[Editor’s Note: Super Bowl Sunday has become an unofficial American holiday. As such, on the eve of Super Bowl LI, we asked a couple of brand communicators to join us for What’s Trending in PR, the regular feature where we ask communicators to spot trends and then explain how they and their brand are reacting to those trends.
First up is Stacey Harris, senior brand manager, Tums. Next is Lee Andrews, VP, corporate affairs, Mars Chocolate North America, representing Snickers. Both were interviewed prior to the Super Bowl.]
Senior Brand Manager, TUMS
Stacey Harris, Senior Brand Manager, Tums
The Trend: We want to be where Tums consumers are. [This weekend] they’re going to be sitting around watching the big game, but they’re also going to be on their phones and on their iPads doing the dual-screen thing.
We also know from our research that 90% of American adults say they will be eating foods this weekend that frequently cause heartburn. In fact two of three Americans will not be monitoring the foods they eat during the game, we found. Almost four of 10 say it will be important to have antacids nearby.
We really want to be in the right place [for our consumers], where they’ll be searching and tweeting out things that are happening. We also want to engage with them and raise awareness about heartburn so they can have a great weekend without the worry.
In addition we want to provide a more continuous message about heartburn while they’re looking at TV but they’re also on social media. We also want to interact and engage with them. So it’s not just one-way communication, pushing a message out at them, but it’s two-way, having that dialogue.
The Reaction:Between the first and second quarter and between the third and fourth quarter we’re going to have [on tape via Twitter, Facebook and YouTube] what we’re calling the first Quartertime Show. There’s going to be this huge taco obstacle course that social media influencers in two teams [Heart and Burn] will be attempting to conquer.
Once they’re done, the fans will be able to vote [via Twitter] and decide who the winning team should be. Then between the third and fourth quarters [viewers] will be able to see what the winning team gets and what the losing team gets.
The surprise will be the ending, when the fans get to determine the outcome. We think this will be a way to raise awareness about heartburn while doing it in a fun and engaging way.
VP, Corporate Affairs, Mars Chocolate N America
Lee Andrews, VP, corporate affairs, Mars Chocolate North America
The Trends: Consumers are getting so interested in live streaming. In addition, the technology to do live streaming has caught up with the intent of what brands want to do. The other trend is that the Super Bowl has become much more than a game and now there’s a very active second-screen experience during the game and a lot of social conversations talking place after the game as well.
The Reaction: It’s our sixth consecutive year being involved with the Super Bowl and each year we try to do bigger and bolder things. We thought doing something with live would be a good lever to help us build up excitement for our fans. This year we’ll be doing a live television commercial for Snickers with [actor] Adam Driver during the Super Bowl. But we’re also doing 36 hours of live streaming leading up to the commercial. This will be on Facebook Live, our first branded work with them. We’d been working with Facebook on a lot of other things and we thought it was time to try Facebook Live.
We’ll have about 50 different vignettes in the 36-hour live stream. There will be a huge variety, ranging from internet stars, WWE wrestlers, YouTube celebrities, influencers, animals and actors. We’ve already had Betty White, who was in our Snickers Super Bowl 44 commercial, apparently catching a football that appeared to be moving at a very high speed. That was obviously a bit more prepared and produced. But there will be a wide variety; some of it will be more informal. We’ll also have Adam Driver…getting involved [in the stream] as well…we expect to learn what content works best with our audience, see how engaged they are with it. We’re monitoring it as we go and learning as we go. We expect to learn how consumers engage with the live content and how we can use a mix of earned and paid reach to get lots of people interested.
There will also be lessons about using influencers and celebrity partners. We’re also having a lot of interactivity with consumers; they are sending us email, tweets and Facebook comments. We’ll learn from that, too. We know the [TV] commercial will get a lot of reach. But we’re hoping to get just as much reach if not more reach from the buildup, and the excitement and the engagement through the livestream and the PR and a lot of things we have planned afterward. Hopefully it’s going to be an exciting three or four days as we try these new things and see how it works for consumers.
NOTE: This content appeared originally in PR News Pro, February, 5, 2017. For subscription information, please visit: https://www.prnewsonline.com/about/info