Brands Set the Stage for Awards Season

The following is republished with the permission of the Association of National Advertisers. Find this and similar articles on ANA Newsstand.

By David Ward

The new year kicks off several marquee events for consumer brands, including the People’s Choice Awards, Critics Choice Awards, the Oscars, and on February 13, Super Bowl LVI at the newly minted SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. In a world where cord-cutting is accelerating and streaming TV is gobbling up more and more share, these are a few of the remaining network shows that can attract massive audiences.

With more people opting to stay home due to the pandemic and watch the tube, big consumer-facing brands are sharpening their real-time marketing efforts on social channels and other platforms to engage new audiences, boost their visibility, and, if the constellations are truly aligned, become part of the cultural zeitgeist (if only for a little while).

What makes real-time marketing worth the investment — setting up “war rooms” to monitor the events on-location and having all social media hands on deck — are the opportunities to respond creatively to unscripted events. Exhibit A: Oreo’s now-famous “Dunk in the Dark” tweet when the lights went out during Super Bowl XLVII.

Marketing teams have to make sure their real-time operations are up to speed and not in any danger of missing something that suddenly goes viral. At the same time, CMOs have to consider beforehand how responding to an unforeseen event could impact the brand, and that reacting to something outrageous or unconventional could seem shrewd in the moment, but ultimately backfire on the company.

Branded social media posts during high-profile televised events often strive for spontaneity. But Keturah Carter, associate director of social marketing and strategy at 360i, the agency responsible for Oreo’s “Dunk in the Dark” tweet, says truly effective real-time marketing is based on understanding the long-term goals of a brand.

“Oftentimes, shock-driven stunts come off as trying too hard and being tone deaf,” she adds. “You must stay true to your brand ethos and voice. If you aren’t, maybe reconsider a different opportunity.”

Advance Planning Is Key

Jennifer Warren, VP of global brand marketing at employment website and ANA member Indeed, says the company wanted their ads during Super Bowl LV to have a positive message and tone to speak to Americans worried about the pandemic’s impact on their career prospects.

“Job-seeking is hard even during good days,” she says. “We really wanted to use one of the biggest platforms to give people hope and that’s why we use real job-seekers in our Super Bowl ads, and then amplified that with real-time marketing.”

During Super Bowl LV Indeed leveraged social media using #NowHiring to point out industries, regions, and companies with job vacancies, and invited people to join the conversation.

“I would say 65 to 70 percent was content that we already made and had been approved,” Warren says, adding that the company set up virtual war rooms to monitor the game in real time. “But we knew that we needed the flexibility to also respond to things that we weren’t anticipating, so we had a large crew at the ready and we had talked through the types of things that might come up so we could make quick decisions.”

Warren says the company’s ads and real-time activation during the 2021 game succeeded in large part because the creatives and messaging were consistent with its long-term messaging. “Make sure whatever you’re doing is relevant to your brand,” she says, adding that the company is now evaluating its plans for Super Bowl LVI.
Growing Number of Players

Considering the opportunities real-time marketing present, it’s little wonder the field is getting crowded.

“At this point, far too many brands may be clamoring for attention at the same expected events, such as the Super Bowl or the Oscars,” says Aki Spicer, chief strategy officer at ANA member Leo Burnett, whose clients include Cadillac, Pernod Ricard, and P&G. “Maybe if a brand has secured major visibility and sponsorship, the tweets may be a worthy endeavor, but by and large, it is very hard for a brand to tweet its way to relevant attention.”

Win Sakdinan, director of North America marketing at ANA member Twitter, says messages that reflect genuine authenticity remain the best way to cut through the clutter in a real-time environment.

“People are becoming more and more aware of great real-time marketing and will reward brands with engagement through likes, comments, and retweets,” he says, adding that Twitter has an internal team called Next that helps brands develop strategic messaging and refine the details of copywriting, image selection, and use of hashtags.

While it’s not necessary for a brand to be an official sponsor or advertiser of a major event, Sakdinan says sponsorships allow for licensing rights that give the advertising team more communications tools. “Access to key event hashtags can drive even more reach for branded tweets as people search for trending hashtags,” he says.

During the Academy Awards telecast, for instance, 360i worked with Bravo on a new ad campaign titled “Housewives into Oscars,” featuring the cast members of the cable network’s Real Housewives franchise. The real-time marketing effort included Instagram posts that playfully reimagine the various “Housewives” as “trophy wives.”

“Blending buzzy moments from the past with a present spin tends to garner conversation and excitement,” Carter says. “We know that all brands want to capitalize off waves of conversation synonymous with these tentpole moments, but many fail to stay true to who they are and what they’re all about.”
Gut Check

Carter says the pandemic and racial reckonings throughout 2020-2021 have caused many brands to reexamine how — or whether — to support social justice and other causes through real-time marketing.

“You never want to dance around the line of pandering, so I encourage brands to sit some things out if your brand’s participation could cause more harm than good,” he adds. “Get a gut check internally within your organization. If people internally have concerns, it’s okay to stay away from promoting on your brand accounts.”

Consumers can also smell the whiff of desperation when brands try to create viral moments during high-profile events.

“Don’t tweet for the sake of tweeting,” Twitter’s Sakdinan says. “It would feel natural for a cosmetic brand to join the conversation about the Oscar’s red carpet, but for a motor-oil brand probably not.”

Spicer, from Leo Burnett, warns that brand advertisers should consider the brand’s big story. “One-off ‘event’ campaigns that do not align with the brands’ overall greater mission or purpose run the risk of appearing random and erratic to viewers,” he says.