February 09, 2010

By By Steve McClellan, Adweek

Advertisers that bought spots in this year's Super Bowl saw a sharp spike in online references relating directly to their brands, according to research conducted by Prophesee, a unit of Interpublic's Initiative that monitors and analyzes consumer conversations, blogs and other online social-media activity.

Of the 38 brands that ran ads during the game, 75 percent saw the number of blog posts about them double, compared with the average for Sunday evenings over the past six months. And about one-third of those brands realized a threefold rise in the number of blog posts about them, per the Prophesee survey.

Both Kia and Budweiser, to cite two examples, experienced a threefold hike in the number of blog posts mentioning them after their ads ran in the game. And buzz surrounding Doritos jumped by a factor of 13.

Positive sentiment increased 4 percent overall for Super Bowl sponsors across social-media platforms, per Prophesee.

The survey found that the Snickers spot with Betty White and Abe Vigoda was the most blogged about celebrity endorsement ad. A spot for Vizio featuring Beyonce was second and tops in positive sentiment (73 percent).

Tim Spengler, president, North America, Initiative, said the survey shows that "the real power of Super Bowl advertising is when TV and online work together. The days of one master lock spot in the Big Game as the only media play are long gone. Advertisers now need to pursue a multiplatform strategy to remain relevant to consumers."

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