Beyond 30 Seconds – The Art of Multi-Screen

Beyond 30 Seconds – the Art of Multi-Screening

Imagine paying $3.8 million dollars for 30 seconds – that’s what an average Super Bowl commercial will cost you. And that’s the price you pay to reach 11 million people all at once. But no company wants you to see an advertisement and forget about it when the game comes back on. Through social media Multi-screening, one clever company has created an advertisement where the audience takes part from the very beginning until weeks after the advertisement has left our screens.

The Budweiser Clydesdales Commercial

The Budweiser Clydesdales, Budweiser’s mascot team since 1933, has a tradition of appearing in the infamous Super Bowl commercials. But in 2010 Budweiser, under new management at the time, decided to pull the Clydesdales commercial in favour of more human-based advertisements. The loyal Clydesdale fanbase retaliated on Facebook and a vote was called into action to decide if the Clydesdales were to don the small screen again.  The tension of the fourth quarter was made all the more excitable when Budweiser aired a Clydesdale based advertisement, pleasing anxious viewers and creating a social network flutter.  This year Budweiser decided to extend its marketing post-ad, asking its millions of viewers to get online for the chance to name the Clydesdale in what Forbes calls the “Top Tear Jerker of the Super Bowl 2013.”

The Multi-Screening Technique

This technique called ‘Multi-screening’ takes advantage of a viewers accessibility to numerous devices while watching television, calling viewers to get onto their deceives or ‘multiple screens’ to interact further with the product or company. The Clydesdale commercial was a fantastic example of this as weeks after the commercial aired, Budweiser has received over 60,000 tweets, Facebook comments and other messages generated through the social media effort. A thirty-second advertisement has suddenly lasted weeks longer.  Not to mention the lifelong bragging rights of all those who took part in naming one of the famous Budweiser Clydesdales.

Other Examples of Multi-screen Advertising

Of course, this is not the only example of advertising reaching beyond its usual 30-second slot.  Many of our favourite television programs such as Channel 9’s “The Block” or Channel 7’s “My Kitchen Rules” encourage us to download device applications such as ‘Jump in’ or ‘Fango.’ Not a bad idea when you consider that the average person owns approximately 3 handheld devices.  And according to YuMe research, it works. Viewers are more likely to notice or recall a campaign if it appears on more than one screen.  And although our major exposure to media comes from television (42%) internet is close behind with 16%. YuMe’s senior vice president of marketing, Ed Haslam, recently released a statement on the efficiency of Multi-screen marketing.

“Our annual industry-leading research into ad effectiveness helps brands and agencies make better sense of the rapidly evolving media opportunities they encounter… Consumer attention is fragmented across screens amid a dizzying array of content, and viewing habits differ by time of day. This year’s study takes these factors into account and finds that clutter-free ad environments give advertisers the greatest ROI, regardless of screen size. What’s more, connected TV-essentially TV ‘without the clutter’-yields strong viewer attentiveness, emotion and recall, and represents a prime opportunity for ad breakthrough.”

It’s not an easy walk in the park. FierceCable reported that approximately 40 per cent of tablet owners multitask whilst watching television. With this division of attention, neither form can effectively reach an audience. For the recall rate to increase, the advertisements need to be available on both devices and television.  But there is no doubting that the use of Multi-screen to reach an audience not only through television but social media is an effective and beneficial means.

And in case you’re interested, the foal was named ‘Hope.’

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References:

You can view the Budweiser Brotherhood video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2prAccclXs

YuMe Video Advertising Blog, “To reach distracted consumers, use multi-screen advertising.” YuMe Multi-Screen Advertising Network. N.p., 11 Dec. 2012. Web. 1 Mar. 2013.

The Associated Press, “Baby Clydesdale in Budweiser ad has name: Hope.” USA TODAY. N.p., 5 Feb. 2013. Web. 1 Mar. 2013. <http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/02/05/budweiser-clydes….

“Clydesdales to Appear in Super Bowl Ad After All” Deseret News, 5 Feb, 2010, Web.  1 Mar. 2013. <https://www.deseret.com/2010/2/5/20094558/clydesdales-to-appear-in-super-bowl-ad-after-all

Pictures:

The Associated Press, “Budweiser’s Clydesdale wins Ad Meter by a nose.” USA TODAY. N.p., 4 Feb. 2013. Web. 1 Mar. 2013. <http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/02/04/clydesdale-ad-wi….

“Multiscreen viewing .” webtrends.com. N.p., 5 Dec. 2012. Web. 1 Feb. 2013.