Super Bowl on Twitter
Super Bowl is the perfect annual occasion for many brands to set themselves apart from their competitors and show off via an original (and very expensive: >$4,5M per 30 seconds) commercial ad, especially on Twitter. In fact, Super Bowl on Twitter is an event with endless upstream comments and live tweets with the #SB50 and #SuperBowlhashtags.
Twitter total audience: 4.3B views of #SB50 Tweets on & off Twitter, based on 27m Tweets (inc. pre/post game) pic.twitter.com/ZZnGvHgwJH
— Twitter Data (@TwitterData) February 9, 2016
Super Bowl is thus a creative and mostly a financial battle among brands that want to stand out and get talked about.
But not all brands manage to do it! According to Business Insider, one of them really nailed it :
The most-mentioned brand on Twitter during the Super Bowl didn't even advertise on TV during the game #SB50 https://t.co/BuZBsCADmi
— laurent buanec (@laurentbuanec) February 8, 2016
We're talking about Esurance, the online insurance brand with almost150K Twitter followers.
How did they do it?
Of course, they invested a large media budget in Twitter Ads, but multiplied their campaign performance by integrating a simple game mechanics with a highly attractive prize!
Runners-up at the 2015 big game each got $49K. You could win more than that by RTing. #EsuranceSweepstakes #SB50 pic.twitter.com/IWBDc1nxWc
— Esurance (@esurance) February 5, 2016
Wipe the wing sauce off your hands & RT now because you could win $250K! #EsuranceSweepstakes #SB50 pic.twitter.com/lm76bj4aMR
— Esurance (@esurance) February 8, 2016
Participants were encouraged to retweet one of the brand's tweets or to simply tweet the #EsurarnceSweepstakescampaign hashtag, and thus increase the brand's visibility in addition to the sponsored part.
@Pattypamel Any tweet with #EsuranceSweepstakes is an entry. Official rules can be found here: https://t.co/hLAkXNrtGR
— Esurance (@esurance) February 8, 2016
Extract from the regulation (which is rather comprehensive):
Once you have a public Twitter Account, to enter during the Sweepstakes Period, eligible individuals can enter the Sweepstakes by "Retweeting" or "Quote Tweeting" any of the Tweets that @Esurance has posted throughout the Sweepstakes Period that include the hashtag #EsuranceSweepstakes or by Tweeting #EsuranceSweepstakes (an "Entry")
The trophy’s been awarded, but we still have $250K to give away. #EsuranceSweepstakes #SB50 pic.twitter.com/FdAfQ84q1O
— Esurance (@esurance) February 8, 2016
The ranking below indicates the impact of this campaign on the brand's Twitter mentions. Their success is undeniable!
- Esurance - 835,101 Tweets
- Doritos - 238,770 Tweets
- Pepsi - 234,090 Tweets
- Mountain Dew - 68,013 Tweets
- T-Mobile - 49,887 Tweets
- Prius - 43,173 Tweets
- Coca-Cola - 35,379 Tweets
- The Jungle Book - 34,317 Tweets
- Pokemon - 33,534 Tweets
- Bud Light - 22,167 Tweets
What should be learned from this Twitter contest?
- A contest of this type increases the impact and ROI of a Twitter Ads campaign (for more inspiration, take a look at Like a Bird)
- The estimated investment is divided by /3 (prize + Ads budget) compared to a 30-second TV spot
- 3,5 more brand mentions on Twitter compared to the competitors.
Just for fun, check out below all the Super Bowl TV ads in this Twitter Moment: