The Patriots conquered Super Bowl LII, but who won the digital and advertising war?
The Patriots further established their dynasty at Super Bowl LII, but how did brands take advantage of marketing opportunities?
Merkle presented the Digital Bowl Report, which studies how effective Super Bowl television advertisers were in adapting and optimizing their campaigns for key digital marketing channels.
Each advertiser is evaluated based on its ability to meet specific and objective criteria across paid search, organic search, social media, and digital media, concluding that the 2019 Merkle Digital Bowl Report winner for excellence in digital marketing was Olay.
Olay supported an empowering and nostalgic ad with a mission to bring a female focus to the world’s biggest TV stage. Featuring actress Sarah Michelle Gellar, Olay engaged on social, updating Instagram stories, reposting user-generated content, and leveraging influencers until the final whistle despite its singular ad aired in the first quarter.
According to the index, the ad drove to a top-three SEO finish by creating a Super Bowl-focused landing page and an optimized YouTube video that was visible for campaign-related queries.
In paid search, Olay had a visible non-brand presence and tied copy, landing pages, and ad extensions directly to its Super Bowl ad. It rounded out a quartet of top-ten finishes in digital media with retargeting pixels and strong paid social creative.
The other top-dogs of digital
Avocados From Mexico achieved a strong second-place finish in Merkle’s Digital Bowl Report.
In social, Avocados From Mexico excelled at real-time engagement, not only with people, but also with other brands. While it didn’t finish in the top ten in digital media, it still managed to cover the basics with proper site tagging, creative, and paid social.
Verizon, Mr. Peanut with its #CrunchTime hashtag, TurboTax and Expensify were also on the top of the lists.
This is the complete chart from Merkle:
