The top advertisers during the Super Bowl — rated by their use of search engine marketing and integrated Web campaigns — included online companies such as Napster and GoDaddy, along with traditional firms such as Ameriquest.
Visa, Pepsi, Frito-Lay and other marketers did not score so well, search engine marketing firm Reprise Media, New York, said yesterday. Reprise studied how each advertiser's TV spot was linked to search engine marketing, including keyword selection, listing copy, landing pages and ties between the TV ad and the company's Web site. It then figured which advertisers “gained the most yards from the Super Bowl investment,” said Peter Hershberg, managing partner at Reprise.
Companies with the highest scores included Ameriquest, Staples and Volvo — which scored 7 on a scale of zero to 7, along with CIBA Vision, Fox's “American Idol,” CareerBuilder.com, Cadillac and GoDaddy.
“These top advertisers were clearly visible throughout the major search engines, and followed up on their ads with clear integration on their Web sites,” Reprise said.
Internet companies in particular used search engine marketing well and followed up on their Super Bowl placements with strong, integrated online ad campaigns. For example, GoDaddy's site included a blog from the company's CEO related to the Super Bowl campaign, and an uncut video version of the company's ad.
Advertisers with the lowest scores included Visa, Pepsi, Degree antiperspirant and Frito-Lay because they did not buy complementary ad terms or integrate their ad into the site's landing pages. Though many advertisers included a Web address in their ads, consumers had no clear path to follow up on when they visited the site, Reprise said.
Advertising practices are not keeping pace with consumer behaviors, Hershberg said, and many don't recognize that a significant number of Internet users use search engines as their navigation tool.
“A lot of users are very comfortable with using search as a navigation tool … to that advertiser's Web site,” he said.
Even when the TV advertisers provided the URL in the ad, many users did not remember it, mistyped it or simply chose to use Google, Yahoo and other search engines to find the sites.
Ads for movies and television shows also did not score well: Most of the studios did not buy search engine ads against the titles of their movies.
Advertisers with the lowest scores had “no visibility on either Google or Yahoo for brand or product keywords, no integration between their Super Bowl advertising and their online advertising, and no clear call to action for consumers,” Hershberg said.
