TheBusiness Dictonairyprovides a pretty good summary definition of Integrated Marketing as“Strategy aimed at unifying different marketing methods such as mass marketing, one-to-one marketing, and direct marketing. Its objective is to complement and reinforce the market impact of each method, and to employ the market data generated by these efforts in product development, pricing, distribution, customer service, etc”
Although fairly comprehensive in scope, that definition lacks one key component of Integrated Marketing that really brings home the ROI. Not only should it employ the market data generated by efforts for the benefit of sales, pricing, etc – the data should funnel back into the overall campaign elements to better inform targeting efforts overall – creating a continuous cycle of campaign improvement and a very long run-on sentence.
Integrated Marketing is about better leveraging your Marketing budget investment for improved results across the communication channels and beyond. It’s a single message broadcast in many channels – online and offline – in the social, sales, marketing and PR spaces. It requires customizing that message to suit the medium – and it requires intelligent design to incorporate measurement throughout. It’s often complicated – and it’s always worth the effort.
Congratulations to Sean Payton, the Saints, and the city of New Orleans for their Super Bowl victory last night. Capitalizing on a near-perfect performance by Drew Brees, and an untimely mistake by Peyton Manning, New Orleans marched to its first Super Bowl victory in franchise history.
While the Colts and Saints battled it out on the gridiron, corporate sponsors and advertisers sat back and watched their advertising dollars at work. This year’s advertisers struck the jackpot, with Super Bowl XLIV becoming the most viewed television program ever. With a 30-second spot going for just over $3 million this year, that kind of viewership should help marketing execs justify the ridiculous costs. While viewers and the night of the big game are important, they represent only the tip of the iceberg that is “Super Bowl Advertising.”
The buzz and viral fallout caused by Super Bowl ads has begun, and the next couple weeks will ultimately determine the level of success achieved by a Super Bowl ad. The $3 million spent for 30 seconds during the game can generate publicity worth multiples of the original cost. Or it couldn’t. Here are a couple ads that cover the whole spectrum during last night’s game.
The Great
Google’s ad, affectionately titled “Parisian Love”, was outstanding. It demonstrated the product, internet search, and turned it into a love story that captured the attention of the 106.5 million viewers. Not many ads captured silence and attention at my Super Bowl party, but Google’s achieved it easily, as well as several minutes of conversation amongst female attendees about how great it was. And, as of Monday afternoon, the ad is already closing in on two million YouTube views. The combination of product demonstration, story telling, and buzz makes the ad a success, and money well spent for Google.
The Pretty Good
Doritos had one of the largest presences at the Super Bowl this year after continuing its “Crash the Super Bowl” campaign, which allows fans and consumers to submit their own commercials, then choosing winners to air during the game. This year’s winners were titled “Casket”, “Underdog”, “Snack Attack Samurai”, and “House Rules”, which is shown above. Doritos received over 4000 entries for its contest, which is an outstanding number given the effort required to submit. The “House Rules” ad mixes humor, an association with video games (prominent aspect of the chip’s target segment), and appeals to a wide range of demographics. The wake of the ads hasn’t been as dominant as Google’s, but if you factor in the contest prior to the ads, Doritos is doing just fine.
The Ugly
While Super Bowl ads are known for being over the top, Emerald Nuts’ “Awesomer” ad was just painful to watch. I did not find the people swimming around like a dolphin/whale show, eating nuts and popcorn, or the failed mathematical attempt at humor conclusion appealing on any level. Maybe I just didn’t understand the ad, but it didn’t leave me viewing Emerald in a higher light.
What were your favorite Super Bowl ads? Do you agree/disagree with my mini-review? Were you cheering for the Saints or Colts?
The Business Dictonairy provides a pretty good summary definition of Integrated Marketing as “Strategy aimed at unifying different marketing methods such as mass marketing, one-to-one marketing, and direct marketing. Its objective is to complement and reinforce the market impact of each method, and to employ the market data generated by these efforts in product development, pricing, distribution, customer service, etc”
