Super Bowl XLIV and the Web

The Super Bowl is known to be an event that features not only the year's best in professional football, but also the year's best in television advertising.

Many football fans and non-football-fans alike watch the Super Bowl for the sake of seeing the commercials just as much as - or more than - for the sake of watching the actual football game. And this year, I don't think those viewers were disappointed. Most of the commercials were very well done; many were funny; a few were slightly disturbing. And the football game was exciting, too.

But what impressed me most about Super Bowl XLIV was the number of brands that integrated their television commercials with free bonus content on the Web.

Several companies allowed web users to see "sneak peeks" of their Super Bowl spots during the week before the game. Many of these offers tied into a reciprocity technique - after watching the short clip, users were encouraged to follow the brand on Twitter, or to use a promotional code to receive a discount at the brand's online store. And after the game, some brands then emailed links for the full versions of their ads to users who opted in to their mailing list.

Also this year, all of the Super Bowl commercials were made publicly available to users after the spots aired during the game. Viewers can watch all 71 commercials at www.youtube.com/adblitz, and between now and February 14, can vote for their favorite.

Of these Web-integrated Super Bowl campaigns, my personal favorite is the HomeAway ad:



This ad is actually a trailer for a new short film, available for viewing pleasure at HomeAway.com. Clark and Ellen Griswold return in "Hotel Hell Vacation," much to the delight of this particular National Lampoon fan. Visitors to the site can also watch other short videos, play the Griswold Getaway game, read (and vote for their favorite) user-submitted hotel horror stories, and enter to win a dream vacation.

With these and the other web-integrated Super Bowl advertisements, it seems that brands are beginning to understand how offering free, fun, accessible content to audiences can help to build customer relationships. As companies provide content like this, they associate their names with enjoyable experiences, and create opportunities to delight customers and to form positive impressions and reputations in the minds of consumers.

And after a customer spends 15 minutes exploring this fun content, he might also explore the actual product information on the rest of the brand website. Or at least remember HomeAway.com, for example, the next time he plans a family vacation.

Great job, HomeAway.com and others. I hope that next year, your Super Bowl ads will go one step further, by integrating with mobile content as well (as blogger Steve Smith points out).

Lessons from a [Virtual] Zippo Lighter

Yesterday I enjoyed another great article from one of my favorite marketing bloggers, Steve Smith. This time, Steve wrote about the phenomenon of Zippo lighters at concerts, and the life cycle of the Virtual Zippo Lighter app for the iPhone.

Watch this video to see the Virtual Zippo Lighter app in action (my favorite part is the flicking it open and closed!):



The Virtual Zippo Lighter app has been downloaded more than five million times since its release a year ago, making it the 13th most popular iPhone app, according to ComScore.

The beauty of the app lies in two things: its simplicity, and its connection to a cultural classic.

Simplicity: The Virtual Zippo Lighter has one single purpose - to look like and act like a virtual Zippo lighter. That's it. Nothing else. The Virtual Zippo Lighter flicks open like a Zippo lighter, lights like a Zippo lighter, and its flame moves and flickers with movement like the flame of a Zippo lighter. It's the beloved concert toy, without the fire hazard or lighter fluid smell.

Connection to a Cultural Classic: Had that first brilliant concert-goer never had the inspired idea to hold his Zippo lighter aloft and sway back and forth to a rock-and-roll hit, the Virtual Zippo Lighter would be pointless. A fire-starter that doesn't start fires? Please. But because this cultural phenomenon did happen with the ubiquitous pocket-sized object of the 20th century, Zippo was able to recreate this "Zippo Encore Moment" with the 21st century's own ubiquitous pocket-sized object: the smartphone.

Simplicity and connection to a cultural classic (and the ultra-low cost: the app is free!) created a fan-base 5-million-strong for the Virtual Zippo Lighter app. And now, Zippo and its mobile marketing partner Moderati are planning ways to re-launch the app into the growth phase of its life cycle.

Simplicity built the application's popularity; the next generation of the Virtual Zippo Lighter will inhabit the opposite end of the iPhone app spectrum: a full-media package, allowing users to customize their lighters and, possibly, to find music and information on the concerts that are happening near them. Brilliant, right? Add value to customers and allow them to find venues in which use of their app is logical and "cool".

As Steve Smith points out, it is difficult for a smartphone application to survive in the space between ultra-simplicity and ultra-complexity. Zippo and Moderati will be avoiding that "no-man's-land" and occupying both extremes. Customers will be able to choose either the free original app, or the 99-cent customizable, concert-finding version.

Zippo and Moderati used simplicity to attract fans, and will use complexity to build deeper relationships with those fans. Good move. Can we do the same?

Landing Page or Launch Pad?

At the end of his Mobile Insider blog post today, Steve Smith posed a question that bears repeating:

"Why is a 'landing page' a 'landing page?' Shouldn't it be a launch pad to a [story]? Why would you want to have your audience lean back to watch a clip, when they could lean in to interact with a visual story?"

Well put, Steve. Intuitively, we know that a website landing page is not meant to be the final resting place of the viewer. It is meant to draw the viewer into your website. A landing page is akin to the cover of a book, or the trailer of a movie. It attracts attention, gives a preview of the content, and draws the viewer in. A landing page should do three things:

• intrigue the viewer


• inspire curiosity


• generate involvement

Intrigue the viewer:
A landing page should convey the personality and purpose of the brand in a creative way - without using gratuitous, flashy animation and sound. As the adage says, "form follows function." A landing page can feature a cool Flash animation, but not simply for the sake of having a cool Flash animation. Design for the sake of the viewer, not for the sake of the designer's ego. Be tasteful. If you must use sound, include a sound on/off button; don't build something that takes forever to load; create your design with a purpose that serves the viewer and makes him want to continue.

Inspire curiosity:
A landing page should give the viewer a hint of what on the site is interesting and relevant to him. The viewer wants to know why it is worth his time to continue to browse your site. So convey information about "what's inside". And allow some mystery to remain - make your viewer want to continue through your site to "find out more."

Generate involvement:
Make your landing page interactive (as the rest of your site should be). Help the viewer to customize his experience on your site. Show him where he can explore relevant (not gratuitous, remember) videos, or photo albums, or virtual tours on your site. If you use animation, let the viewer control what he sees; use mouseovers, hotspots - something to let him click and direct and see more. Allow the user to comment on something, or build a sample, or take a poll. Make him feel like he is engaged with the brand, and make him want to continue that active relationship.

Let your landing page be a launch pad to your brand's story.