While advertisers seem to have finally figured out that it makes eminent sense to put your television ads–especially your Super Bowl commercials–online, reprisemedia is making the case that many Super Bowl advertisers did not fully leverage their TV spots by extending their ad campaigns online. Their 2005 Super Bowl Search Marketing Scorecard [PDF] is a fascinating look at how some Super Bowl advertisers capitalized on Super Bowl related searches to extend their ad campaigns online.
Reprisemedia reports which Super Bowl advertisers bought what search keyword ads and sponsorships on the three major search engines, Google, Yahoo!, and MSN.com. Considering that they only address paid search advertising and not the natural search results, I don’t know how fair it is for them to label "winners" and "losers", but it’s interesting nonetheless.
For example, people often search using well-known brand names. If someone looking for the Pepsi Super Bowl ad searches using the word "Pepsi," they’ll find a link in the natural results to Pepsi.com and when they go to the site, there is a link on the front page for TV commercials. But Pepsi hasn’t bought any search engine advertising for the keyword "Pepsi"–nor should they have–so is that considered poor search marketing? I say not at all; that’s smart.
Relatedly, Yahoo!’s Buzz Index provides fascinating insight into search behavior in the wake of a singularly unique popular culture touchstone event. On the Saturday before the Super Bowl, Buzz Index posted a review of pre-Super Bowl searches and yesterday they posted a review of food-related searches performed on Super Bowl weekend. Take a look at today’s top searches in Yahoo! Buzz to see overall Super Bowl related searches; then go to the TV searches and NFL searches to see the leaders and movers in those categories.
Finally, Search Engine Watch has posted an article detailing some of the spikes in Super Bowl related search traffic.
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