MINNEAPOLIS -- The Super Bowl is still a few days away, but you may have already seen a commercial or two that will air during the big game.
That's not by accident. With a Super Bowl ad reportedly going for 3.5 million dollars this year, advertisers are looking to get more bang for their buck, so they're leaking ads early.
"If you can garner views both before, during and after, that $3.5 million price tag, all the sudden, isn't as expensive at it looks," says Eric Husband, with Minneapolis based advertising firm Colle + McVoy.
Husband says it's all about creating buzz, but the commercial of course, has to deliver. Comedy is usually what grabs viewers. Betty White's Snickers ad was number one on the USA Today Ad Meter in 2010. Bud Light and Doritos' funny ads tied for the top spot last year.
Not every commercial that is successful is funny, so how do advertisers know what will work? Well, we tell them.
"They can not only monitor the conversation to monitor how impactful their advertising might be, but they also have more data than they've ever had before to actually take some of those insights and apply them to marketing practices down the road," says Craig Pladson, also with Colle + McVoy.
Social media has become a huge part of measuring advertising success. We tweet what we like, we share YouTube clips of what we think worked and advertisers are taking note.
Last year's Volkswagen Darth Vader ad went on to get tens of millions of views online. That certainly made it well worth the money the company spent. Volkswagen is hoping that same force will be with them this year as they put out another Star Wars themed commercial, this one starring barking dogs.
Will it work? They'll know almost instantly as people interact on the internet as the game and commercials unfold.
Coca Cola is doing something new this year too. Not only are they hosting a Super Bowl watch party online with the famed polar bears, the company plans to edit its commercial during the game, and have the outcome be based on the score of the game. It's a Super Bowl first, and they're hoping that buzz will add up to more than the $3.5 million they'll shell out for the 30 seconds of time.
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