The car brands and ad agencies that made the most viewed YouTube ads of yesterday’s big game have put seven new plays into the next edition of the Creator Playbook that other marketers and advertisers are likely to use again in the future.
There are no plays in the YouTube Creator Playbook for making the best Super Bowl ads. In fact, there are no important tips, best practices, or suggested strategies in the 73-page Creator Playbook about advertising on YouTube at all, let alone creating the top Super Bowl commercials of all time.
So, the car brands and ad agencies that made the most viewed YouTube ads of yesterday’s big game have put seven new plays into the next edition of the Creator Playbook. Since other marketers and advertisers are likely to use six of these plays again in the future, let’s make sure that the history of YouTube advertising records their original creators by name.
Yesterday’s most popular video was “Chevy Silverado ‘2012’ | Super Bowl XLVI Ads | Chevrolet Commercial.” In this 62-second long video ad, a man drives his Chevy Silverado through an apocalyptic world predicted by the Mayan calendar. Unfortunately, not everyone makes it to the meeting point. Uploaded on Feb. 2, 2012, this video had 3,556,386 views as of this morning.
Chevrolet must have figured that joking about an apocalyptic world to sell the most dependable and longest lasting full size truck on the road was a Hail Mary pass because the brand also used Promoted Videos to help customers discover “2012” by highlighting it at the top of relevant search results and next to related content on YouTube. From this day forward, let’s call using Promoted Videos to help your quirky video take off – both in video views on YouTube and sales – Chevrolet’s Hail Mary Pass.
Yesterday’s second most popular video was “Toyota Camry 2012 Big Game :60 Commercial – It’s Reinvented.” In this one-minute, one-second long video ad, Toyota reinvents more than the Camry in this extended version of the blockbuster commercial that started it all. Uploaded on Jan. 27, 2012, this video had 2,577,260 views as of this morning.
If you go to 2012 Toyota Camry, you will see that the commercial has been embedded in the website above the fold. It has also been embedded on businessinsider.com, worldcarfans.com, Yahoo, facebook.com, autoblog.com, sharethrough.com, and visiblemeasures.com. From this day forward, let’s call sharing your commercial with relevant blogs, sites and online communities Toyota USA’s Play-Action Pass.
One of yesterday’s most popular video was “Official 2012 Honda CR-V Game Day Commercial – ‘Matthew’s Day Off’ Extended Version.” To celebrate the launch of the all-new 2012 CR-V, Honda brought “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” back in a big game commercial. Uploaded on Jan. 30, 2012, this video had had 12,329,228 views as of this morning.
Honda’s agency, RPA, Santa Monica, CA, cast Matthew Broderick as himself, skipping out on a day of acting work and living it up in his all-new CR-V. It also hid over two dozen references to the classic movie throughout the 2-minute, 25-second long version of the commercial. And then RPA challenged true fans to see how many they could find and tweet about them using #dayoff. From this day forward, let’s call this best practice Honda’s Bootleg Play.
Yesterday’s fourth most popular video was “The Dog Strikes Back: 2012 Volkswagen Game Day Commercial.” In this one-minute, 16-second long video ad, the sporty, all-new 2012 Volkswagen Beetle inspires Bolt the dog to get in shape, and an intergalactic superstar makes a surprise appearance. Uploaded on Jan. 30, 2012, this extended version of VW’s 2012 Game Day commercial had 5,118,705 views as of this morning.
Volkswagen’s ad Agency, Deutsch, LA, created “The Bark Side: 2012 Volkswagen Game Day Commercial Teaser.” Its description said, “A canine chorus barks a familiar tune in our Game Day teaser. Watch our 2012 Game Day commercial—it will all make sense: Dog Strikes Back.” From this day forward, let’s call this suggested strategy Volkswagen’s Reverse.
Another one of yesterday’s most popular videos was “ ‘Transactions’ Extended Version – 2012 Acura NSX Big Game Ad #JerrysNSX.” In this one-minute, 52-second long video ad, Jerry Seinfeld is so excited about the new Acura NSX that he will stop at nothing to acquire the very first one. Uploaded on Jan. 30, 2012, this video had had 15,486,659 views as of this morning.
Acura’s agency, rp&, Los Angeles, asked viewers to check out the extended version of “Transactions” before the big game. This enabled rp& to use the Audience Retention report in YouTube Analytics to figure out which moments of the two-minute long video should be kept in the 60-second version that ran during the Super Bowl. From this day forward, let’s call identifying your “hot spots” in a longer YouTube video before editing them into a shorter TV commercial Acura’s two-minute drill.
Yesterday’s sixth most popular video was “Audi 2012 Game Day Commercial – Vampire Party.” In this one-minute, one-second long video ad, you can find out what happens when an Audi S7 shows up at a party full of vampires. Uploaded on Jan. 25, 2012, this video had 4,544,443 views as of this morning.
Audi of America’s agency, Venables Bell & Partners, San Francisco, used the Twitter hashtag, #SoLongVampires, as its call to action. An auto-shared tweet results in 6 new youtube.com sessions on average, and YouTube sees more than 500 tweets per minute containing a YouTube link. From this day forward, let’s call using Twitter to interact with your fans in a conversational way Audi of America’s Flea Flicker.
One of the video ads that wasn’t previewed before the big game was the “Chrysler Commercial – It’s Halftime in America.” It featured Clint Eastwood, who said, “It’s Halftime in America. And our second half is about to begin. All that matters now is looking ahead and finding a way forward.” Uploaded on Feb. 5, 2012, this video has only 513,498 views as of this afternoon.
During a critical time between last night and this morning, the video wasn’t available “due to a copyright claim by NFL Properties LLC.” However, that got corrected without requiring Chrysler to attend “YouTube Copyright School,” which involves watching a copyright tutorial and passing a quiz to show that you’ve paid attention and understood the content before uploading more content to YouTube. Nevertheless, from this day forward, let’s call failing to preview your video ad before the big game to ensure that your video doesn’t infringe someone else’s copyright Chrysler’s Intentional Grounding.
Oh, I guess I should mention that the New York Giants beat the New England Patriots, 21-17. Yes, believe it or not, they played some football in between some of the best Super Bowl ads ever.