Super Bowl XLVI: the year of social?

So. This Sunday. The Super Bowl, yeah? The most-watched television event all year. Friends, neighbors, and family gather together to watch this classic American sport as they suck down Pabst and overload on calories. Two titan teams clash on the field in a battle for –

Alrighty, Heather, enough. You aren’t fooling anybody. I think the only sport that interests me less than football is synchronized swimming. (All those hyper-sized smiles really freak me out.) I am not a football fan, so I’m just not that “into”  the Super Bowl game.

I’m far more interested in the ways in which the Super Bowl event is becoming social TV. Over the past several days, media-space has been humming with updates on brands’ commercials, previews, and previews for commercials. Lost Remote went so far as to call the 2012 Super Bowl “the year’s biggest social TV event.” Hefty declaration, that. Yet considering that Tim Tebow’s touchdown pass during the playoffs triggered a Twitter record of 9,420 tweets per second, there is obviously a massive audience for football with whom advertisers can engage.

And boy, are they taking advantage of that viewing mass.

Coca Cola has launched a campaign in which their cute polar bear mascots will watch the Super Bowl in real time and react to the game on the microsite CokePolarBowl.com. People can check in with the bears across several media platforms, including Facebook and Twitter. Even Coke’s commercials will vary depending upon which team is winning.

Chevy has introduced a mobile app that will post facts, tweet polls, and ask trivia questions about the game for viewers. Every time a viewer answers correctly, she will be entered into a drawing for thousands of prizes. And I’ve already blogged about Volkswagen’s commercial for a commercial.

Activist groups are also capitalizing on the heightened integration of TV and social media. MissRepresentation.org, a campaign that seeks to empower women by challenging sexist and restrictive representations of women throughout media, has asked for viewers to pay attention to the ads and call out any that misrepresents or demeans women as part of their #NotBuyingIt campaign.

As written on their site, the campaign encourages anyone: “If you see a product or ad…that misrepresents or degrades women, use Twitter to post a description or upload a picture of the offensive item. Use the hashtag #notbuyingit so that we can all follow along!” The campaign has already called out Kia for its overly-sexualized “preview,” as well as GoDaddy.com. (And rightfully so, in my opinion.) More than the actual game, I will be following the #NotBuyingIt campaign this upcoming Sunday.

Whether you interact with animated polar bears or tag sexist media content, brands and organizations are counting on viewers to engage with them via second-screens this Super Bowl Sunday. The question is: will they?

 

VW’s Super Bowl commercial: The Dog Strikes Back

And here it is. On the Wednesday before the big game, just like last year.

Volkswagen has released its Super Bowl commercial: “The Dog Strikes Back.”

Okay, so it keeps with the theme established with its preview “The Bark Side,” and it connects this year’s ad to last year’s “The Force.” (Quite literally, in fact, with Star Wars characters comparing the two commercials at the end of “The Dog Strikes Back.”) Check it out.

I don’t know about you, but I am slightly disappointed with the released ad. But then, I’m not sure what could have possibly trumped the highly entertaining, instantly viral “The Bark Side.” Simple in concept, the preview targeted dog-lovers and Star Wars fans – two groups that are intensely passionate about their subject.

“The Dog Strikes Back” is still sweet and humorous. What surprised me is that “Strikes Back” is essentially two commercials put together: the “traditional” first section (dog getting in shape with the VW tagline) and then the afterword, in which actors recreate the famous Tatooine bar scene from Star Wars: A New Hope. Only this time, the aliens are watching the Super Bowl in the bar and comparing the two VW commercials. Interesting move – including a commentary on the commercials as part of the commercial. (Wonder what Baudrillard would say about that…)

But for me, the Star Wars reference feels too forced. Still enjoyable, but not as seamless as “The Bark Side.” Maybe that’s why “The Bark Side” has already reached 10.5 million views.  We’ll have to see how “The Dog Strikes Back” stacks up numerically by the end of today.

So what do you think? Does “The Dog Strike Back” live up to the expectations set up by “The Bark Side”? Unleash your thoughts below!

 

Have you seen The Bark Side? Dogs + Star Wars = brilliant

Dogs + Star Wars? Talk about a force stronger than, well, the Force. This video is quite possibly the best I’ve ever seen. Not to mention it’s pure entertainment.

“The Bark Force” is a commercial for a commercial. Volkswagen, you’re blowing my mind here. It’s a fascinating example of “new” advertising -  a form of marketing that relies upon emotional connection and immersive storytelling. Sound interesting? Check out Frank Rose’s The Art of Immersion. But that is not the point of this post.

I want to trace the route this video traveled through my social media channels. I first saw a link to an article about dogs and Star Wars on my Twitter stream. So I read the article, watched the video, loved it so much that I went to YouTube to watch it again. (Joining some three million other views.) I immediately shared the link with my mom (a dog-lover) and sister (a Star Wars geek) and then  copied the link into a Facebook post, which received comments within thirty minutes. No wonder the video had reached an additional million views (past four million) by the time I watched it again later that night.

It’s been obvious that we live in an “age of instant information” for awhile now. This instant spreading via social media is a growing phenomenon. It’s been so interesting and fun to see how quickly a one-minute video has spread – and been shared – online.

What videos have you seen gone viral?