Would you like to receive more story requests from bloggers and journalists? Don’t you want to see more and more news stories mentioning your brand? Your first step to building more online coverage is to create an effective press page.
Why Create a Press Page?
I lost count of how many times I wanted to reach out to a brand (usually that’s a marketing tool I was curious to explore further) and struggled to find any clear instructions on how. I’ve also lost track of how many times I gave up when trying to mention a brand on Twitter and couldn’t find their Twitter handle anywhere.
Those brands missed a nice opportunity of being mentioned (which could even be a missed opportunity of onboarding a new brand advocate).
A well-built press page would have made that opportunity a reality.
Fundamentally, the major goals behind building a press page are:
Attracting “linking leads” (i.e. bloggers and journalists) by making your brand look interesting to them.
Delivering clear instructions on how they can get in touch (without leaving them wondering).
Providing you with a little bit more control over the online sentiment surrounding your brand (by surfacing favorable mentions).
Should You Create a Press Page or a Press Site?
There are certain pros and cons to setting up a dedicated site to curate news and encourage press contacts.
The biggest benefit of having a separate site is an ability to take more than one position in Google for your branded queries. Google is trying to show diverse results per SERPs, aiming to show no more than two results from the same domain for a particular query in the top results. So having additional sites will help you control more of your branded search SERPs.
Bigger companies usually have several domains building additional online context around the brand (and controlling more branded SERPs):
Amazon hosts all brand-specific information on a separate domain aboutamazon.com
Radix offers a perfect domain name for your brand’s press room: .press:
Radix press domain ideas
On the other hand, building a separate site comes at a price: You need additional resources to build, design and maintain a separate entity.
I leave it up to you to decide, but I am personally leaning towards a separate entity option.
1. Past Mentions
There are a few important reasons why you want to curate your current press coverage:
Linking to pages that mention you will boost rankings of those pages. This helps you surface your positive mentions and, hence, better control your company’s online sentiment.
Featuring various stories around your brand gives journalists more ideas of possible angles for their own articles.
Publicizing your mentions encourages more bloggers to feature you (in hopes you will link to them from that section as well).
“As featured in” section offers you the power of social proof. Both your customers and journalists will trust your brand more once they see you are being covered in the news.
This section may contain all kinds of links that mention your brand in one way or another, including:
Your mentions in the news outlets.
Your management’s interviews.
Articles quoting you or your management.
Your CEO’s keynote coverage, etc.
It is also a good idea to curate your own press releases in this section.
Great press page example from Nextiva. You can sort the list by year to find older / newer stories featuring the brand.
You can sort the list by year to find older / newer stories featuring the brand.
2. Contact Information
The best idea is to put a real person here, instead of a generic contact form. EPAM is a great example of doing that well:
Great example of highlighting your press contact on your press page.
Knowing who to contact and being able to choose from a variety of options is likely to encourage many of your company’s linking leads to start the conversation.
3. “Behind-the-Scenes” Company Information
Again, one of the major goals behind a good press page is to make your company more interesting to bloggers and journalists, encouraging them to think of it as part of a story.
What’s a better way to make your company more interesting to people than by humanizing it. Show your team, your pictures, your conference trips, your charity events. You have a lot of uniqueness in your brand. Just show it.
4. Style Guide/Assets
Offering bloggers and journalists additional assets to include in their articles may incentivize them to create a more eye-catching context.
Instagram is a good example of providing exhaustive instructions as to how bloggers may be using their logos and where to download a high-resolution file. They also offer high-resolution screenshots for download and use within articles:
Instagram’s asset collection is a great example of a style guide and assets for press to use
5. Your Social Media Channels
Finally, offering additional ways to get in touch is always a good idea. Plus, linking to your social media channels will allow bloggers and journalists to tag you in social media updates when your feature goes live.
Besides, encouraging your linking leads to follow you around would tie them closer to your brand and potentially keep them engaged.
Optimize Your Page for Organic Visibility
Finally, getting your press page (or site) rank for a variety of branded (and possibly even generic / non-branded) queries is key to generating more press coverage.
