Advertising
Coke will air a 60-second in-game commercial -- as well as a 30-second teaser ad before the game on network and cable TV -- that show three competing groups vying for a giant bottle of Coke. The rivals -- cowboys on horseback, a bus full of showgirls and a collection of Mad Max-like rogues -- race through a desert to nab the cold soft drink.
The teaser and in-game ad asks consumers to go to CokeChase.com to vote for a winning team, as well as to set up obstacles for that team's opponents.
The finished ad, featuring one of the groups winning, will be shown post-game, just "minutes" after the voting closes with the game's final whistle, says Stuart Kronauge, general manager of sparkling beverages for Coca-Cola North America.
Meanwhile, Audi on Thursday at midnight ET will release three versions of its Big Game commercial on its YouTube channel.
It'll start out with a young man who heads to the prom dateless, but confident, since he's driving his father's new 2013 Audi S6 high-performance sport sedan. Once at school, he brazenly takes the principal's parking spot. At the dance, he boldly kisses the prom queen and is confronted by the prom king.
What happens next is up to consumers. After the three versions are posted, viewers will have 24 hours to vote on one of the three possible endings. The final ad will appear on Audi's YouTube channel this Saturday, as well as during the game on CBS.
"It's crucial to not only entertain Americans during the Super Bowl, but to also engage them in a broader conversation" says Loren Angelo, Audi of America general manager of brand marketing.
"Running the spot (in-game) is important," but it's also vital to get consumers to interact with the brand via social media, he says, and expand Audi's reach to more potential customers.
"You become part of the conversation," says Angelo. "We want Audi to become part of the conversation in America."
In a bid to bolster consumer engagement, many other Big Game marketers have given consumers an influence over their game-day promotions, asking for votes, photos, videos and other contributions via their own websites and forums such as YouTube, Twitter and Instagram.
"Consumers are social," says Alison Lewis, Coke North America senior vice president of marketing. "They're mobile. They're digital."
Others in search of interaction:
- Pepsi has received about 90,000 consumer photos for its game-day promotion and will use 300 to 500.
- Earlier this month, Toyota asked consumers to submit photos via Instagram or via Twitter with the hashtag (POUND)wishgranted. One will be selected to be part of the carmaker's Big Game ad.
- Doritos again takes consumer influence to the max. For the seventh consecutive year, it asked consumers to create ads for the game. It received more than 3,000 entries and will air two of the finalists' ads: one picked by consumer voting, the other selected by the Doritos brand team.