Reading fellow classmate Zane King’s blog on “Marketing at the 2014 Super Bowl”(https://blogs.ubc.ca/zaneking1/2012/01/16/hello-world/) made me think a little deeper about the complex marketing involved with and around the Super Bowl. Zane discussed the massive amount of marketing that occurs during the Super Bowl and how important it is for companies to take advantage of the opportunity to attract potentially millions of new customers.  This made me realize that not only are companies advertising their particular product or service at the Super Bowl, but they are also promoting these very ads well in advance of the actual event. Essentially, this means that there is marketing towards marketing occurring during and around the Super Bowl.

Rapid increases in the usage of social media have made the initial marketing of advertisements more important than ever. Companies are now given the opportunity to build hype about their commercials by posting teaser videos on youtube, leaking hints and clues on twitter, or creating event pages on facebook. By promoting their actual commercials, companies can gain an early advantage over their competitors by getting inside the minds of consumers before everyone else does. The timing of these early promotions is crucial to their success – too early and they are forgotten by the time the Super Bowl actually occurs, but too late and they have already fallen behind in the race to market themselves.

As the Super Bowl’s come along year after year, it is becoming more and more challenging for companies to come up with unique and effective commercials to air during the event. By taking advantage of the ever-changing social media trends, companies can stretch their marketing campaigns out for much more than just one day. This will be the new source of competitive advantage surrounding the famous marketing event that is the Super Bowl.

Kia 2012 Super Bowl Ad Teaser