No Score for Social Marketing at the Super Bowl

I have no interest in the Super Bowl. I guess that’s awfully un-American. Yet, yesterday I found myself at a family Super Bowl party, lured by the prospect of guacamole, chili and cornbread. So, while I must admit I did actually watch some of the game (who was playing again?), I paid much more attention to the commercials. Some were clever, some were annoying and some just made me say, “huh?” It’s not a good sign when you can’t remember what product the commerical was promoting as soon as it’s over.

While I saw plenty of ads for beer, cars, soda, beer, fast food, dot coms, beer and beer, I was disappointed that there was not much social marketing to be found. The NFL ran some PSAs of its own, promoting its players’ efforts to help after Katrina, and encouraging people to get involved with the United Way.

Dove, partnering with the Girl Scouts, launched its Campaign for Real Beauty to boost girls’ self-esteem about their appearance.

In Minnesota, the Minnesota Partnership for Action Against Tobacco ran ads to raise awareness of the effects of secondhand smoke. I don’t know if other organizations ran Super Bowl ads locally.

To see all of the ads that ran nationally, go to iFilm.

I realize that most organizations doing social marketing cannot afford to purchase an ad on the Super Bowl. A 30-second spot cost $2.5 million and reached between 90 million and 130 million people — many of whom were actually paying attention to the commercials. For a social marketing campaign targeting issues like men’s health, alcohol abuse prevention or obesity, this would have been a sterling opportunity to make an impact as well as generating buzz.