17 Brands That Want Some Super Bowl Action No Matter What

Peter Claridge
February 1, 2015 • 6 min read
Updated on May 2, 2017
It seems like there is no limit to the range of industries that can capitalize on the Super Bowl. We already know that Victoria’s Secret has found great success advertising its lingerie days before Valentine’s Day, but now we have wine brands, feminine products, yogurts, even wifi routers elbowing its way in to the brand noise.
While many media outlets will focus on the content from the Budweisers, Pepsi’s, Oreos, GoDaddy’s and T-Mobile, here’s a list of smaller brands that are trying to inject themselves in to the conversation, with varying degrees of success.
Wine Brands
I’ll have to check with my American colleagues here, but I was under the distinct impression that Super Bowl = beer. Budweiser, Bud Lite, perhaps a few micro-brews, was all the Super Bowl party needed in terms of beverages. Yet it is wine brands that were making more noise than beer brands on Twitter. Each one of them convinced that people would be pairing their pizza or chicken wings with a merlot.
#SuperBowl pizza & wine pairing- our Sangiovese with your favorite pie! @foodandwine @ncwines @RelishMagazine pic.twitter.com/eKGrrlX3c1
— Childress Vineyards (@ChildressWines) January 29, 2015
#SuperBowl Sunday calls for snacks… and wine! Get our favorite #wine and snack pairings: http://t.co/naHhsxrwLr pic.twitter.com/fudxhTK0jP
— Wine Sisterhood (@winesisterhood) January 30, 2015
Try something different this #SuperBowl. #Recipe & #pairing now on the blog. http://t.co/sNR87BaRJu #food #wine pic.twitter.com/MeVFzGW156
— Bordeaux Wines (@BordeauxWines) January 29, 2015
However, with all the wine brands tweeting about the Super Bowl, there was only one true winner, and it came in the form of republished content. Last year, Jordan Winery put together their own version of Bad Lip Reading of the NFL. Riddled with wine and food references, it’s a great piece of branding for the company and something that’s easily shared by foodies and football fans alike.
Logitech
Contests always work well, and Logitech drove over 45 replies on this tweet that featured an advert – smart move, Logitech! What’s more, the engagement on the tweet far exceeded anything the brand has published in the last thirty days.
Make game day even better. Tell us who you’ll watch with in a reply for a chance to win. #SB49 #HarmonyGameDay https://t.co/74u6G1OKvz
— Logitech (@Logitech) January 22, 2015
Brownie Brittles
Oh yes, well played, Brownie Brittles, well played. I see what you did there. Unfortunately though, even this clever piece of content wasn’t enough to excite the community, generating just 2 retweets and 4 favorites.
Are flatter snacks easier to grip? #superbowl #browniebrittle pic.twitter.com/i1iUlUQZZW
— Brownie Brittle (@BrownieBrittle) January 29, 2015
Oikos Greek Yogurt
The official yogurt of the NFL encourages people to rethink their protein gameplan, and 50 people seem to agree, having retweeted or favorited the tweet.
Oikos Triple Zero – 15g of protein, 0 added sugar*, 0 artificial sweeteners, 0 fat. *not a low calorie food. #SB49 pic.twitter.com/PGPYDd9Nx3
— Oikos Greek Yogurt (@Oikos) January 29, 2015
Always
Looking to change attitudes, Always is running a campaign that plays off its popular #LikeAGirl that blew up the Internet in the summer of last year.
We’re taking our movement to #SB49! Share with us, what do you do #LikeAGirl? pic.twitter.com/aB3JPtJnBW
— Always (@Always) January 29, 2015
Marie Claire
Again, you must excuse my ignorance, I always thought that the football jersey of the team you favour (even if they were not playing) was de rigour for a Super Bowl party. Marie Claire points out that you can still look fabulous while celebrating a touchdown and a handy link is given to go and buy the apparel that’s featured.
5 chic-but-chill outfits you can still wear to a #SuperBowl party: http://t.co/4RylWOq3UR pic.twitter.com/EtVk7b8A0T
— Marie Claire (@marieclaire) January 30, 2015
PETA
Even non-profits get involved with the Super Bowl buzz. PETA lettuce ladies handing out vegan snacks in Phoenix caught the imagination as the organization rolled out its campaign to promote veganism during Sunday’s game. Multiple tweets with similar content were published, generating hundreds of retweets proving PETA certainly knows how to get Twitter talking about its campaign compared to some of the other brands in this list.
