While all the ad slots for the Super Bowl were sold out in October of last year — among the earliest in Super Bowl history --- little attention has been paid to the fact that some formidable advertisers have opted out of advertising in this year's game. 

In fact, The USA Today recently reported that at least seven advertisers from 2010's game aren't returning: Papa John's, Intel, Monster, Dr. Pepper, Denny's, Universal Orlando and KGB.

After digging deeper into why these companies decided not to advertise this year, I found Papa John's strategy to be quite interesting. 

As an NFL sponsor that has advertised in games all season long, the company is putting its buck elsewhere.  They're advertising two weeks prior to the big game across a variety of media and channels promoting a Super Bowl tie in: if the Super Bowl goes into its first –ever overtime, they will be giving a free large pizza to every American.

The catch: consumers must sign up for its online loyalty program before game day.  "We'd rather give away millions in free pizzas than spend millions on a spot," Says Andrew Varga, Papa John's marketing chief.

This a much different approach than Papa John's took last year when they did a significant amount of PR ahead of the game and then ran ads during the Super Bowl for a chance at a free pizza.  With this year's approach, they're leveraging the Super Bowl hype without spending the big advertising dollars  --- an approach I think is very smart, engaging and a great way to build buzz around a major event.

The goal is to push people to Papa John's website and register for their loyalty program --- a move that is all about creating a database of opt in consumers who will have higher brand engagement and equity.

This is an interesting strategy and shows the importance of the interconnectedness of loyalty, engagement, customer experience management, and communications/marketing in general. The approach also gives social media a more measureable/engage-able side to it. When you push consumers to sign up for the brand's online loyalty program, you are encouraging the growth of the community.

This whole process is a tight, concise marketing circle where each piece feeds the other and reinforces the brand (website, Facebook site, loyalty program).  I believe this is a great example of a COMPLETE marketing integration which is what the world (at least merchants) are looking for. This is not something that can be achieved by a Super Bowl ad in and of itself, no matter how evolved your current social media monitoring programs are.

About Loyalty 360

Connecting, educating, and guiding is what Loyalty 360 – The Loyalty Marketer's Association is all about. Committed to bringing loyalty to the forefront as a critical marketing strategy, Loyalty 360 is a trusted source for cutting-edge research, best practices, and networking opportunities. The association gives members the expert insights and guidance they need to better understand loyalty and develop programs that effectively engage their customers and employees and build stronger relationships with them.

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