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[jamierussell]

Super Bowl XLVIII - Breakdown of Interactive Links in Super Bowl Commercials

Each year I like to break down the strategies advertisers choose to use to bridge their audience from the TV to their web site, social media channel, or online conversation.

I did think that last year's 2013 Super Bowl with all its power outage drama would be hard to beat.  In the end I was right, this year was much more tame than last year's Super Bowl saga.

Below are some observations I took away from this year's Super Bowl advertising frenzy. 

Also see my past two Super Bowl breakdowns: 2013 Super Bowl Breakdown and 2012 Super Bowl Breakdown

26+ commercials displayed twitter hashtags (ex. #NoContract) 14+ commercials displayed domain names (ex. BeatsMusic.com/ATT) 2+ commercials displayed social media links icons 2 Shazam badges (ex. Bud Lite & Jaguar) 1+ commercial displayed no links, hashtags, or social icons 1+ commercials displayed twitter account URLs 0 commercials displayed QR code on the screen (none since 2012) * My numbers may not be precise, I could have missed a ad or two.

I couldn't go through all this analysis and not at least put together my top 5 favorite commercials. So here goes.

Audi - The "Doverwawa" had me laughing five commercials after this Audi commercial was over. 

VW - Thought the idea of every 100k miles a VW turns over, and engineer in Germany gets their wings was funny and could live on for a while in VW lore.

TurboTax - I just loved the "Love Hurts" commercial. I thought they really took a otherwise boring brand and brought some life to it.

CarMax - The "Slow Clap" spot had me at Rudy. 

Ford Fusion - Had to respect the two spot approach and how the second spot with James Franco was twice as "awesome" as the first. 

Fun Fact: Steve Jobs is the father of the Super Bowl commercial.  He only ran his epic Apple commercial once and it was during the Super Bowl in 1984. 

Below is a full list of URLs and Hashtags used in this years Super Bowl ads. Custom URLs BeatsMusic.com/ATT Hyundia.com (w/ Social Icons) NFL.com/now Chevy.com/PurpleRoads MuppetsByGwen.com (godaddy.com) WeatherTech.com ShopHM.om ContourNuts.com Toyota.com/Highlander Subway.com (w/ Social Icons) Jeep.com/Cherokee Kia.com/k900 BritishVillians.com T-mobile.com/BreakUp Hashtag Examples #NearlyDouble (Ford fusion) #Doritos #SilveradoStrong #NFSmovie #UpForWhatever #Connect4Red #VW #NoContract (T-Mobile's ads featuring Tim Tebow) #BechamForHM #SlowClap/#SlowBark #AmericaIsBeautiful #Sonos #Brooklyn99 #StayUncompromised #HowMatters #Framly #IfYoureHappy #Hugfest #SaluteAHero (Budweiser) #AmericasImport #Empowering #GoodToBeBad (Jaguar) #JackIsBack (24) #BestBuds (Budweiser) #ItsGoTime (GoDaddy.con) #EsuranceSave30

[jamierussell]

Twitter ProTip: Simple Account Switching

A long while ago I shared some twitter "Easter eggs" I found out about at one of my trips to South by Southwest. For those not sure what I mean by Easter egg in media go here. This specific Easter egg allowed you to easily switch between accounts from anywhere between the app, it also helps you get to your Direct Messages quicker.

See the now out-of-date original posts here: "Awesome Twitter Gestures"

For those of us that switch between Twitter accounts frequently it was a convenient find. However, Twitter recently launched a new update (6.0+) where your Direct Messages are located in the footer. That update took away these features... kinda.

Recently I found that while on your profile page you can pull down your avatar area towards the bottom of the screen (see above left screenshot) and the account selection screen comes up. I also noticed that on the account selection screen the most recent account used is on the top and they stack from there.

Admittedly, this does not save several taps like the first Easter egg did but at least I know Twitter did not take all their secret away, they just added different ones.

Does anyone else know any Twitter navigational Eeaster eggs I need to know about? How about any cool easter Eggs in any mobile apps I should know about?

[jamierussell]

Ever Heard of WestJet? Well You Have Now!

The below video was posted by WestJet on 12/8 (four days ago) and immediately went viral. An amazingly clever idea to give all the passengers of one of their flights with a granted Christmas wish. This is a great example of a idea that cut through the clutter quickly during the busy Christmas season. Moreover, I bet they paid little to nothing for media placement only to get 12 million YouTube views in a matter of days. 

So my final question is this.  Had you ever heard about WestJet before this video? Do you know who they are now?