How the Super Bowl is embracing new ways to engage fans

The Super Bowl, although one of the biggest sporting events on the calendar, is also a chance for sponsor brands to activate alongside the game and create experiential moments for fans to enjoy. The events have offered people a chance to meet players, gain insight, share stories and immerse themselves in the game, the history and the hype of the big calendar moment.

For example, Lowe’s built a village of 32 pop up houses in the Miami beach Convention Centre to create their Super Bowl Experience in 2020. Each house was designed to reflect the 32 teams in the NFL – showcasing aesthetics such as team colours, logos as well as references to the teams’ hometowns or cities. Along the strip you could spot anything from a subway car styled house through to pirate ship or mountain.

The same year Visa created an NFL shop complete with an augmented reality installation allowing visitors to pose for pictures with a host of NFL superstars.

Stella Artois went all out with Port de Stella – a three day street festival celebrating food, music and of course yachts. Stella put on VIP yacht rides to take people from South Beach to their activation – not only creating a feeling of exclusivity but also a way to bypass the crowds.

Stella Artois - image from NY Times

Alongside these more experiential activations we all know about the parties and concerts with big name headliners and money can’t buy tickets to nights such as Shaqs Funhouse. Brands continue put their name behind concerts and DJ nights to attract celebrities far and wide.

However, the past couple of years some brands seem to be ditching the “flashy” parties and pop-ups to embrace a more authentic way to connect with fans. The digital world we have all come to have to embrace is making way for hybrid events which allow the interaction and engagement to travel further.

The digital world allows brands to build hype long before the game and give fans this feeling of personal inclusion. Consumers feel like they have a bigger stake in the whole interaction through mechanisms such as competitions, exclusive gifts and the chance to either win something truly extraordinary or be included in something unique and memorable.

TikTok

Brands are using TikTok in place of their million-dollar commercials. State Farm for example set a TikTok challenge #TeamStateFarm. Using the duet function fans are invited to duet with Jake from State Farm with the winner earning the chance to be featured in a future State Farm commercial.

Captiv8 embraced TikTok hashtag challenges in 2021 and saw an increase in engagement from 96.4 million views to 2.9 BILLION views of the #TurboTaxPick6 challenge and 3.9 BILLION views of the #DoritosFlatLife campaign.

Captiv8 isn’t the only brand using hashtag challenges to engage fans past the big screen – Lay’s has used #LaysGoldenDuet using the duet function with Seth Rogan and Paul Rudd with Stacy Taffet, Vice President of brand marketing for Frito-Lay at PepsiCo saying to Adweek “The importance of the second screen means even more on Super Bowl Sunday as one of the largest live viewing events of the year,” she said. “Offering a natural way for fans to engage on their phones extends the reach of that 60 second ad and is critical for a lasting impression on Super Bowl Sunday.”

Other brands using hashtag challenges on TikTok this year are Pringles, Taco Bell and Nissan.

Pringles - image from ADWEEK?

Metaverse

Miller Light has decided to build a bar in the metaverse this year. It will show its ad exclusively here instead of on TV along with giving fans access to a whole immersive Miller Light world with a chance to win prizes and interact with games and activations.?However, Miller Lite is a good example of brands appreciating the best of both worlds and embracing a hybrid experience. Sofia Colucci, Global VP of Miller family of brands said "While many brands are showing up in the metaverse right now, Miller Lite is doing things differently by keeping one foot in the virtual world and another in the real world. We're using our Meta Lite Bar to encourage real-life hangouts over real-life beer by giving guests a chance to score their stock of game-day Miller Lite on us. Now, you and your avatar can enjoy Miller Time with friends."

Miller Lite Bar - image from Little Black Book

?Gaming and NFT’s

Last year Verizon partnered with Fortnite to create a virtual 5G stadium – aimed at promoting its 5G capabilities and creating that stadium feeling whilst the real one remained very much empty. The game featured elements such as scavenger hunts and football themed games and fans could even engage with players and pro-gamers virtually through the digital world.

Buffalo Wild Wings are auctioning off three exclusive NFTs this year to celebrate the famous 2017 game. JordanNYC (a New York street artist) has designed the illustrations inspired by the game with proceeds going to the artist as well as the Buffalo Wild Wings Foundation.

Verizon 5G Stadium - image from Event Marketer?

Snapchat and Lenses

This year Verizon partnered with Snapchat to create an augmented reality game through a 5G connected Lens – participants could take part in a battle to take control of an airship above the playing field at the game. Again, it’s a great example of giving fans another way to play and interact digitally whilst also attending the event in real life.

Other brands have also embraced Snapchat this year with the NFL itself showing 3 exclusive shows on the Discover function of Snap, top plays appearing on Spotlight and Cameo stickers available in the app. The NFL also used its halftime ad to launch a Snapcode to unlock a unique National World Lens. NFL also experimented with the Snap Camera Kit this year incorporating it into its One Pass app for the first time.

?Frito-Lay’s, Flamin’ Hot Dorritos and Cheetos, Uber, Draft Kings and Nissan have all also partnered with Snap to create unique augmented reality activations around the game – from bespoke Lens’ to camera activated hidden videos.

?Closing thoughts…

As experiential events come back with a vengeance this year, we as an agency are always seeking to try new production advancements both physically and digitally. The Super Bowl shows us what can be done when brands “think outside the box” and embrace all forms of entertainment, as that’s what an event is essentially, entertainment. The brand activations above show us that the run up to an event is almost as important as the event itself – building hype, engagement and brand loyalty which in turn creates a richer event experience for the attendee and greater returns for the brand. Putting the consumer at the heart of the experience, letting them shape it, interact with it and participate fully it what creates the most successful brand campaigns.

?The actual Super Bowl went live yesterday at the SoFi stadium in Inglewood and the halftime show featured Dr. Dre, Kendrick Lamar, Eminem, Snoop Dogg and Mary J. Blige.

?You can watch highlights here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdsUKphmB3Y

At Seen we seek to take inspiration from the events around us - this article does not seek to take credit for any ideas or events mentioned and no copyright infringement is intended

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