Esurance found one way to get fans tweeting about their company — just offer them the chance to win $1.5 million.
Rather than spend the big bucks on an advertisement during the game itself, Esurance opted for the first commercial slot after the game ended (AdWeek). Allegedly, that saved the company $1.5 million — savings the brand is eager to “pass on to its customers.”
Here’s how it works: after watching the commercial, viewers had 36 hours to tweet #EsuranceSave30. One of those tweeters will win $1.5 million; the winner will be announced tonight (Wednesday, Feb 5th) on Jimmy Kimmel Live!
[Note: If you’re thinking about a last minute tweet, it’s already too late: the sweepstakes opened at 1pm PT on Feb 2nd, and closed 1am PT on Feb 4th.]
You still have a chance to take home these dollar dollar bills y’all. To enter tweet #EsuranceSave30. Ends 1am PT. pic.twitter.com/BP2zVGjKvT
— Esurance (@esurance) February 4, 2014
It’s simple and straight-forward; viewers tweet for a chance to win the prize money, and the brand shares its messaging around ‘passing on the savings’ to its consumers. This year brands were big on using hashtags to encourage viewers to engage on social media; 58% of advertisements during the Super Bowl included a hashtag.
Watch the commercial here:
What do you think of this ad strategy? A more suspenseful Super Bowl game certainly would have led to more viewers for the Esurance spot, but even with a smaller audience, we’re guessing that the chance to become a millionaire overnight is more than enough to convince consumers to tweet the hashtag. Did you?
