Still not convinced about Social Media? This should change your mind. If not, give up because you’re not going to get it in time.

It’s not news that Superbowl advertising is the holy grail of marketing. This year’s Superbowl was the 2nd most watch television program in history (following the Final Episode of Mash). It’s not just a fluke that some of this year’s ad spots have ties to Social Media online or that all of the ads which ran during the game can be found officially collected on the largest social media site of all, MySpace. The influence of Social Media on the Superbowl ads does not stop there. In one case, Social Media actually influenced the content of an ad, and not necessarily in ways the producers expected.

During the prelude to Superbowl XLII, Doritos launched the “Crash the Superbowl” contest. This contest allowed voters to select an artist to appear on Doritos 2008 Superbowl commercial. The contest was promoted heavily within social communities such as MySpace, Facebook and others. It took some serious trust in these communities to place a 2.6 million dollar investment on their member’s shoulders. This fact alone is a powerful testament to major brands embracing Social Media, Bravo Doritos.

The winner of the contest was a young girl named Kina Grannis. Kina is not a stranger to social communities online. Prior to her Superbowl appearance, she had already been “famous” online due to her highly popular song about the social news service Digg.com. Take a look at this music video she published on YouTube which gained over 200,000 viewers in only 2 days …

The song “The Digg Song”, became an instant hit in the Digg community, and Kina earned the name “Digg Girl”. When community members discovered that “Digg Girl” was one of the finalists in the Doritos contest, they rallied and begin a dedicated effort to boost her chances. Well, I can’t say (and I don’t think anyone can) that the Digg community was the specific reason she won, but I am absolutely sure her status in the Social Media communities prior to the contest helped her dramatically. Kina herself made sure to give thanks to those communities on her personal website after her win. The Digg community is certainly happy she was selected to sing during the Superbowl.

The overall impact of Social Media on the Doritos marketing efforts for the Superbowl was profound. First their decision to use Social Media as a platform to discover their featured performer and then the targeted influence Social Media had on the selection of that very performer. Social waves are being felt throughout the entire realm of marketing and they are only going to get stronger.

If you’re still on the fence about Social Media, have someone push you off.

Article Permalink

http://www.appliedseo.com/archives/digg-voters-influence-superbowl-ad/

Article Trackback Link

http://www.appliedseo.com/archives/digg-voters-influence-superbowl-ad/trackback/

• Share Via:
• Del.icio.us
• Digg
• StumbleUpon
• Mixx
• Facebook