B2B Marketers Dropped the Ball on Super Bowl Sunday

The Super Bowl presents a powerful B2B marketing opportunity for regional and global brands that is too often overlooked. Year after year, the pre-game chatter is dominated by what ads brands will serve up and how consumer audiences will react to the various food, travel, alcohol and insurance spots in which companies invest big bucks. The majority of B2B marketers ignored the Super Bowl and it was a mistake.

On February 1, 2015, Super Bowl XLIX attracted a record 114.4 million viewers, and had more than 28.4 million tweets, making it the most watched and tweeted Super Bowl in history. Those who think Super Bowl marketing just builds B2C marketers brands are mistaken.

Sixty-one percent, of Super Bowl viewers earn more than $50,000 a year, reflecting a highly employed and entrepreneurial audience. And, while the bulk of the viewing audience is male, the majority of social interactions (think customer engagement) around the game are female. Forty-six percent of the Super Bowl viewing audience is female, and more women watch the game than the Oscars, Grammys and Emmys combined, according to Nielsen demographic data.). Clearly, the Super Bowl is a marketing win-win for B2B brands.

There are notable differences between B2B and B2C purchase decisions. B2B buyers must consider organizational impact, get budget approval, and are professionally accountable for the outcome of their purchase decision. B2C buyers can be more emotional in their purchase decisions, and can make purchases without professional accountability. What B2B and B2C marketers have in common is perhaps more important than what they dont and that is that they are human, social, and influential.

Its time for B2B marketers to get in the game and leverage the untapped brand building potential of the Super Bowl. Here are three lessons that B2B marketers to apply to the next big game.

1. Have a game plan. While NBC charged an unprecedented rate for its ad slots, fewer B2B brands purchased ad time during the game, and also ran fewer ads. Wix.com, SquareSpace, GoDaddy, and Microsoft were the lone B2B brands in a sea of cruise ships, puppies and golden arches.

One of the rare B2B standouts was SAP, which delivered a special Super Bowl edition of their standing online news. While SAP didnt launch a TV ad campaign, they found their place in the water cooler conversation and made the most of it. In addition to themed content, SAP provided predictions, data visualization, and social content.

Even though it is just one day a year, the pre and post-game conversations are going strong and offer the opportunity to relate to the B2B customer through a shared, celebratory way that can deepen the customer relationship. Whether your company is a behemoth global brand, SMB, or start-up, make a game plan.

2. Use your home team advantage. Washington-based companies were in the marketing sweet spot — poised to jump on the Super Bowl bandwagon and show some hometown pride. Even within Washington, though, the most 12th man noise was came from the B2C sector.

Seattle Childrens Hospital achieved major Internet buzz over a bet between Chris Pratt and Chris Evans. The stars of Marvels Guardians of the Galaxy and Captain America made a wager on the game that helped to shine a light on childrens hospitals in both cities, and was pure feel-good attention.

Trident Seafood turned up the volume on their social channels, posting pictures of their employees in Seahawks jerseys, promoting their salmon burgers for game viewing parties, and running 12th man flags on their fishing boats. They also took care of Seattle Childrens Hospital by donating more than $12,000 on Blue Friday.

Starbucks showed their pride by selling blue and green Frappuccinos in Washington and Oregon. Not only did this give the brand a natural tie-in to the game, but it also showcased the brands attributes around personality, local presence, and creativity. Alaska Airlines offered a sweepstakes to win a flight to Arizona to attend a Super Bowl party.

Microsoft, the most established and best funded of the Super Bowl B2B advertisers, told its story in a consumer friendly way, with moving stories about women and children that appeal to the socially active female audience. The voice over (talking points taken from Satyas speeches, and spoken by artist, Common) brilliantly told emotional stories that were built around outcomes perfectly hitting the rational and emotional buying triggers of B2B customers. These ads build on the success of last years affecting ad called “Empowerment,” showcasing the power of technology.

Other brands, like Nordstrom, didnt put all their marketing eggs in the Seattle basket. Instead, Nordstrom used team-neutral posts and a playful approach to engaging in the conversation.

.3. Dont Fumble. Itll cost you.

GoDaddy dropped the ball with one of its two ads a spot that featured a puppy being sold over the Internet and sparked intense backlash among animal rights advocates who believe the ad promoted puppy mills. While they have built a reputation as a brand to watch for their outlandish ad concepts, the whole thing flopped this year, and everyone is talking about their marketing blunder, if they are talking about them at all.

Nationwide Insurance bet on drama, and ended up the butt of several quickly-launched memes.

B2B marketers, like our beloved Seattle Seahawks demonstrated Sunday, cant win em all. If you have a game plan, leverage your hometown advantage and make sure your message is audience and event appropriate, you will deepen the connection with your fans in the process.

Andrew Martin, President

Andrew runs the North American division of Metia. His technology experience includes infrastructure and development for end-user and consultancy companies around the globe. Andrew has delivered digital solutions for companies such as Microsoft, AT&T, AmazonFresh, Tesco, Next, and Sports World.