Mars is bucking the trend (begun by Tom Biro and myself, in case you need a history lesson) of releasing all or part of its Super Bowl ad for M&Ms online before the game. They’re counting on the spot being a surprise and “delight” to the audience and don’t want to ruin said surprise.
This despite a recent study that showed 75% of the most shared ads from last year’s game had been released to online audiences before the broadcast. But, as this story points out, putting out the whole spot (back in the day Biro and I just released 8-12 second teasers) putting the whole thing out ahead of time ruins the sense of surprise and carries with it the very real risk of turning the spot into just another TV commercial, quickly forgotten as it blends into the rest of the white noise. This teaser strategy is also being adopted, or at least considered, by other companies who will be advertising during the game.
Also on the Super Bowl front, there are lots of companies who have come up with interesting (or silly) ways to integrate social media into their advertising strategy for the big game. And Hulu has launched their AdZone for the 2013 game, acting as a hub for all the spots shortly after they air on TV.
