I have to admit, I'm a sucker for any spot that has a dog in it, especially a pug, but the guy in that Dorito's ad was really annoying. Most of the other consumer-generated ads that won were the same ole, same ole...people getting hit in the groin, the head, etc. The contest I feel is getting a little old, so I was glad to read in this USA Today article a comment by Rudy Wilson, marketing vice president at Frito-Lay, "The brands are "rethinking" the Crash the Super Bowl promo for the 2012 game in a way that will involve more social media." I certainly hope so, because I'd like to see it continue.

Other than posting ads on social media, the brands did very little to really engage people and integrate social media into their strategies. Yes, the Audi spot included a Twitter Hashtag at the end. However, if I hadn't written about it I would have probably missed it since it flashed so quickly and in small type on the screen at the end of the ad.

The interesting thing about Twitter though is that is was the leading media source for Super Bowl conversations. More than two-thirds of Super Bowl ad conversations (67.75%) were conducted via Twitter which equated to roughly 173,602 social mentions. Social networks (e.g., Facebook) only got 8.59% and blogs 4.61% of the conversation. Here's the graph created from Alterian's Social Engagement Index.

As far as the brands go:

• Volkswagen had the highest number of social conversations (10,342) and highest percentage of positive "Sentiment" (22.03%) and the lowest percentage of negative Sentiment (3.04%).
• Doritos ranked second, both in levels of mentions (9,898) and positive Sentiment (19.76%).
• Pepsi was third with 8,282 mentions, of which 17.68% were positive.
• Groupon, which ran an ad referencing the struggles of the Tibetan people, garnered the most negative Sentiment (12.96%) among the top 5 brands.
• Motorola rounded out the top 5 with 6,485 social mentions, of which 10.60% were positive.

Lastly I would like to quote Ian Schafer who wrote this post on Advertising Age regarding the lack of real social media integration in this year's "Social Super Bowl".

But none of them (the advertisers) will reap the benefit of actually building a meaningful connection.

Chrysler could have given the audience a social, charitable platform to help Detroit, a city in need.

Motorola could have identified individual early (?) adopters willing to "be different".

Coca-Cola could have actually helped some real people make some real people happy.

But alas, we were left with skits. And some commercials. Some commercials were skits. Some connected, but none of them built connections.

And that's a shame. Because at time like this, marketing needs to be about people. Not just crotch-kicks.

I agree totally with Ian and like his thinking. As I've said many times, social media is about the people, it's a conversation. And yes, while there were many conversations on Twitter recorded, were the brands listening? We'll see what they come up with next for Super Bowl XLVI. Tell us what you think. Do you agree with Ian and me or do you think they did a good job connecting with us? Thanks everyone for listening to me.