For the past five years, Greek yogurt brand Oikos has advertised around the Super Bowl, rather than during it. This year, Danone is extending Oikos' big game strategy to other brands known for their plant-based products, such as Silk and SToK Cold Brew.
Linda Beshear, Danone North America's head of marketing, said the food and beverage company is using the strategy, which includes digital purchasing, in-store displays, sweepstakes and other tactics focused on the big game, to “prepare for the Super Bowl.” The hack was successful.” According to the company, this is a strategy that at one point nearly doubled brand sales. And this year, Danone is doubling its marketing spend to extend its Super Bowl hacking strategy to other brands.
“We intentionally decided to make the big game a digital-first purchase. Buying plant-based beverages and consuming content via streaming services are becoming increasingly popular with Millennials and Gen Z. “We've found that it's much more prevalent among younger generations,” said Surbhi Martin, senior vice president at the company. Danone North America's plant-based beverages. (Mr. Martin declined to provide specific spending figures.)
A ticket to this year's Super Bowl will cost $7 million in 30 seconds. Rather than spending money on one-time ads, Beshear said Danone is directing its ad dollars to reach viewers through social media streaming on Second Screen and CBS platforms such as Paramount+. That's what it means.
“Streaming is obviously a much cheaper purchase,” he said, declining to provide specific ad spend figures. “So we can do more with the same amount of money, because, again, we can direct some of that money to other channels to drive full-screen-to-shelf integration. .”
From January to November last year, Danone spent more than $22 million on Oikos, Silk and SToK media. This number is slightly down from the more than $28 million he spent during the same period in 2022, including paid social data from Pathmatics, according to Vivvix. Danone spent a total of nearly $29 million on media across the three brands in 2022.
Beyond the brand's celebrity-filled streaming spot, Oikos will roll out a full social campaign that will be active on paid media and Oikos' brand handles. Danone will adopt a similar strategy for Cirque, running a full campaign across all media channels, including digital and social. Finally, Bethea says the StoK Coffee brand is a social-driven brand, targeting younger audiences with an active approach through social media.
Hacking the so-called big shots is not a new marketing tactic. Brands have long advertised adjacent to the Super Bowl in paid digital or purchased by local broadcast media, rather than in expensive 30-second broadcast spots.
“Many brands have traditionally purchased products 'before' or 'around' big events like the Super Bowl. Monday morning newscasts, pregame content, postgame content, and more,” Jennifer Cole, chief media officer at VML Agency, said in an email. “The average marketer doesn't have $7 million in a 30-second unit. That's right, more brands are releasing Super Bowl content via social, search, streaming, highlights, etc.” They will look for ways to hack it. ”
That strategy has become increasingly important for Danone as cord cutters fuel a surge in streaming and streaming platforms roll out ad-supported services, company executives said.
“The approach we take from a media perspective is to buy media on the major game streaming platforms rather than a linear purchase,” Bethea said. “All [our campaigns] They are once again trying to reach younger consumers who are consuming the big game through streaming platforms. ”
Recently, Danone has been reinvesting in its brands through a new strategy called 'Renew Danone'. This led to a year of reinvestment on the media side, which grew by 20% last year, Catherine Lautier, Danone's global head of media and brand communications, told Digiday. It's unclear exactly what these spending amounts are and how much is being spent on streaming ads. (Read the full interview with Mr. Lauthier here.)
Notably, this year's Super Bowl broadcast will be broadcast on CBS, streamed live on Paramount+, and broadcast on Nickelodeon, according to the National Football League. This will be the first time it will be broadcast on television. Between the aforementioned changes, the rise in streaming viewership, and the consumption of short-form videos on TikTok, this year's big game is becoming a bit more fragmented, giving advertisers more places to appear at the top of the event.
“The Agile approach is hands down the most effective one we've seen over the past few years. It takes a real-world event that everyone is talking about and does something to move the conversation in your direction. “The ability to create new ideas quickly,” Sam Kendrick, senior director of social marketing at marketing agency Crispin Porter & Bogusky, said in an email. I dunked it in the dark. ”
