Is putting your Super Bowl ad on YouTube before the big game a good idea? It is if you want to get more views for your video. According to YouTube's research, ads that ran online before the Super Bowl last year got 9 million views, in average. Those that waited? 1.3 million.
The six-fold difference explains why there has been an onrush of 2013 Super Bowl videos on YouTube already. On Monday alone, Volkswagen, Audi, Century 21 and Axe dropped their Super Bowl spots on YouTube. According to YouTube, 34 of last year's ads were online before last year's game and 20 were withheld until broadcast. In 2011, about a dozen brands put their complete ads online, including VW, whose "The Force" ad became the most-shared ad of all time.
Not everyone is taking part in the trend of dumping their ads online before the game, though. Holdouts include Best Buy, RIM, Taco Bell, Chrysler and Procter & Gamble's Tide. Chris Lillich, associate marketing director for North America laundry at P&G, told the New York Times that running ads in advance is "certainly a valid strategy... [but] we think doing the ‘big reveal’ in the game is going to do the best for us.”
Nevertheless, Nielsen data from 2012 show that revealing ads beforehand did not hurt their impact. The best-remembered Super Bowl ad of 2012, for instance, was Doritos' "Sling Baby," which was available online well before the game. However, number two on the list, M&M's "Sexy and I Know It," was not shared before the game.
(The question of whether to run ads before the game has resulted in a common compromise for Super Bowl advertisers: teasers. So far, several marketers have opted for teasers, including Mercedes, Bud Light and Wonderful Pistachios.)
Another argument for putting ads out early is that YouTube is a bigger venue than the Super Bowl. While last year's game attracted 111 million viewers, the 2012 Super Bowl ads have been viewed online more than 300 million times.
"That’s data to back up online audience has really eclipsed the TV audience," says Suzie Reider, head of industry development at YouTube. Reider added that while holding back Chrysler's Clint Eastwood ad before the game may have resulted in a bigger wow factor during the game, other marketers may have benefited more from posting their ads early. "Yes, the Clint Eastwood spot made a big splash the day of," she said. "But if you're a marketer interested in impact of entire campaign... it's not just about the glory of the ad on that one day."
That's what at least seven automakers are preparing to do next week during Super Bowl XLVII, a sign that automotive marketing budgets have rebounded as competition for sales heats up.
Teaser commercials featuring reggae singers, supermodels and TV stars have been released in recent weeks to build hype for Audi, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota Motor Corp., Volkswagen and others.
Conspicuously absent from the pre-game hype is Chrysler Group LLC.
For the third year in a row, the Auburn Hills, Mich., automaker is planning a long commercial that it hopes will be impactful, but the company hasn't said how long the ad will be or what car or truck it will highlight.
"I cannot tell you anything," Olivier Francois said Jan. 15. "We have a bunch of options on the table ... and I need to share them with my boss."
Francois said he planned to review Chrysler's Super Bowl options with Fiat and Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne during a plane trip back to Italy later that same day.
Chrysler has successfully bucked conventional wisdom over the last two years with its gritty, serious, two-minute-long commercials starring Eminem in 2011 and Clint Eastwood in 2012.
"We have come to expect big things from Chrysler's Super Bowl ads," said Michele Krebs, senior analyst for Edmunds.com.
Francois hinted that Chrysler may decide to run a 30-second ad for Fiat as it did last year in addition to a longer commercial for the company or another Chrysler brand.
"We bought air time," Francois said. "Now we need to fill it."
No other automaker advertising in the Super Bowl is following Chrysler's all-or-nothing gamble.
Audi released three commercials Friday with alternative endings and asked people to vote on their favorite one.
Mercedes-Benz is running five short teaser commercials on broadcast television and released a slow-motion video of supermodel Kate Upton watching guys wash a Mercedes.
By Friday afternoon, Upton's video had been viewed 4.2 million times on YouTube and has been the subject of a number of mainstream media stories debating whether or not it objectifies women.
"There was a time when you held everything for the Super Bowl, but now you have these social media channels that help you leverage your investment," said Donna Boland, manager of corporate communications for Mercedes-Benz.
Audi, advertising for the sixth consecutive year, has learned the value of building awareness before the Super Bowl, said Loren Angelo, Audi's general manager of brand marketing.
In 2011, 2 million people viewed a version of Audi's commercial before the game. In 2012, that number doubled to 4 million, Angelo said.
"Getting in front of consumers in advance when there is a high level of interest around the Super Bowl ... is ultimately the way to be a part of the larger conversation," Angelo said.
Kia Motors Corp. said Friday that it was planning to debut a teaser video on YouTube over the weekend for its Kia Sorento crossover that includes babies in space suits.
Ford Motor Co. started shooting the Lincoln ad it plans to air during this year's Super Bowl on Jan. 8.
Lincoln is working with late-night TV talk-show host Jimmy Fallon, who solicited tweets about crazy road trips for the ad.
Fallon received more than 6,000 tweets over three days during the first week in December.
With millions of dollars on the table, and many automotive companies competing for attention, most automakers have launched social-media campaigns to build buzz for their ads.
The success of those campaigns before kickoff is becoming increasingly important, said Tim O'Day, executive director of the Yaffe Center for Persuasive Communication at the University of Michigan. However, companies must strike a careful balance between revealing too much and generating interest.
The challenge for automakers in the Super Bowl to create memorable commercials is heightened by the number of companies and car ads, said John Swallen, chief of research for Kantar Media.
In 2012, seven of the 33 advertisers were automotive manufacturers -- the most of any industry, Swallen said. Those companies paid about $94.5 million on 16 commercials for 12 brands.
This year, at least seven companies representing eight brands are planning to advertise in the game.
"That's a lot of messages competing for attention in (a) three-hour game," Swallen said.
But this year, General Motors Co. -- the third-largest spender in the Super Bowl over the last 10 years -- will be sitting on the sidelines.
GM created buzz last year with its Mayan Apocalypse ad for the Chevrolet Silverado and a commercial for the subcompact Chevrolet Sonic with the soundtrack of the band Fun.'s "We Are Young."
Joel Ewanick, then the GM chief marketing officer, announced last spring that the Super Bowl has become too expensive and that the automaker would bow out this year.
That decision has raised eyebrows, especially since Chevrolet revealed its new Corvette at the Detroit auto show this month and is preparing to launch its redesigned Chevrolet Silverado.
"Maybe they just didn't plan for it far enough in advance," Krebs said. "To me, it seems like a missed opportunity."
