1. ▶ Case Study Advertising Branding Media Relations
PR and Marketing Work as One to Earn Media, Fan and
Online Buzz Around Century 21’s Super Bowl XLVII Ad Spots
Faster” tagline.
Image courtesy of Mullen
Company: Century 21 Real Estate
The move was a huge win
Agency: Mullen for Century 21, says CMO Bev
Timeframe: Nov. 2012 - Present Thorne. “We did it as a brand
play, not a feet-on-the-street
As an engagement vehicle, lead generation campaign,”
there’s nothing quite like the she says. With the goal of
Super Bowl. This year’s hap- attracting traffic to its website
pening, Super Bowl XLVII, (CENTURY21.com), the com-
drew a massive TV audi- pany, with help from its agency
ence—108.4 million total of record, Mullen, saw a 40%
viewers, making it the third increase in site traffic in 2012
most watched TV program while the industry average
ever (behind the 2010 and 2011 traffic increase to real estate
Century 21’s Super Bowl broadcast ad, shown during the third quarter
Super Bowls). Of those mil- sites was 4%, according to com-
of the game, depicts a new bride calling for a Century 21 agent after the
lions of people, many tune in Score. groom faints at the altar.
to watch their favorite teams In addition, buzz and con-
battle for supremacy, but others versations led to a 21% uptick THE CREATIVE public relations. “PR was every-
make a sport out of watching in leads, and those leads led to The thrust of Century 21’s thing,” Thorne says. “We didn’t
the commercials. a bottom-line jump, according 2013 campaign would revolve have luxury of a huge budget,
In 2012, real estate fran- to Thorne, who adds that these around its most important so earned media was truly our
chisor Century 21 decided to results can’t be all attributed to stakeholder: the agent. There greatest leverage.” It’s likely the
make the leap into the Super the Super-Bowl presence. would be four commercials, company spent much of its
Bowl. But it was enough of an three presented during pre- budget on the ad buy, estimated
The company debuted a indicator to return to the Super game festivities, and one in the to average about $3.8 million
commercial featuring real estate Bowl stage in 2013. third quarter of the game. per Super-Bowl spot.
mogul and TV personality This time, though, the The spots revolve around
Donald Trump, football star theme of the advertising would the agent’s ability to help CAMPAIGN LAUNCH
Deion Sanders and Olympian be much different—and the ads people who are facing big life The combined PR/marketing
Apolo Ohno playing up the wouldn’t be driven by celebri- moments: having a baby, seeing effort was launched in three
company’s “Smarter. Bolder. ties. that baby grow up, winning the waves, says Angela Giovanello,
lottery and getting married. VP at Mullen. The first wave
The tagline would be the same was the announcement that
5 Practical Rules for as in 2012: “Smarter. Bolder. Century 21 would be pre-
Super Bowl Tweets Faster.” miering ads at the Super Bowl.
Created by ad agency Red The second wave would
Conversing with a big brand’s Twitter followers during
the world’s most viewed TV event is a Herculean task.
Tettemer + Partners the wed- involve the communications
But Molly Galler, senior community manager at Mullen, Molly Galler ding commercial, which aired around a Super Bowl-themed
was up to the task. During this year’s Super Bowl XLVII, during the game, features a survey, and the third would
Galler took the Twitter reins on behalf of client Century 21. From groom getting cold feet, until a be the premiere of the ads the
that experience, here are some tips and observations from Galler: Century 21 agent rescues him Monday before Super Bowl
from the prospect of living with Sunday.
• Keep three tabs open—one for your corporate profile page, one
for all your @ replies and one to search key terms like “Century
the bride’s parents.
21” or “Super Bowl.” “Our main objective this WAVE 1: KICKOFF
Super Bowl was to put our The official announcement
• If you know you want to give shout-out to other brands—congrat-
agents front and center,” that Century 21 was all in for
ulating them on their ads or razzing them—look up their verified
Twitter handles in advance.