Text Optimizer will help you create an effective copy for your Press Coverage, which will help it rank higher in Google. Text Optimizer will check your current brand-name ranking and use semantic analysis to extract related concepts for you to include them in your copy:
It is also a good idea to come up with a user-engaging strategy making sure people who have found themselves on our press page will continue browsing the site.
Alter offers a few great user engaging options, including exit-intent popup that shows up exactly when your site users are ready to leave. You can control the pages that will show up and the content they will include:
Conclusion
So many companies are getting proactive with link acquisition and press coverage tactics, yet they forget the inbound aspect of them. Before investing in your journalistic email outreach, make sure you have a convincing landing page set up. That way, linking leads will know why and how to mention you when providing the coverage.
Setting up a press page (or a press site) is a one-time task, but it must be done in order to see your brand generating more and more organic mentions around the web.
Can a Super Bowl ad that costs nearly $6 million be worth it?
That’s a question worth debating if you’re in marketing, so let’s take a look at some of the Super Bowl marketing strategies behind the ads from this year’s big game and see which ones were the biggest winners and losers. For longtime readers, you know I’ve done this before but in past years when I was working at a large agency, I would tread carefully when doing my Super Bowl recaps to make sure I didn’t accidentally mention a client.
Thankfully, being out on my own means I don’t have to measure my words, so what follows is entirely my unfiltered opinion about the ads that worked and the ones that didn’t. Let’s start with the worst strategies of the big game …
Doubling down with two ads focusing on two features of credit cards most people take for granted would probably be more meaningful if people ever thought about these two things. There are dozens of credit cards with no annual fees and most people never even consider their card might not be accepted everywhere. Unless they have a Discover card apparently, in which case both of those things must be a big deal.
Relying on people watching a pre-game ad in order to have the storyline for your in-game ad make sense isn’t a good bet. Neither is hoping people still have an emotional attachment to a long-forgotten monocle-wearing mascot from 1916.
One of the richest companies in the world that has daily issues with ethics, privacy and morality chooses to run an ad reminding us all that there are Facebook groups for people who have niche interests? We need this platform to do a lot more in the world than this. Focusing on promoting groups while ignoring their many issues was weak and just plain disappointing.
While rival Coke used their Super Bowl spot to strategically and entertainingly introduce their new energy drink, this Pepsi spot was a forgettable song remake that shows a red can inexplicably being painted black because … well, just because. This is all to introduce Pepsi Zero Sugar – but unfortunately it makes zero sense too.
I’m not sure why any brand would pay more money to take a pretty good creative concept they already used last year and remake it to be worse and more confusing… but that’s exactly what Walmart managed to do this year. The spot from last year was clever and original to introduce their grocery pickup feature using many different cars. This year’s remake using spaceships was a sad and less effective redo that should never have been approved.
I am a HUGE fan of using the platform of the Super Bowl to introduce people to a new product or service they haven’t heard of yet. This one for Dashlane does it in a clever, funny and totally relatable way.
This ad was so clever I was envious. I mean, using one spot to feature at least half a dozen different brands, including the branded campaign icons for each was just so smart. I counted Troy Polamalu for Head & Shoulders, the Old Spice guy, Mr. Clean, the Charmin bear, a weird appearance by Rob Riggle for Bounce, a product shot for Fabreze and an Olay reference. This was probably the strategy winner of the night for me.
The brand already provides the sideline technology for the NFL, so it was a masterful move to do something that just about any other brand could have done … celebrate the first woman to coach in an NFL team in the Super Bowl. This spot was on trend, emotionally powerful and (unlike the entertaining but unstrategic spot from Olay), it was also right on brand.
The storytelling in this spot was probably the best of the night for me, reminding people of the vital connection between technology and humans. Ironically, Google was promoting the same idea as Facebook … yet unlike Facebook, their spot managed to be human, emotional, real and not vaguely self-promotional.
I loved the idea of introducing the “Smaht Pahk” feature by using a collection of actors with the New England accent. It was a fun and memorable way to introduce a great feature of the new Hyundai Sonata, and a gag that carried through even to the brand’s tagline: “Bettah Drives Us.” Nice idea and great execution.
