There is simply no doubt that done well, a SuperBowl ad campaign is automatically integrated into the digital conscious and can create ridiculous buzz for the primary brand, it’s agency and those who helped create it.  If done well.  Denny’s although not my favourite cannot dispute the uptake of their efforts at previous SuperBowls.  I’d love to see the numbers and hear the reasons for why they chose to abstain from SuperBowl 2011 festivities.

The only thing I can come up with as a possible reason is pressure from Animal Rights supporters etc.  Here’s another example.  Maybe that was all it took, many of the related chicken videos have been taken down.  Gary Vaynerchuk first asked the question in 2010, what do you think happened?  The above is my response to why they stopped.

Enough with the Denny’s chickens, bring on the Bud Light  Ostriches, “here we go.”

Personally, I believe that in this age of social, many organizations lost an opportunity to engage.  Doritos seems to be the clear winner of this year in terms of laughs and online conversational footprint among consumers.  With one clear exception, there’s no one talking to me or anyone else for that matter about Doritos online from Frito-Lay.

Bridgestone Tires has a SuperBowl specific section on their site but that’s not enough.  Here’s E-trade’s Youtube Channel as listed in their continuing baby commercials and NO online interaction that I can find.

Gary Vee quickly pointed out this issue and I find it clear evidence that many a large enterprise and their ad agencies for all their tweeting and Facebook groups and fan pages are still living in the…

“build it and they will come, bolt it on rather than bake it in mentality.”

They still don’t get it.  This is the difference between having accounts and using them effectively to build brand presence and social capital.  I’ve enjoyed many of the commercials this year, and I wonder if the lame ones like Boost Mobile could have improved their status through online engagement?  I’m watching the game as I type this so if someone finds something interesting regarding some online engagement let me know…

Check these Twitter accounts out: @vizio & @dockers – disgraceful…thanks for pointing this out – @josephaldrich

Here’s the Youtube AdBlitz 2010 channel with all the ads from the SuperBowl so you can check them out.

One of the things I’ve always taken exception to is the comment that social media is “free.”  You’ll see some content in the video below about Gary Vanyerchuk and “$0 dollars invested in Twitter to generate 1800 customers.”  Social media is not free, this is a gross generalization.  Vaynerchuk continues to state that social media is free throughout his book Crush It as well, and regardless of his success (which is substantial) he is sending the message that simply because the tool itself requires no registration fee to use, all social media is free and essentially has no value.  Wrong!

“There’s nothing stock about a stock car.” – Harry Hogg

He’s not coming straight out and saying social media has no value but to the untrained eye that could be how it is interpreted.  I certainly agree that on average the investment in social media marketing is considerably lower than traditional methods of marketing, but free and of little value?

Is the key to massive social media success simply just working 16 hour days on free software?  According to Vaynerchuk, yes and he explains the importance of what to spend those 16 hours on.  He advocates relentlessly building your personal brand, something I completely agree with. Ultimately, many social media tools may be free to use but the time invested and experience on how to apply them in a coordinated way is very valuable. In the case of Vaynerchuk and many others, it’s worth millions.

His main message is “listen” to the Internet and your customers, answer all your emails and comments and treat your customers like gold.  Sound advice AND it’s nothing new.  Having said that, many still do not do this because it’s too much work.  Vanyerchuk is proving that his simple, in your face style and showing up every day is and does work.  Is he passionate? Yes.  Is he relentless?  You bet.  Is it hard work? Absolutely!

As for his book Crush It, I found it a very easy read, entertaining in a few places and there are a few good tips.  Would I call it revolutionary or mind blowing? No.  Vaynerchuk’s mantra is simple, he considers much about the use of social media to be about showing up, sweating and being passionate as you do it.  With that I agree but in reality it’s not free.

As for the socialnomics video.

Eric Qualman has released a new social media centric video on Youtube, this man loves his stats and I think you’ll appreciate them as well.  I originally found the link to this video on Twitter via Mike Street (@streetforce1)

Mike’s link sent me to LitmanLive, a blog which provides a bit of a break-down of the stats within the video itself, it’s below for your viewing pleasure.

By the way, if you haven’t played this iPhone game called Pik’s Revenge yet, you’re missing out.  Speaking of “sweat,” we’re working with Edmonton’s Fluik Entertainment on this cool project, I thought I would throw this in too…