super Bowl Sunday – and, ultimately, received significantly greater value via their broadcast investments.

The top five brands of the 2012 Super Bowl Activation Index are (on a 1-10 scale, with 10 being the pinnacle of brand activation):

1. Chrysler: It’s Halftime in America: 8.77 SBAIo Why? Forget the political commentary this ad caused. Searches for

branded Chrysler terms skyrocketed 1,500% within hours. Elevated search volume continued 48 hours after the big game, as Tweets about the ad and the flood of messages to the Chrysler Facebook page.

2. Coke: Catch and Superstition: 8.25 SBAIo Why? Coke is a case study in using social media to extend the impact of

any marketing campaign. All their social media properties experienced significant spikes; branded searches also were up 800%.

3. Doritos: Sling Baby and Man’s Best Friend: 8.00 SBAIo Why? They were just damn funny (sorry, just my personal bias…didn’t

impact score). But seriously, Doritos saw a nearly 6x spike in hashtag references and still has nearly 250,000 Facebook users talking about the brand.

4. Bud Light: Weego: 7.95 SBAIo Why? As of writing this post, “Weego” continues to be one of the top

trending terms in Twitter and 200K + Facebook users continue to talk about Weego and supporting the Animal Rescue Foundation.

5. Honda: CRV’s Day Out 7.66 SBAIo Why? Thank you Matthew Broderick for reprising your role as Ferris

Bueller. Branded search terms shot up 500% and Honda tweet mentions increased 200%. As noteworthy, the spike in activity continued beyond game day.

The ability of manner in which brands can take this momentum and sustain activation remains to be seen. One of the core tenets of brand activation is “a deep desire to know what customers are thinking, to better understand what they need, and to frame everything the brand stands for in that context.” Activated brands not only put forth messages in this context, they eagerly listen and apply the messages being put forth by customers and potential customers.

We’ll keep an eye on these brands going forward. We’ll also continue evolve and apply our Brand Activation Index. Oscars anyone?

Note: Methodology Overview

1) Search volume measured across Google, Yahoo and Bing for branded keywords and key phrases of advertisers

2) Facebook wall volume for all advertisers and percent change pre vs. post game

3) Tweet volume and hashtag volume for all advertisers and percent change pre vs. post game

4) Tweet and Facebook posting sentiment (positive, negative or neutral)5) Measurements taken prior to game day, during the game, and for the 48

hours following.