A nation seeking an escape from bad economic news, a massively popular Olympian, and drug use were an obvious recipe for a tabloid sensation. So when the photo of Michael Phelps hunched over a bong hit the news, the social media reaction was predictably huge.
YouTube mined the funnier side of the episode while a number of blogger tackled the allegations a bitmoreseriously.
At the start of the month, the incident threatened to cast a pall the greatest story in sports since Lance Armstrong’s 7th Tour de France win. Kellogg’s pulled Phelps’s endorsement deal, removing the Corn Flakes box from his overburdened trophy case. Kellogg’s may have damagedtheir brand with the move, and one social media indicator we measured reveals that damage to Phelps’s reputation may have been fleeting.
Using Twitter to gauge the digerati’s reaction to the affair, it appears the verdict on Phelps’ behavior is a collective shrug. Supportive Tweets for Phelps outnumbered criticism 2:1 consistently since the news broke at the start of the month. That figure rises to 4:1 if one includes criticism of marijuana laws and their enforcement by the Richland County sheriff spurred by the incident. In particular, the contrasting treatment of A-Rod’s steroid allegations anchored assertions that drug enforcement is inconsistent or illogical.
In recent days, volume has slowed to a trickle as the story has come to a conclusion with no charges being filed against Phelps. The swimmer remains suspended from competition and has withdrawn temporarily from the public eye. However, based on Twitter I’d say the swimmer will be able to easily forget this one, even without lighting up.
Online and offline, consumers are passionate about their brands. Tropicana recently swallowed a mouthful of pulp with their redesign of their flagship product Tropicana Pure Premium Orange Juice.
The redesign is drawing thoughtful critique and strong commentary online, but Tropicana insists that it’s not the volume of negative buzz that swayed them to revert to the old design. The online outcry is a “fraction of a percent of the people who buy the product,” according to Neil Campbell, president of Tropicana North America. Rather, Tropicana says it is rolling back the design because the negative reaction came in part from some of its “most loyal consumers.”
To me, this feels like an arbitrary and false distinction. Too many companies are still mentally dividing the universe into the angry hordes online who bring down brands and the loyal purchasers who exist primarily in an offline world.
Heads up to marketers: these worlds are officially colliding. As women 55+ make up the fast growing group on facebook, it’s time to re-think assumptions about how and where consumer opinions spread. It’s a new reality that every individual is armed with a printing press, and a new necessity to understand how online information sharing can ignite to influence a wide swath of consumers.
Since these videos were shot, pressure on marketing plans has only increased: according to an ANA survey released today, 93% of marketers are looking at areas of cost reduction and 48% specifically looking at reducing agency compensation.
I shared some thoughts on SMB website development and measurement best practices. Note to self: remove dorky badge and wear non-reflective lenses next time.
Interesting to see how the words used to describe the event changed as the recaps came in over the next 24 hours. In this version, the true social media star of the event, Henry the Boston terrier, gets a mention.
Brad McCormick talked about different ways Porter Novelli delivers brand and business insights from social media to B2C behemoths
Shiv Singh of Razorfish gave us some meaningful ways to think about successful online branding (think: authenticity, transformation, freshness—for a better summary, check out Daniel Tunkelang’s post)
Melanie Notkin wowed the crowd with the passion and energy she uses to build her one-aunt brand, Savvy Auntie
No social media event is complete without the attendees having the last word, so here’s this morning’s wordle of the Tweets with the hashtag #smbnyc4:
Some advertisers, such as Pedigree, have embraced the multi-channel experience of today’s consumers coordinating campaigns across traditional and digital domains. But even for those that haven’t explicitly gone digital yet, many consumers are taking them there anyway. Thousands of viewers were already blogging and tweeting about the new flock of commercials before the Steelers finished their Dom Perignon. At Crimson Hexagon, we wanted to know who successfully made the leap from mainstream to digital buzz. A look at both beverages and foods shows that results were mixed.
Running with the Clydesdales
Online Buzz for Beverage Brands
Anheuser-Busch once again led the pack in buying eight spots (four for Bud and four for BudLight). Given its long history of Super Bowl advertising, it’s no wonder that the buzz for Bud actually started ahead of the game, and has risen to nearly eight times the pre-game level.
In the standing battle between Coke and Pepsi (each invested in three spots), Pepsi appears to have made the bigger splash. Pepsi more than doubled online buzz, bringing it even (and heading higher) than Coke, which has seen minimal lift over its already strong buzz presence.
But the real winner within the drinks category so far has been Sobe Life Water. In the first two days, Sobe’s one commercial (featuring cameos by NFL players dancing with lizards in a 3D variant on Swan Lake) netted them buzz roughly five times their pre-game level. As if NFL players in tutus weren’t enough, Sobe’s choice to make this ad 3D generated extra anticipatory buzz the entire week leading into the Super Bowl.
Running for the Border
Online Buzz for Food & Snack Brands
Now perhaps it was because Taco Bell ignored the rule about including animals, but I find it pretty surprising that their Speed Date commercial hasn’t noticeably moved the needle. Maybe the offline buzz simply moved too fast to be caught online… Or maybe Draft FCB will be rethinking its approach to digital this week.
In other junk food news… chips appear to be highly bloggable. Cheetos has seen five times more buzz than before the Super Bowl. But Doritos’ two commercials led the pack with a 10 times jump in online chatter. How’d they do it? Well, they tapped into both the traditional Power of Creative Crunch and the wisdom of their chip-eating crowd. Who could have predicted such success would come from actively engaging your customers?
Booth Review
All this leads to some tough questions for agencies and brand managers who participated in this year’s Super Ad Bowl. Brows are furrowed as they digest the results of their commercials and turn their eyes towards managing the ongoing campaigns.
For the majority of brands that saw a big boost in buzz, kudos are warranted. But now that consumers are talking, the questions become:
What are they talking about? (Was it “funny”, “same as last year”, or “better than Apple’s 1984 commercial”?)
Are the topics discussed consistent with our goals for the brand? (Are our brand attributes performing as expected? How’s our positive share of voice vs. our competitors?)
Who was talking and in which channels? (Was it bloggers, or were tweets flying around like paper airplanes in front of a substitute teacher?)
For those left in the dust, the question is “Where’s the buzz”? Perhaps their target audience somehow hasn’t heard about this whole social media thing yet (I give Frosted Flakes a little more leeway on this than Taco Bell). Or perhaps there’s only so much buzz a brand can take – had Coke already reached an optimal amount of ongoing buzz?
For the few standing on the sidelines, the question is whether it was worth saving the $3M per spot. Did you miss a chance to Steel the show?
Online and offline, consumers are passionate about their brands. Tropicana recently 
Subscribe to Feed