Similar to the upside for Dashlane of introducing a new product, this spot made the idea of a bar you’ve never heard of fun and helped get the point across that there’s a new candy bar you should know about and might want to try. Unless you have your head up your own ass, of course.
Want to read the full list of my Super Bowl Marketing strategy recaps from previous years?
Since 2011, we’ve been helping writers publish their books and accomplish their writing goals. We’ve worked with thousands of writers through our community and courses.
But this year, we wanted to take a step back and ask, is what we’re doing actually making a difference? Are we actually helping writers achieve their dreams?
Are people writing books at The Write Practice? Can this actually help you get published?
Does The Write Practice really work?
And so we went back to our students and asked, what did you accomplish in 2019? What books did you publish, and what role did The Write Practice play in helping you?
Want to write your book this year? We’d love to help you, too. In 100 Day Book, you’ll start and finish writing your book. Join us here »
Books Our Authors Have Published in 2019
The answers have blown us away. We’ve heard from tons of authors about the books they’ve published. Best of all, we’ve heard about the ways we’ve been able to support, teach, encourage, guide, and cheer them on as they’ve finally accomplished their goals.
One of the most exciting experiences for a writer is the moment when you publish your book. And celebrating your success is the best part of my work at The Write Practice, too.
As the leader of The Write Practice, I’ve gotten an inside look at what’s happening in our community throughout the year. I get to hear about and celebrate every time someone publishes a book!
It’s sort of exciting to celebrate alone. But what’s way more fun is to celebrate with a group.
And as we head into 2020, I want to celebrate with you all the books published in the past year in the Write Practice community.
Take a look below at the amazing work our authors are doing. You might just find your new favorite book!
Flight of the Spark by Evelyn Puerto
About the book: A dystopian fantasy in a medieval setting.
About the author: Award-winning author Evelyn Puerto writes in multiple genres and reads just about anything.
Evelyn writes with us in The Write Practice Pro. She finished a new draft of her book in our 100 Day Book program, hired an editor on the Write Practice team to edit it, and learned to publish in our Write to Publish course.
“I’d struggled with it for a few years and was on the third or fourth draft,” she says. “Then I tried the 100 Day Book program. The feedback told me a lot about what was working and what wasn’t. Then Alice did her Story Grid magic, and after that, it was much easier to finish the book and get it published.”
About the book: Lucas MacKenzie and brother Nate inherit the an old Tudor home and decide to bring their families to Wisconsin for a renovation project with HGTV stardom in mind. As they tear out old fixtures and open shuttered windows, the house reveals secrets of a terrible past and it soon becomes clear the MacKenzies are in grave danger.
About the author: A lifelong writer, Cailyn Lloyd spent three years living in a truly haunted house and experienced firsthand the nuances of strange and eerie places. Shepherd’s Warning is her first book.
Cailyn has followed the Write Practice blog for two years. As she was writing her book, “writing tips and prompts from the blog were very helpful,” she says.
About the book: Andre meets Penelope at the Messiah and love blooms from there.
About the author: Merry Goodman loves to write quick-read Romance tales, love, connections and happy-ever-afters.
Merry writes with us in The Write Practice Pro. She also joined our Write to Publish program, where she connected with a mentor and learned to publish her writing. “You encouraged and pushed me to get it done. Otherwise, I would probably still be editing and playing with the story. Nine books later, you are responsible for my publishing history,” she says.
Lyre, Lyre: The Dragon and the Too-Generic Prophecy by Myka Rae Correll
About the book: A prophecy spoke of a savior that would vanquish a fiery dragon, but when a less than heroic recruit is revealed, vivid characters lead to a spark-filled ending.
About the author: Myka Correll is a poetry and fiction writer who lives in the Midwest with her FLUFFY cat, King Elliot Fluffilupticus the 1st.
Myka writes with us in The Write Practice Pro and has completed 100 Day Book. She says, “Having people respond to my work, and being consistent in writing branched into every other area of my life. I ended up publishing two books on Amazon: a poetry collection and this fiction story. This community got me feeling pumped to do more than I first set out to accomplish. I’m psyched!”
