Who Are the Most Buzzed About Super Bowl Marketers?

Feb 26, 2010

The Super Bowl is one of the most watched events of the year, not only because of the football championship game, but also because of the commercials. Bigger, bolder ads are introduced each time, as brands look to win over consumers who are glued to their TVs on Super Bowl Sunday. This year's most talked about brands are Hyundai, Snickers, Budweiser and Bud Light, according to market research firm YouGov's BrandIndex report.

The Brandweek Buzz Report by YouGov is a weekly consumer perception report that analyzes the most talked about brands based on buzz: The scores are based on weighing positive and negative perceptions of a brand. A +100 score is positive, a -100 score is negative, and a rating of zero means that the score is neutral. This week's report also features scores based on impression, or a general positive feeling about a brand.

YouGov interviews 5,000 people each weekday from a representative U.S. population sample. Respondents are drawn from an online panel of 1.5 million individuals.

This week, the report spotlights:

• Hyundai
• Snickers
• Budweiser and Bud Light
• Bonus: Top Super Bowl brands among men vs. women

Hyundai Revs Up Super Bowl Marketing
Hyundai racked up a lot of Super Bowl time. The automaker sponsored the Hyundai Pre-Kick Show for the 2010 Super Bowl, ran two 30-second spots, put up two five second billboards, and created three pre-game ads. The timing seemed right to promote the Sonata as a “beautiful work of art” and its 10-year warranty, taking advantage of Toyota’s recall woes. As a result, consumer buzz has gone long and deep for Hyundai, sending it from a score of 42 at game time to its current 50.2.

Betty White Gives Snickers a Taste of Fame
The Snickers football ad has single-handedly put 88-year-old Betty White’s career back on the hot track, leading to a Facebook campaign to have her host “Saturday Night Live.” Just like “Golden Girls” reruns that never go out of style, White took the candy bar along for the ride, having lifted the brand’s impression score from 55.6 on Super Bowl Sunday to its present 61.6.

Cheers to Budweiser and Bud Light
The return of the Clydesdales pushed Budweiser’s buzz score with men off its top perch, letting sibling Bud Light jump ahead of it, with the sizzling irreverence of its “Auto Tune” and “House Made of Bud Light Cans” spots. However, more than two weeks after the Big Game, Budweiser has caught back up with its low calorie version. While both brands lead the rest of the beer sector, Budweiser's buzz score fell from 14.7 to 10.2 the first few days after the ad debuted. It has since regained ground with a score of 19.8. Bud Light notched a 16.1 right after the Super Bowl, stumbled slightly a couple of days later to 14.1, but then got its momentum right back; its score is 20.4 as of Tuesday.