While Twitter continues to struggle to bring in more ad dollars, amid various changes at the app, the Super Bowl provided a moment of hope, with the vast majority of Super Bowl advertisers also spending on Twitter ads to expand the reach of their promotions.
Twitter has long been the home of Super Bowl discussion, with the real-time nature of the platform complimenting live engagement, and according to Twitter, 2023 once again saw an increase in global tweets around the event.
Which will boost new Twitter owner Elon Musk’s hopes that he can still turn the app around, even with far fewer staff, and build it into a revenue-positive company, sometime soon.
Here were the most tweeted ads of the big event:
Bud Light’s creative use of on-hold music, starring Miles Teller, was a big hit, garnering thousands of interactions in the app.
Even when you’re stuck on hold, enjoyment is only a sip away. Right, @Miles_Teller & @keleighteller?
— Bud Light (@budlight) February 2, 2023
Easy to drink, #EasyToEnjoy pic.twitter.com/czxE7efhXl
Of course, it helps that Bud Light was also giving away $10k for every score to fans that tweeted using its campaign hashtags, but even so, the promo helped to gain big traction via tweet during the event.
Tubi also got a lot of people talking with its ‘glitch’ promo midway through the game.
Alright who else fell for it? ???? pic.twitter.com/cpzt2vqw5L
— Tubi (@Tubi) February 13, 2023
Twitter says that Tubi’s promo drove the most originally authored Tweets, and sparked much panic, and subsequent discussion, throughout the game.
Coming in third place was Pepsi’s big-budget promo, which prompted viewers to try Pepsi Max for themselves.
Wow! Does @BenStiller actually think #PepsiZeroSugar is like…really good? Or was he just acting? ????
— Pepsi (@pepsi) February 12, 2023
Tweet your answer below to find out how you can score a Pepsi Zero Sugar and taste it for yourself. #RealOrActing
Twitter says that the campaign drove the second-most original tweets of the game, while the re-emergence of Derek Zoolander also helped to drive more internet interest in the spot.
In some ways, The Super Bowl was also a re-emergence of Twitter itself, amid various proclamations of its demise in the wake of Elon Musk’s takeover at the app. The Super Bowl once again showed that Twitter is a key platform for connection, and can be a great partner for ad campaigns, helping to boost engagement and awareness.
In addition to this, Twitter also says that many campaigns utilized newer Twitter ad features, like Shopping elements, to boost their performance.
- Fanatics created a special Super Bowl shopping tab featured on the game’s livestream event page, where fans could browse and buy team gear and championship merchandise.
- On the halftime show livestream, Fanatics featured exclusive Fenty x NFL apparel, capitalizing on the excitement of Rihanna’s halftime spectacular and much noticed product placement.
- ULTRA leveraged a shopping carousel on their account where fans could buy items direct from their #UltraClub TV spot.
These types of newer activations could point to future opportunities for the app, and if it can also incorporate payments, another key aspect of Elon Musk’s ‘Twitter 2.0’ push, these types of integrations could become even more commonplace, and a bigger consideration for more brands.
Either way, it was a big showcase for Twitter, and a significant milestone for Musk and Co.
It’ll be worth keeping tabs on how the platform looks to shift focus in the wake of the Super Bowl push.
You can read Twitter’s full Super Bowl ads recap here.