The Might of Defiance: Elise t’Hoot Book One by Mary Ellen Wall
About the book: Our hero risks her life and changes paradigms through perseverance and her fight for basic tolerance.
About the author: Mary Ellen Wall is a Navy vet, world traveler, fermentation queen, painter . . . and writer.
Mary Ellen writes with us in The Write Practice Pro, where she finds inspiration and editing tips. “I love the opportunity to participate in the Write Practice; there aren’t nearby local groups,” she says.
About the book: A selection of over 100 of my best haiku and senryu verses.
About the author: Christine has been sharing experiences and inspirations by means of short stories and poetry, reflective and humorous, for many years.
Christine follows the Write Practice blog for our daily writing tips.
About the book: A lawsuit, an ex-husband, and a hotel full of men. Just another crazy day in the life of a single mom . . .
About the author: Carole Wolfe uses her words to help readers escape the daily hiccups of life.
Carole reads the Write Practice blog. She’s also a member of The Write Practice Pro, and she’s joined us for both the 100 Day Book and Write to Publish courses. “The weekly workshopping helped me understand what worked for readers and what didn’t. The encouragement of the community is amazing as well!” she says. “I’ve learned many new things and met lots of fantastic writers because of TWP!”
About the book: Autumn Leaves is an eclectic mix of short stories of all genres—including romance, adventure, horror, and suspense—with a few poems.
About the author: Edward Stephens is now retired from regular work. He has been writing short stories for the past sixty years for his own enjoyment but has only recently decided to publish a selection of the best of them.
Edward writes with us in The Write Practice Pro. “I enjoyed writing these stories: I sincerely hope the reader shares that enjoyment in reading them,” he says.
The Measure of Her Last Marathon: Conversations with Deema Abu Ali by Moïse Halafu
About the book: The inner strengths of a cancer patient who taught people how to live at a time she knew she was dying.
About the author: Moïse Halafu is a national of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He served 25 years with the UN in Africa, Eastern Europe, Asia and the Middle East . He holds two Master’s degrees: Statistics and Human Resources Management. He is currently based in Paris, working for UNESCO HQ.
Moïse writes with us in The Write Practice Pro and finished this book in our 100 Day Book course. “A big thank you to the Write Practice Pro for the guidance and encouragement,” he says.
Melodramatic Mayhem and Many Murderous Mishaps by Michael Calder
About the book: A collection of short stories and poems put together to terrify and elate you all in one foul movement.
About the author: In brief moments of spare time, Michael Calder binge watches Netflix and, occasionally, writes mind blowing stories.
Michael writes with us in The Write Practice Pro and has joined both our 100 Day Book and Write to Publish courses. “The Write Practice gave me the foundations to put something together that was publishable,” he says.
The Modern Warlock: The Lion and the Hidden Master by Stone Keye
About the book: Jason dreamed of becoming a Warlock. Sometimes your dreams shouldn’t come true.
About the author: While Stone Keye’s genre is fantasy, he tries to write books that incorporate his real life events.
Stone reads the Write Practice blog. “Reading what others have done has been a great inspiration,” he says, and “kept me motivated to get my book out.”
About the book: How the zombie craze of the 21st century can alter our children.
About the author: Theresa Jacobs champions all things artistic.
Theresa has entered short stories in several of our writing contests. “I was proud to be a part of the Discovery Of Writers anthology,” she says, an anthology published by a group of writers in the Write Practice community.
About the book: A chance meeting between Michael and Maria kindles love at first sight.
About the author: Merry Goodman loves to write quick-read Romance tales, love, connections and happy-ever-afters.
Merry writes with us in The Write Practice Pro, and joined our Write to Publish course. “TWP pushed me to finish and publish my first book, Recipe for Love. Seven more followed since September 2019,” she says.
The Greatest Gift Series: 12 Lives Changed by Jesus’ Birth by Jonathan Srock
About the book: The Greatest Gift Series is a collection of 12 short stories that use fiction to describe what it was like to live in the times during Jesus’ birth.
About the author: Rev. Jonathan Srock is an ordained minister living in central PA whose passion is to help him print the character of Christ through preaching and teaching God’s Word.
