As NFL fans prepare for Super Bowl LIII, brands are also gearing up with their promotional tie-ins, in order to reach the huge captive audience who'll be watching the game.
And Twitter is where many marketers will be focusing their real-time strategies. Ever since the famous Oreo's 'Dunk in the Dark' tweet, in-the-moment Super Bowl tie-ins have been a key focus, with brands keenly watching for that moment, that magical opportunity which enables them to tap into the trending discussion and generate huge exposure with a simple, single short message.
In order to encourage this, Twitter has this week launched its second #BrandBowl awards, which celebrate the best brand Super Bowl tie-ins via tweet.
This year, Twitter will award brands in five categories (via AdWeek):
- MVP - Awarded to the brand with the highest percentage of all brand-related tweets during Super Bowl LIII
- Blitz - Given to the business which reaches the highest level of tweets per minute at some point during the game
- Quarterback - The brand with a single tweet that draws the most retweets during the game
- Interception - The highest percentage of brand conversation for a brand that did not run a TVC during the Super Bowl.
- Video Replay - The brand that drives the most video views (new category in 2019)
Last year, Pepsi won the MVP award, while Doritos and Mountain Dew took out the Blitz on the back of this ad.
Given the scale of the event, the #BrandBowl is likely to be dominated by big brands, but still, looking over the winners in each category can give all businesses ideas and inspiration relating to their own campaigns and strategy - maybe not for the Super Bowl necessarily, but for other events more related to their area of focus which inspire discussion via tweet.
And if you want to know what those events might be, you can check out Twitter's 2019 events calendar, which highlights all the key moments likely to generate attention throughout the year.
Brands enter the 2019 #BrandBowl by contacting their Twitter client partner, and winners will receive “a suite of exclusive ad products and custom consumer research opportunities” from Twitter for use in their campaigns throughout the rest of 2019.