Modern society has significantly increased its level of development of information culture. At this stage, an essential part of this culture – social media – has a severe influence. In marketing, it provided brands with a new path to reach and communicate with an audience. However, social media did not bring the results that experts expected from them. In terms of strength and scope of influence, ordinary users came to the forefront, and not specially created advertising. For this, it is vital to understand why people talk about a particular event or product (KnowledgeAtWharton, 2013). This work explores three brands, selected from the Super Bowl advertising 2020, and their marketing activities on social networks – Toyota, Tide, and Pepsi. Advertising broadcast during the Super Bowl has already become a separate cultural phenomenon. Despite its influence and extensive audience reach, it is also crucial for brands to create excitement for the videos and make them viral, and for this, social media can be used.
Toyota
Toyota is a well-known Japanese company that manufactures and sells cars. According to the MBA Skool Team (2020), it combines activities on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter as a part of the company’s marketing mix – promotion. LinkedIn is also on this list on Toyota’s official website. According to the analytical company BrandTotal, as most automotive companies, Toyota prefers to advertise on Facebook and posted 62% of its content there (as cited in Williams, 2019). Moreover, considering the importance and complexity of media, Toyota, together with Dentsu, will create new companies that will be specifically engaged in the digital promotion (“Toyota to launch new companies,” 2020). The information presented in the announcement demonstrates that the company understands that now not only mass media but also the average Internet users have influence. For this moment, Toyota’s content is concise, contains little text but high-quality photos, not promoting engagement and participation among users. Last year and current posts do not prepare users for Super Bowl ads.
Tide
Tide is more active in social media than Toyota and is represented in Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and YouTube. In Super Bowl Commercials, the brand has achieved success, and many videos have become viral due to the humor and emotional response that it causes (Gotter, 2020). Tide usually devotes its posts to campaigns that draw attention to severe problems – doctors’ hard work during a pandemic or cancer survivors. Super Bowl ads 2020 appeared on the pages after the broadcast, but the created hashtag #LaundryLater helped attract more attention. However, the brand did not create much excitement on social media. Thus, their content is promoting engagement and participation among users with humor and creativity.
Pepsi
Pepsi is a well-known brand of carbonated soft drinks, and one of its features that attracts attention and makes people talk about products is a rivalry with Coca-Cola. Their target audience is young people and adolescents, and therefore social media should be carefully worked out to promote products. The company combines activities on sites such as Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. Last year, the brand abandoned advertising and is preparing social media users for the Halftime Show with the famous artist The Weeknd (Steinberg, 2021). Their content is engaging and corresponds to the style of each social network. For example, on Twitter, Pepsi invited to dialogue, and on Instagram, they added a short promo to the show.
Conclusion
The Super Bowl time is approaching, which unites almost the entire country to watch football and spectacular advertisements. Brands strive to demonstrate their creativity and attract more audiences. However, in the modern world, social media’s influence is so strong that their users can be turned into a powerful tool for drawing attention to the ads. Not all companies yet use this feature – of the three brands analyzed, Pepsi is most active during the Super Bowl, Tide attracts more attention with the video itself, and Toyota conducts limited activities in social media. However, now marketers are still learning to act in networks, and brands will probably devote more effort to this aspect in the future.
References
Gotter, A. (2020). A look at the most viral tide commercials: How to use humor in video marketing. Business 2 Community. Web.
KnowledgeAtWharton. (2013). Why things catch on . YouTube. Web.
MBA Skool Team. (2020). Toyota marketing mix (4Ps) strategy. Web.
Steinberg, B. (2021). Pepsi will cut Super Bowl ads for flagship soda to focus on Halftime Show. Variety. Web.
Toyota to launch new companies for marketing and for creating mobility businesses. (2020). Web.
Williams, R. (2019). Toyota and other auto brands favor Facebook, Instagram for social media ads. Marketing Dive. Web.