Understanding that in today’s prevalent world of mobile devices, the likelihood of Super Bowl viewers interacting online and also watching the game on TV, is now higher than ever. Coca-Cola produced and ran a parallel livestream event Sunday night: The Polar Bowl.
The Polar Bowl featured Coca-Cola’s famous polar bears as they watched the entire game. Half the bears were Pats fans, the other half rooting for the Giants. The bears reacted to the game, halftime show, and the commercials alike, on a delay of only six to seven seconds.
Laura Petrecca for The USA TODAY explained the concept: “The bears, appearing to watch the game, will respond in real time to the real game’s action, such as touchdowns, turnovers, bad calls and even commercials for other brands. For instance, if a sexy ad airs, an adult bear would cover the eyes of a baby bear,” (USA TODAY, 2012).
A multitude of applaud worthy achievements were resultant.
The Numbers:
- More than 600,000 users were watching the live stream by the third quarter
- Last-minute server changes were made to allow for up to 1.1 million users
- The Twitter handle @CocaCola saw a 12.5% increase before the game even started
- A team of about 35 employees ran the event
- Three months of practice went into the preparation
- 361 days left to re-group and plan for the 2013 Polar Bowl
Before the start of the football game 32,000 people had RSVP’d to the Polar Bowl on Facebook, a number 15 times higher than the goal had been.
Server space was allocated for 300,000 concurrent users on the live stream; during the pre-game show that mark was surpassed. An additional six servers were needed right away. Attendance kept climbing throughout the game, requiring another nine servers – making for a total of 18. When that wasn’t enough, the entire operation switched over to Major League Baseball’s servers (the Coca-Cola team had been stationed in control rooms at MLB’s Advanced Media).
Pio Schunnker, Senior VP of Integrated Marketing at Coca-Cola explained the awesomely high number of virtual attendees: “It was unprecedented for us… we had planned for contingencies – if things blow up what do we do – so it went smoothly. In the end, with all the feeds coming in we couldn’t keep up with it. We did our best. We had a whole staff of people writing and responding to people, but it was just crazy by the end,” (as reported by Natalie Zmuda, Ad Age, 2012).
The Technical Feat:
The Polar Bowl ran on a delay that was at most seven seconds. Seven seconds! The computer “puppeteers” had a bank of hundreds of reactions, gestures, movements – and using those pre-created animations, they responded to the actual game-play, commercials, and halftime show in (near) real time.
Three months of practice went in to pulling off the event. Old game footage was studied, and the puppeteers practiced. As Super Sunday approached and some ads were posted online before the game itself, the Polar Bowl gained an edge.
The team of about 35 people split into three groups: those watching / studying the live Super Bowl game, those controlling the bears’ animation, and those tracking social media and replying.
Social Media Campaign Success:
The bears are funny and adorable in general. But keeping users hooked on the Polar Bowl probably had a lot to do with the insightful and relevant behavior of the bears. When Pepsi’s ad featuring “X Factor” winner Melanie Amaro and Elton John aired, the bears left the room. The brand-to-brand dis fueled a lot of social media posting. The penguins “planked” using Coke bottles, the bears placed paws over their hearts during a patriotic Chrysler ad, they snoozed during Doritos ads (an inside dig as Doritos are part of PepsiCo), and all the polar animals vogued with Madonna during the halftime show.
Before the game, Information Week reported (based on Coke’s own research) that at least 60% of Super Bowl viewers were expected to have a smart phone, tablet or computer within arm’s reach during the game. This phenomena described as “second screen” or “couch-and-TV-friendly” is not to be underestimated. Fans are multitasking while watching TV and the opportunity for simultaneous engagement is huge. Coca-Cola truly embraced the multi-media aspect of marketing to Super Sunday with the Polar Bowl.
Mr. Schunker remarked that, “the trick is to be everywhere consumers are.” Combining the real time activity of the game, Twitter feeds, and Facebook chatter was an integral part of the Polar Bowl’s success.
Not only was the speed and accuracy of the live stream remarkable – the level of humor was just clever. The Polar Bowl was contagious, and viewers that checked in just seemed to stay on the livestream far greater than the team assumed the average viewer would.
Possibly encouraging more participation: fans were able to interact with the bears on Twitter and Facebook by commenting, asking questions, and uploading their own related photos. Users were Tweeting photos of a computer screen open on the Polar Bowl held up next to a TV screen featuring the game. Fans could send Coke coupons to friends after the game using an app on Facebook. The multi-levels for interaction and marketing were very well thought out.
Mr. Schunker described the Polar Bowl in modest terms, saying, “we’re relieved and excited… it went very well.” An understatement, certainly.
The event burst through preconceived attendance figures, encouraged users to engage for a longer amount of time than was estimated, and wowed all those who watched as real time reactions were sophisticated, clever and funny. Social media interaction was sky high, as well as “fan” numbers. An unprecedented and brilliant multimedia branding campaign that fully addressed the power of the second screen was flawlessly executed. Yeah, I’d say it went very well too!
Aside from the livestream, Coca-Cola aired commercials during the game (ads during the televised broadcast) that were huge hits as well! Atlanta Business Chronicle reports that the three ad spots starring the polar bears earned “the brand winner for Super Bowl XLVI” title, based on ad effectiveness measurer Ace Metrix.
Coca-Cola worked with Wieden & Kennedy to create and produce the Polar Bowl, as well as the corresponding commercials. New York-based Framestore and Animal Logic, based in Sydney, Australia, helped develop the animations and digital technology.
To check out some of the Polar Bear commercials that aired during the game, click here.
Sphere: Related Content
Rss Feed
Pingback: SNOOWS