Jonathan writes with us in The Write Practice Pro and learned to publish his writing through our Write to Publish course. “I learned not only how to finish a book but also to publish it through self-publishing,” he says. “I’m thankful for The Write Practice because it gave me a community of authors and friends as well as help me to publish one short story and three books this year.”
About the book: Well-known singer Selena M and her friends are determined to fly into space on a hijacked alien spaceship, despite constant pursuit by the space forces of three different nations. In addition, agents from the Galactic Confederation are enticing Selena, so they can grab back the vessel and keep their advanced technology from falling into the hands of a primitive world—Earth. When will she ever get to sing?
About the author: I write science fiction with a strong female heroine: a sassy singer who befriends aliens and must choose between her singing career and gallivanting off into space, all while fighting off various baddies. Sci fi with a sound track.
Mike writes with us in The Write Practice Pro and learned to publish in our Write to Publish course. “I have connected with writers from all over the world, from Spain to Sweden to Australia. Getting regular feedback from a small consistent group of peers is invaluable,” he says.
Buy My Spaceship Calls Out to Me on Amazon in February 2020!
About the book: A detective looks for a missing family and their killer.
About the author: CM Weaver is a lover of Mysteries in a variety of venues.
CM writes with us in The Write Practice Pro, where she also joined our 100 Day Book course. “I needed feedback to see if the story held interest and flowed well. I am glad for all the feedback I got from posting,” she says. “It kept me on track. I love the readers and reviews I get.”
About the book: A high-speed urban fantasy struggle as new magicians, enigmatic masters, street gangs, and a magical owl hunt down the mind-controlling killer that stalks them.
About the author: Ken Hughes is an urban fantasy writer living in Los Angeles, author of Shadowed, and the Spellkeeper Flight trilogy.
Ken reads the Write Practice blog, where he’s received encouragement and insight as he writes his books.
About the book: In a divisive world of mistrust and murder, there’s only one thing that matters growing up: you’re either in the Inside or the Outside.
About the author: It has been a dream of Natalie Hibberd’s to become an author since she was two years old. She’s thrilled that it has happened at last.
Natalie writes with us in The Write Practice Pro. The community “definitely gave me the confidence to publish,” she says. “It’s been a long journey to get here. I’ve had to overcome many obstacles, including physical disability and Depression. I’m so excited for the next phase of my journey.”
About the book: When Isla meets a strange boy in the forest, her world is turned upside down as she faces a choice: to save her new friend or her own life.
About the author: L.W. Davie is a debut author from New Zealand.
L.W. wrote her book with us in the 100 Day Book course. It was “instrumental in finishing the first draft, and then in editing draft 2 and 3,” she says. “Could not have done it without TWP, I believe that. Have several members in my acknowledgements at the end because they really made the difference. Trusted confidants now.”
It’s truly an honor to have played a part in the journeys of so many authors. And if you’re hoping to publish a book, maybe even publish a book this year, I’d love to support you, too.
Many of the authors we’re celebrating here are members of The Write Practice Pro, our online writing workshop. If you want to get feedback to take your writing to the next level and be involved in a vibrant, supportive community of writers around the world, this is the best place to start.
If you’re working on a book, or you want to write a book, I’ve designed a course that will help you turn your book idea into a finished book. Many of the writers here wrote their first or even second or third drafts in our 100 Day Book program. There’s no better way to get the guidance, personalized support, and accountability you need to finish your book.
If you’re ready to publish your book—or if you already have, and you’d like to sell more copies—then our Write to Publish course is the perfect fit for you. You’ll learn how to publish your writing and gather an audience of readers who love your stories. Best of all, you’ll connect with a community of writers who will support you in all your future publishing adventures, too.
Publishing your book is one of the most rewarding experiences a writer can have. Will your book be on a list like this next year?
The first step to publishing your book is writing your book. Join 100 Day Book and write your book with us. Join the program »
Which of the books on this list catch your eye? Let us know in the comments!
PRACTICE
Normally in these practice sections, I ask you to write something. Today, though, I’m asking you to read something.
