Like Twitter, Facebook's Super Bowl Game Plan to Include Ads Sold in Real Time New technology developed by Facebook will enable marketers to deploy content regarding events as they unfold.
By Geoff Weiss •
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This Super Bowl Sunday, Facebook is deploying an all-new marketing game plan that will enable companies to purchase ads in real time.
Whereas Facebook previously sold Super Bowl ads based on users' existing likes, profiles and demographic information, this marks the first time that the site will utilize new targeting features that customize audience clusters for advertisers as discussion about the game unfolds.
For instance, video ads triggered by the use of certain keywords (i.e Patriots, beer or uniforms) on Facebook could automatically start to play within users' news feeds, according to Reuters.
While the strategy represents a first for Facebook, Twitter's platform has been a trailblazer in real-time marketing for years. In 2013, for instance, when a power outage suspended play for half an hour, Oreo tweeted out a now-viral ad quipping, "Power out? No problem. You can still dunk in the dark."
Related: NFL Launches First Official YouTube Channel Days Before Super Bowl Kickoff
The ad was the result of a 15-person social media team Oreo had assembled prior to the game to instantly respond to newsworthy occurrences.
These kinds of "war rooms" have now become de rigeur, Reuters reports. Twitter is working directly with 13 advertisers, including PepsiCo and Anheuser Busch, to create "unplanned" ads, complete with lawyers on hand to approve the spots.
As NBC is charging a record $4.5 million for a 30-second commercial during this year's game -- which is expected to draw 100 million viewers -- marketers are increasingly considering ads created specifically for social-media outlets.
"There is a lot more fragmentation. TV is an important media; it's not as dominant," Toyota's director of traditional and emerging media, Dionne Colvin-Lovely, told Reuters. "We need to make sure we have a strong presence online and in mobile. It's more complicated now."
Related: During Super Bowl, the Real Action Will Be on Social Media (Infographic)
