More on the Ad Bowl XLIII

When NBC's $3MM price tag for Super Bowl spots was first announced last winter, I posted some thoughts on why a spot in the big game was still a good value for some brands, especially when they used online tools like YouTube to maximize the exposure they got from their ads.  

With T-4 hours until the big game, I've already seen some big advertisers taking advantage of buzz on Twitter:

Sobe has been tweeting as Lee the Lizard since January 21st and is specifically promoting their 3D Super Bowl spot. Currently he has 454 followers.

The E-Trade baby has also been tweeting for a few weeks, mostly about Super Bowl hype.  E-Trade baby has 318 followers.

Both these brands are making sure they have a promotional presence on Twitter, which is great, but has definitely been done before.  Doing something totally new:  H&R Block.  

H&R Block was an early adopter of Twitter and has been tweeting for over a year.  They have over 1400 followers and using Twitter to give away copies of TaxCut Premium through the month of January.  But rather than use their existing branded H&R Block Twitter account to talk up their spot, the brand is taking a decidedly more creative route.

The premise of H&R Block's Super Bowl spot is that Death comes to his accountant, Murray, to complain that H&R Block's Second Look found mistakes that Murray had made.  Without giving too much away, I'll just say that the spot ends in a cliffhanger, so viewers will be interested to see the rest of the story.  Murray has been tweeting @TaxGuyMurray for the last few days, setting up his character.  When the spot airs, Murray's story will continue online for 38 days (the time period mentioned in the spot).

This idea is great because it extends the momentum surrounding the creative executions at the Super Bowl.  It's the first time I've seen a creative idea--not a long-term brand spokesperson or PR rep--live on through Twitter, where followers can interact with him and even influence the way the story unfolds.  H&R Block gets the way people want to use social media.  They don't want brands screaming about how great they are in their feed every day--they want value, whether it's in the form of promotion or entertainment.  I'm excited to see where this goes, and how all the brands on Twitter try to maximize their Super Bowl exposure.

Go follow Murray and see what happens...and look for his spot in the second quarter!