Where to begin with the Super Bowl advertisements?
I will admit that trying to watch the Super Bowl, while also monitoring Twitter wasn’t the easiest of tasks, but was well worth it.
I don’t think it’s any secret that everything from Lady Gaga’s halftime performance to a handful of the commercial advertisements were criticized for being “too political,” but considering the unfortunate divided nation that we’re currently living in, I think it’s going to be pretty impossible to not incorporate politics into almost everything, especially when it comes to business.
However, I do think it’s important to recognize the fact that FOX was very particular on their political limits when it came to accepting or turning away submitted commercials.
84 Lumber, the brand that received the most commentary, especially on Twitter, was transparent with their followers and respectfully answered the million dollar question that every Super Bowl viewer had, explaining why they cut their commercial off:
After following 84 Lumber closely on Twitter during the remainder of the Super Bowl and for 24 hours after, I believe that 84 Lumber did an incredible job responding to both the positive and negative tweets.
Not only did 84 Lumber take the time to respond to hundreds of tweets, the company had transparent and consistent messages, they didn’t pick and choose to respond to only the positive tweets, and what most stood out to me, they responded to tweets in the same language that was tweeted to them. For example:
In regards to their consistent messages to followers tweets, 84 Lumber killed the game. To the people who complimented their work and thanked and praised them, 84 Lumber kindly thanked each and every one of them. To those that didn’t agree with the commercial’s message, 84 Lumber replied back with the same exact message (below). Through this subtle but effect, consistent and simple messaging and branding, I have gained a whole new respect for a company that I had never even heard of before the Super Bowl.
I gotta hand it to a variety of other brands like T-Mobile, who also did a great job responding to their followers on Twitter, but I think 84 Lumber takes the cake this Super Bowl.
Only 362 more days till the next Super Bowl, but who’s counting, right?
•molly gaughan• 