Who Is This Year’s Advertising Idol?

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jordin Sparks has stolen the hearts of America, but with American Idol receiving an audience of 50-60 million viewers weekly, advertisers feverishly competed week after week to capture America’s attention. As the show has become more interactive, featuring sweepstakes and heavy promotion of its web site (generating over 1 billion page views this season alone), how well did advertisers capitalize on this opportunity to leverage their television media spend? Who took advantage of “simultaneous consumption” (viewers using TV and the Internet at the same time) to capture new customers? Which advertisers performed well and who didn’t hit the high notes?

As the curtain fell on Season 6, SendTec (OTCBB:SNDN), a Search-Centricsm multi-channel marketing agency, evaluated American Idol advertisers on their integration of search engine marketing and television advertising - the votes are in… When advertisers spent mega-bucks on American Idol commercials or product placements, they should have been ready for consumers to turn to the search engines for more by having prominent positioning on any and all terms related to their spots. Some of America’s most recognized brands leveraged an integrated approach to media buying and others should have been booted before Sanjaya.

Who’s going home?

Coca-Cola’s MyCokeRewards.com campaign clearly attempted to integrate online and offline efforts, but was out of tune with their search engine marketing. As each week’s episodes faded to commercial breaks, a consistent message was dropped to viewers, “Get exclusive Idol gear at MyCokeRewards.com.” An Idol fan’s immediate instinct to go online to get Idol gear may very well end in frustration. A Google search for “Idol gear” failed to show any results for Coca-Cola.

Kohl’s delivered a trendy commercial featuring pop singer Fergie and her latest hit Glamorous. The spot advertised Candies shoes, exclusively available at Kohl’s. An immediate search for Candies shoes had no listing for Kohl’s. The next day, we did see ads, but they missed the opportunity to capitalize on the American Idol viewers that were online during the show. Either the Kohl’s search campaign had reached its daily budget cap or they did not start bidding on these keywords until too late…A day late and more than a dollar short.

The Ford campaign failed on all fronts. For starters, they delivered an offline campaign that compared the new Ford Edge to the BMW X5, leaving viewers perplexed by the comparison of the two seemingly incomparable vehicles. With several commercials throughout the season promoting different models and as a direct sponsor of American Idol, Ford had the opportunity to connect with viewers by repeating catch phrases to viewers like the ‘Mustang Pony Package’, ‘Visit FordChallenge.com’ and ‘Bold Moves’. Then they failed to deliver an ad online on any of these searches.

Both Nikon and Canon ran spots during the finals promoting digital cameras. Electronics are heavily searched online; the search term “digital camera” drives an estimated 6 million searches monthly. Both brands missed out on a huge opportunity to utilize search engine marketing to leverage their TV media spend. Neither company appeared in search results for “digital camera,” “Nikon D40” or “Canon Powershot.”

In addition to these, there are several other advertisers that should be sent home. Chase, for example, was promoting their free checking and direct deposit services. They didn’t include the website in the TV ad and didn’t display any ads for terms like “free checking” or “direct deposit” (even though their competitors did), worsening the likelihood that consumers will find them online. Old Navy made a splash with their 2 piece swimsuit commercial, but had no online presence in search results for “2 piece swimsuits,” “swimwear” or “bikinis.” Companies like Vizio, Gillette and Victoria’s Secret (a company largely supported by e-commerce distribution) made no mention of their website during their ad and did not execute a visible search engine marketing campaign – leaving audiences more lost than Sanjaya was on stage.

Who made it to the next round?

Heinz 57 gave the best performance of the night and demonstrated perfect integration of the offline and online initiatives. The TopThisTV.com campaign is fun, compelling, easy to remember and even easier to find online. Paid search ads reinforced the offline strategy and were at the top of the results on ketchup, catsup, top this and everything else we searched for.

The Kleenex Let It Out campaign kept viewers interested and with a clear call to action, compelled the audience to visit the website to share their stories. This is a perfect example of connecting with the audience and how viewers should be engaged by an offline campaign to participate online in a user generated content campaign. Kleenex also took their campaign one step further into search engine marketing, appearing as the first ad when consumers search for “Let It Out.”

Amidst a competitive landscape in the mobile phone service industry, Verizon Wireless clearly stood out. The commercial for V CAST Mobile TV was seamlessly integrated with the search engine marketing campaign. Ads were prevalent in the search results on key terms like “Verizon,” “V Cast” and “mobile TV.”

And last, but certainly not least, was the campaign executed by ONE.org. With Bono guest starring as the American Idol contestant’s mentor, this non-profit covered all bases. A search for “Idol Gives Back,” resulted with ONE.org at the top of results with an ad that capitalized on the publicity from the show – the copy read, “Watch Idol Give Back! Learn more about ONE.org.”

When asked to comment on the American Idol advertiser’s campaigns SendTec President Eric Obeck stated, “As advertisers become more sophisticated with offline and online integration, we will see more campaigns that are as well executed as Kleenex, Heinz and Verizon Wireless. Recognizing and understanding that we live in a search-centric world where consumers increasingly have an instinct to search, when they are interested in a product or service, is key to executing a comprehensive marketing campaign. Failing to do so is tantamount to an advertiser failing to fully leverage their offline media spend.”