One of the best ways to celebrate published authors is to read their books. For today’s practice, choose one of the authors listed above, get a copy of their book, and start reading it.
If you’re worried about the cost, I have good news: many of these books are just a few dollars on Amazon. (Plus, some of these authors even give away free stories on their websites!)
Let me know which book you’ve picked and why you’re excited about it in the comments!
BONUS: Another wonderful way to support authors is to write a review of their books. After you finish reading the book you pick, why not head back to Amazon and let the author know what you think?
My former colleague Kev Chesters has talked in the past about the need for agencies to have bigger conversations with our clients. I could not agree more.
But in order to have bigger conversations I think we need to use strategy to enable broader conversations first. Across the business with a wider range of C suite partners. Not just CMOs and CTOs but COOs, CFOs and CEOs. This means that, as a discipline, the next generation of strategists needs to think broader than ever before.
What does thinking broad mean exactly?
In our industry, thinking broad means using a wide-angle lens from the outset of any client engagement. Thinking broad means avoiding going too narrow, too soon; strategy first, channels last. Thinking broad means understanding all facets of our clients’ businesses. Indeed I remember during the Ogilvy grad scheme, Mark Earls advising us to read the FT every day in order to understand how business works.
So why is thinking broad important?
Simply, because thinking broad means we can get stuck in to all areas of the client business and, ultimately, how we create the big ideas that change businesses for the better. For example, using a wide-angle lens is how the industry created Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty, Boost Mobile’s idea of turning its stores into voting stations, and the excellent Cadbury’s/Age UK ‘donate your words’ idea.
Outside of our industry, thinking broad is how Alfredo Moser – in response to the energy crisis that plagued people of Brazil – came up with a way of illuminating his house during the day without electricity, using refraction of sunlight and plastic bottles filled with water and bleach. A mechanic by trade, Moser had a passion for physics and, by chance, had a bizarre conversation with a spiritual medium about light. From the breadth of those experiences, he was able to connect the dots in a new way and the idea was born.
We can see that thinking broad changes businesses. And in Moser’s case, thinking broad changes lives.
How do we think broad as an industry?
Simply, to think broad we need more broad thinkers.
What are their characteristics? Broad thinkers are generalists. in his excellent book “Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World”, David Epstein examined the world’s most successful people in their respective fields and discovered most are generalists, not specialists.
Broad thinkers are able to “see the whole board” – namely, all the aspects that surround a client’s business. Gillian Tett in her excellent book “The Silo Effect” talks about the need to recognise that information often lies in different silos and that you have to work hard to break them down. Broad thinkers piece disparate information together and make it coherent.
Broad thinkers are broad minded. People who are good listeners, who are fascinated by human behaviour, that’s so often irrational and unpredictable. And people who understand and respect the differences of other people.
Broad thinkers are lateral thinkers. De Bono’s concept of lateral thinking is demonstrated by the following metaphor; when faced with a problem, do not dig deeper, dig elsewhere. In other words, go broad.
So how do we think broad as an industry?
Recruitment of broad thinkers isn’t easy
We need more people who understand how marketing and business works broadly, not just specialist channels. We need more people who understand how the different elements of an end-to-end customer experience can be brought together. We need to get people in at the start of their careers and keep them broad in their thinking. Before they go deep.
We also need to invest much more in training our strategists. It reminds me of the joke between a CEO and CFO. The CFO asks what happens if we train people and they leave, to which the CEO replies what happens if we don’t and they stay? Learning on the job is all good but only in combination with solid foundations. We need to invest properly in a breadth of training. Giving breadth across the 4 Ps not just Promotion.
The rest of it is down to the individual.
To think broad you need to act broad
Get out there and see the real world. Speak to customers, employees, the person in the street. Get as wide a lens on the world as possible. As Steve Jobs said, you only get to connect the dots backwards, not by looking forwards – namely by drawing upon diverse experiences. The more you have, the better your ability to connect the dots.
With broader thinkers at their disposal, agencies can make the shift to being client partners that truly use creativity to solve business problems. Not just communications, marketing or customer experience problems but also proper knotty business problems. As we move into the 2020s that’s how we move away from cost conversations and into value based ones. It’s how we can re-establish ourselves and beat the competition. It’s how we grow, collectively and as individuals.
