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Hundreds of brands anxiously await the kick off for today’s Super Bowl, their war rooms buzzing with caffeinated beverages and momentum-building wit.

Organizations of all types are ready to seize their piece of Warhol-like fame. They just need to be clever at the precise moment, riffing off a happenstance during the game.

As shared in earlier posts, I don’t think real-time marketing quite captures this type of effort. Instead, I prefer the term “improv marketing” to describe what we’re about to see fly across the Twitterverse.

Earlier, I took a shot at predicting how some of these improv tweets might play out during the game. Even with fictional what-if scenarios, this is tough duty. Improv marketing that scores like Oreo last year calls for nimbleness, wit and guts.

Still, the vast majority of these tweets have no chance for lift off.

Because they haven’t got the memo that “selling” doesn’t work on this playing field.

Raking through the tweets from brands leading up to the Super Bowl, I found a few that at least strive for the clever quadrant:

  • Surface (Microsoft)

Microsoft has the right idea. Forget the tablet market. Forget technology. Let’s see if we can insert our voice into Super Bowl conversation with some fun.

tweets at the super bowl

  • Delta Air Lines

For my money, the best of the pre-game tweets. There’s beauty in the simplicity. Plus, you can never go wrong channeling Billy Joel.

tweets at super bowl

  • Macy’s

Before you diss this effort, let’s remember that a bad pun trumps selling.

tweets at super bowl

  • Red Bull

The king of “every company is a media company” shows off its visual storytelling with a concept similar to Delta.

red bull tweets at super bowl

The real creative chops will come to the fore after kick off.

Let the improv marketing begin!


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