What we Learnt from Superbowl Marketing for Your Restaurant

Superbowl has become the biggest day of the year for advertisers, who this year spent a reported cost of at least $6.5m per 30-second airtime slot. So, what have you learnt from Superbowl marketing for your restaurant?

For me, four things caught my attention. These are:

  1. Coinbase as the famous ad.

  2. How restaurants can use QR codes like coinbase ad.

  3. How local influencers can bring in more orders.

  4. How messaging can driver conversions

We shall take you through these four lessons to help you understand how you can revamp your restaurant marketing to drive more sales.

1. Coinbase as the Famous Ad


This year's Superbowl ads had one clear winner— Coinbase, which is a cryptocurrency exchange. It was the most famous ad with a QR code that changed color as it bounced around the screen for 30 seconds. Why famous?

Most of the buzz around the ad is about how simple it was and for me it was, unique, trackable and different.

This is how it works; when you scanned the code, it took you to a promotional page that promised you $15 of Bitcoin for creating an account. When scanned, the code brought viewers to Coinbase’s promotional website, offering a limited time promotion of $15 worth of free Bitcoin to new sign ups, along with a $3 million giveaway that customers can enter.

This created sense of urgency created by the idea that the QR code could disappear at any moment prompting many viewers to scan it with their phones which intensified the ad's effectiveness.

The image shows what happens when you scan the code.

So, how many did convert?

Super Bowl ad was probably the least expensive to produce, with a tentative production value of Ad being $0 (just an assumption). Coinbase spent $13 million ad placement for a QR code to bounce around for 60 seconds during the Super Bowl halftime which worked.

Coinbase has revealed that its Super Bowl advert delivered over 20M hits on their landing page in just a single minute, with a viewership of 117 million (36 million households tuned in) far more than its engineering teams had anticipated. The app went from 186th in the app store before the game to 2nd overnight.

2. How Restaurants can Use QR Codes Like Coinbase Ad

Restaurants already taught me the simplicity of a QR codes directing us to a menu. But, you don't have to spend millions on a Super Bowl ad to launch a success QR campaign that drives leads. All you need is a mobile-optimized website and a QR code.

There are a variety of ways you can use QR codes for your business. Here are some great ideas you can use below.

Websites: Add a QR code to the 'Contact Us' page on your website so visitors can download your contact information to their smartphones.

Business Cards: Add a QR code to the front or back of your business card so people can instantly download your contact information.

LinkedIn and Facebook Pages: Want another way to stand out from everyone else? Add a QR code to your LinkedIn and Facebook pages to pull people into your website. It’s one of the best ways you can position yourself as a forward, innovative thinker.

Dial a Phone Number: Want to encourage people to dial your number so they can order your product? Then give them a QR code to scan. If it’s set up properly, it will instantly dial your number on their phone and connect them with your sales center.

In-Store Posters With Coupons: Want to provide instant coupons to people while they're shopping? Then add a QR code that drives them through to a special discount that can be scanned at the register.

Webinars: Ready to make your webinars more engaging and fun? Then simply include a QR code as part of your presentation. It’s a terrific way to keep the audience engaged and involved.

On the other hand, for millions of people, this ad will stick around when they think about Coinbase. It was a clever ad designed to evoke memories of the old bouncing DVD screensaver from 20 years ago.

3. How local influencers can bring in more orders

Local influencers also play a big role in marketing to ensure more orders. Every year, corporations compete for your attention by recruiting famous faces to sell their products at Super Bowl, with multiple 30-second ad spots.

Let's take an example of Nissan Super Bowl commercial-Eugene Levy has been a comedy icon for decades, and in Nissan's Super Bowl entry, he makes his unofficial transition into action star. After getting a pair of keys from Captain Marvel herself, Brie Larson, he zooms off in a sick yellow ride and runs into his Schitt's Creek co-star Catherine O'Hara on the road. After running into even more celebs—action stars Dave Bautista and Danai Gurira—he becomes a leather-jacket-wearing, gravity-defying blockbuster leading man. Car commercials are ultimately all pretty similar, so we'll take Levy in luscious locks, driving on top of buildings any day of the week.

Even without a million-dollar ad budget, you can get a local influencer to market your restaurant by creating scale-able affordable video content that really draws your customers and guests in.

4. How messaging can driver conversions

As a marketers you must start looking for fresh ways to drive memorable, meaningful consumer engagement and what better way other than messaging. As much as Uber is no longer strictly a ride share company, the 30-second Super Bowl ad running in the game’s second quarter declares that its Uber Eats delivery service now brings users more than meals. By its own metrics, nearly 3 million customers order something other than food each month through Uber Eats.

Marketers can creatively prioritize messaging content based on the types that will delight the most. For instance, marketers can react in real-time to advertisements with mobile coupons to entice consumers based on demographics, interest, and time of day. This approach encourages consumers to delightfully engage back with the brand - and in turn, deepens overall brand relationships.

The future of messaging is here, and it is ready to revolutionize consumers’ level of engagement, interest, and more importantly, conversion.

To Wrap Up

Effective marketing does not necessarily need to promote the product or service explicitly. At times, focusing on a memorable and empowering story (QR code-Coinbase) can entertain audiences and drive impact.

If you are inspired by these marketing ideas by JoyUp, and maybe you need help building a newly budgeted marketing click below to learn more.

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