Go on. It’s time to make a big impact to your client’s business.
Can a Super Bowl ad that costs nearly $6 million be worth it?
That’s a question worth debating if you’re in marketing, so let’s take a look at some of the Super Bowl marketing strategies behind the ads from this year’s big game and see which ones were the biggest winners and losers. For longtime readers, you know I’ve done this before but in past years when I was working at a large agency, I would tread carefully when doing my Super Bowl recaps to make sure I didn’t accidentally mention a client.
Thankfully, being out on my own means I don’t have to measure my words, so what follows is entirely my unfiltered opinion about the ads that worked and the ones that didn’t. Let’s start with the worst strategies of the big game …
Doubling down with two ads focusing on two features of credit cards most people take for granted would probably be more meaningful if people ever thought about these two things. There are dozens of credit cards with no annual fees and most people never even consider their card might not be accepted everywhere. Unless they have a Discover card apparently, in which case both of those things must be a big deal.
Relying on people watching a pre-game ad in order to have the storyline for your in-game ad make sense isn’t a good bet. Neither is hoping people still have an emotional attachment to a long-forgotten monocle-wearing mascot from 1916.
One of the richest companies in the world that has daily issues with ethics, privacy and morality chooses to run an ad reminding us all that there are Facebook groups for people who have niche interests? We need this platform to do a lot more in the world than this. Focusing on promoting groups while ignoring their many issues was weak and just plain disappointing.
While rival Coke used their Super Bowl spot to strategically and entertainingly introduce their new energy drink, this Pepsi spot was a forgettable song remake that shows a red can inexplicably being painted black because … well, just because. This is all to introduce Pepsi Zero Sugar – but unfortunately it makes zero sense too.
I’m not sure why any brand would pay more money to take a pretty good creative concept they already used last year and remake it to be worse and more confusing… but that’s exactly what Walmart managed to do this year. The spot from last year was clever and original to introduce their grocery pickup feature using many different cars. This year’s remake using spaceships was a sad and less effective redo that should never have been approved.
I am a HUGE fan of using the platform of the Super Bowl to introduce people to a new product or service they haven’t heard of yet. This one for Dashlane does it in a clever, funny and totally relatable way.
This ad was so clever I was envious. I mean, using one spot to feature at least half a dozen different brands, including the branded campaign icons for each was just so smart. I counted Troy Polamalu for Head & Shoulders, the Old Spice guy, Mr. Clean, the Charmin bear, a weird appearance by Rob Riggle for Bounce, a product shot for Fabreze and an Olay reference. This was probably the strategy winner of the night for me.
The brand already provides the sideline technology for the NFL, so it was a masterful move to do something that just about any other brand could have done … celebrate the first woman to coach in an NFL team in the Super Bowl. This spot was on trend, emotionally powerful and (unlike the entertaining but unstrategic spot from Olay), it was also right on brand.
The storytelling in this spot was probably the best of the night for me, reminding people of the vital connection between technology and humans. Ironically, Google was promoting the same idea as Facebook … yet unlike Facebook, their spot managed to be human, emotional, real and not vaguely self-promotional.
I loved the idea of introducing the “Smaht Pahk” feature by using a collection of actors with the New England accent. It was a fun and memorable way to introduce a great feature of the new Hyundai Sonata, and a gag that carried through even to the brand’s tagline: “Bettah Drives Us.” Nice idea and great execution.
Similar to the upside for Dashlane of introducing a new product, this spot made the idea of a bar you’ve never heard of fun and helped get the point across that there’s a new candy bar you should know about and might want to try. Unless you have your head up your own ass, of course.
Want to read the full list of my Super Bowl Marketing strategy recaps from previous years?
Is your Facebook marketing meeting your customers where they are? Wondering how to design a Facebook plan that supports your sales funnel? In this article, you’ll discover how to create a customer-centric Facebook marketing plan that meets your prospects and customers at every stage of their customer journeys. #1: Map Out Multiple Customer Journey Scenarios […]
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The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
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