Thorne says, adding that the Super Bowl XLVII was made in
branding work begins from November 2012 at the National
• Realize that not every Twitter user is going to love your Super within. “We wanted them to Association of Realtors confer-
Bowl ad. It hurts, but you didn’t love all of the ads yourself, did feel great pride in what they did ence. Media outreach around
you?
as agents.” the news yielded hits in
• Show some personality. No one wants to converse with a robot. A more granular goal was advertising/marketing media,
• Use a hashtag that is branded and easy for consumers to to drive the public to Century including mentions from
remember. We chose #C21SuperBowl. 21’s website. And key to that advertising columnist Stuart
outreach, Thorne says, was Elliott of The New York Times
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2. and marketing writer Bruce WAVE 3: THE UNVEILING Google+, Twitter, YouTube and will also be in the mix. What is
Horovitz of USA Today. For Super Bowl brand com- LinkedIn. known so far is media impres-
“Reporters want to know municators, to preview or not sions: some 700 million and
about the media buy and what preview is the big question. GAMEDAY counting.
quarter the ad will run in To build the suspense, some When Super Bowl Sunday Could Mullen and Century
during the game,” Giovanello brands prefer not to reveal their rolled around, it was time to 21 have done anything more to
says. ads until the Super Bowl. watch the game and monitor increase the buzz around the
However, Century 21 social media activity on Twitter. ad spots? Gentile says perhaps
WAVE 2: THE SURVEY decided to show its creative Molly Galler, Mullen’s senior more video content leading up
With no celebrities to pitch for the Monday before the game. community manager, held the to the game might have moved
the 2013 spot, Century 21 and “Strategically it made the most reins on Twitter, answering the needle further. Thorne says
Mullen looked for a unique sense,” says Matt Gentile, questions about the commer- more time and more research
angle to build engagement director of PR and social, cials, advising followers when might have yielded better
leading up to the ad launch. Century 21. “I think more the spot would appear and results, but neither one of them
The teams considered doing views is better. The discussion responding to the third-quarter has any regrets.
some sort of sweepstakes pro- surrounding the commercials Superdome power outage with: Gentile stressed that, for
motion. is such an opportunity to drive “Is there a Century 21 agent in him, PR around the Super Bowl
But they ended up going in publicity that it made the most the house?” a line that is used was his Super Bowl. “There is
a different direction. “Without sense.” in all of the company’s creative. no greater campaign to work
a huge promotional budget, After revealing the ads, on,” he says. “Having worked
we got down and dirty with a Gentile and his team of three POSTGAME in this field for 20 years, you’d
traditional consumer survey,” went to work, starting with an Two days after the game, results better have your seatbelt on—
Giovanello says. interactive release that was dis- were still being tabulated, using there’s no greater spotlight.” PRN
The survey, conducted tributed on MarketWire. Cision and Radian6 measure-
online by Harris Interactive, Media outreach that ment platforms, among others.
was fielded Dec. 11-13, 2012. week covered a wide swath, Thorne says the company will CONTACT:
The nearly 3,000 respondents including real estate trades, look closely at website traffic, Bev Thorne, @BevThorne;
weighed in about their game- sports media, advertising, mar- which is important because Angela Giovanello,
watching and party plans for keting and franchise trades and 94% of potential home buyers @agiovanello; Matt Gentile,
the upcoming Super Bowl. online media properties like go online in their search. @MattGentile; Molly Galler,
The results, released on Huffington Post and Mashable. Engagement, share of voice @mollygaller.
Jan. 22, after the San Francisco By Wednesday, Gentile and lead-generation metrics
49ers and Baltimore Ravens made a move toward sports
earned respective births in
the big game, were just what
radio. “It may sound odd, but
sports radio stations have web-
Super Bowl Survey a “Home” Run
Century 21 was looking sites, and we had experienced
for: Nearly nine in 10 (88%) good pickup of the survey from
Americans who planned to them,” he says. “It was certainly
watch the big game agreed that a different target for us.”
home is the best place to catch Also considered were TV
the action. outlets like “Good Morning
The response to the survey America.” But Gentile says that
findings was enthusiastic. because the networks seemed
“Mashable had us recreate it to be covering controversies
just for them with questions on surrounding some of the
social media,” Giovanello says. ads—including the Jamaican-
A host of lifestyle and sports accented Volkwagon spot and
outlets also covered the find- the often-edgy GoDaddy ads—
ings. Century 21 shied away from
Perhaps the biggest hit was making a pitch.
the famed USA Today Snapshot Heading into Friday and
infographic that appears on Saturday, the team was still
page one of the daily. “Many pushing the survey results and
communicators still consider it the opportunity for the public
the Holy Grail of media hits,” to vote for their favorite (and
Giovanello says. least favorite) commercials
As Wave 2 progressed, through USA Today’s Admeter A Century 21 pre-Super Bowl survey fielded by Harris Interactive
Facebook and Twitter were and YouTube’s Ad Blitz. Voting proved to be a compelling and cost-effective tactic to engage the
used to release small bites of was encouraged through media and fans.
the findings. Century 21’s social platforms— Source: Mullen
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