Viva’s Blog: The Real Super Bowl Winner

Forget Madonna, Eli and Tom. Forget the ads. The big winner of the night was the avocado.

That’s right, the avocado.

Did you know that Americans were on pace to eat 71.4 million pounds of avocados on Super Bowl Sunday? How did I know that? It was cited this week in the Wall Street Journal, on ABC’s Good Morning America, on FOX News, on local CBS stations, and on plenty more media outlets.

Avocados received all of this coverage, from 3rd party sources, for next to nothing. The Haas Avocado Board brilliantly pitched facts and figures to news outlets across the country hoping they’d create a positive, trend-setting story about their beloved food. And, it worked. Days before the big game, consumers were exposed multiple times to creative stories about the most popular foods on the Super Bowl buffet, including avocado, the main ingredient in guacamole. So, when we did our pre-game shopping, what are we more likely to look for? Yep – avocados. How could you celebrate without them? What’s a Super Bowl party without the “guac”? Recalling the news coverage about the popularity of those ugly green ovals encouraged us to include them on our menu.

Contrast that to Doritos, Lexus, VW, GoDaddy, all of the other Super Bowl advertisers who paid roughly $3.5 million for one showing of a thirty-second spot. That’s right, advertisers forked over a total of roughly $245 million to brag about their brands.

The Avocado Board won because it smartly connected its product with its target audience in a timely, playful way. And, it’s a pretty good bet that it cost them a lot less than buying an ad during the game.

So, once again, it’s all about knowing your customer. Who are they? What’s important to them? And, how can you creatively reach them?

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