SPOTTED in #Seattle: Lettuce ladies handing out FREE #vegan wings 2 #Seahawks fans in prep 4 Sunday’s #SuperBowl! pic.twitter.com/zjUcVJR6uO
— PETA (@peta) January 29, 2015
Duracell
It would seem that brands are looking for any angle, however tenuous, to associate themselves with the Super Bowl. Duracell’s angle? The headphone and mic sets are powered by Duracell batteries. It would appear that people were quite impressed by this as the tweet received 49 retweets and 239 favorites.
When the title is on the line, NFL teams trust Duracell batteries. #SB49 #SuperBowl pic.twitter.com/e1bwVFVD1y
— Duracell (@Duracell) January 29, 2015
NetGear
Wondering what game day has to do with WiFi? The smart folks over at NetGear figured it out although it looks like their community of 17.7k followers weren’t too impressed as the tweet registered just 2 retweets.
Every #SuperBowl party needs #WiFi. Be sure your connection doesn’t fumble on game day with #NETGEAR. pic.twitter.com/Mcbp9UNUXX
— NETGEAR (@NETGEAR) January 29, 2015
Perhaps NetGear needs to focus more on it’s dangerous (and hence ultra-cool) looking routers which generate far more engagement for the brand.
Energy Star
Energy Star promises to have your back with its Super Bowl content strategy. Informative tweets explain how small changes can lead to big savings in electricity bills – and help the environment. It’s a shame that their 49.7k followers don’t seem to notice though, the tweets hardly got more than 10 retweets.
Streaming the big game on Sunday? Streaming through a game console uses 10x more energy than streaming through a laptop/tablet! #SuperBowl
— ENERGY STAR (@ENERGYSTAR) January 29, 2015
Zillow
Wondering what real estate has to do with the Super Bowl? Well you have to watch the game somewhere, right? Zillow has found the perfect property to watch the game in, and having spent 20 minutes of my time seeing the pictures, I can confirm without a doubt that Zillow has found the perfect house in which to watch the game. I counted four different bars. Unfortunately though, the community wasn’t as excited by the content as I was and the tweet only got 9 retweets and 17 favorites.
Found: The best home theater for the big game! (Don’t forget the buttered popcorn.) | http://t.co/icFc86LwGM #SB49 pic.twitter.com/dN76y5uhLu
— Zillow (@zillow) January 30, 2015
WebMD
The killjoys at WebMD want to remind us that game day food can pile on as much calories as you might eat in two days. They are so concerned that they’ve posted the same tweet multiple times, generating 38 retweets from other concerned citizens.
Popular game day foods can quickly pile on 2 days worth of calories. http://t.co/nMAn6KxBQr #SuperBowl pic.twitter.com/tous7w49iW
— WebMD (@WebMD) January 27, 2015
Pandora
The only jewelry brand to be leveraging the Super Bowl thanks to its tie up with the NFL. However, with just just 12 retweets and 29 favorites, Pandora didn’t truly excite their community with this tweet. Perhaps a better strategy would have been to have used a Twitter card to promote this offer and link to the NFL charms page on their website – and while they are at it, give the NFL charms a little more prominence on their site, it is the right time to leverage it, afterall!
There’s no such thing as luck in sports or fashion. Get ahead of the game with #PANDORANFLCharms #SB49 pic.twitter.com/4CDuG1FBdr
— PANDORA N. America (@PANDORA_NA) January 26, 2015
Skittles
And last, but not least, Skittles keeps it real with their weird and wonderful tweets. It makes no sense whatsoever, but that’s the beauty of Skittles content and this tweet is bang on brand message.
Who’s ready for Super Bowl XLIX this weekend? Oh, all of you, huh? Well, don’t be late for Skittles-eating practice tomorrow! #SB49
— Skittles (@Skittles) January 29, 2015
In nearly all the examples above, it’s clear that many brands seem to be tweeting and publishing content for the sake of publishing content. There doesn’t seem to be an effective way to tie the content back to business objectives. This is one of the dangers of trying to inject your brand into the conversation when it’s neither warranted or wanted. We can’t all have our Oreo moment which is why it pays to think twice and plan well in advance on how your brand will leverage live events such as the Super Bowl.
Follow along with all the brand tweets during the Super Bowl with Unmetric’s new Event Pulse.
Methodology
All examples were found using Event Pulse, a live stream of brand content published during big events like the Super Bowl.