Twitter's First #BrandBowl

February 5, 2018

Twitter is well-known as the go-to social media platform for live tweets and reactions. It should come as no surprise that Twitter is the place to be heard during the largest sporting event of the year, the big game.  This year Twitter launched #BrandBowl to engage brands even further and cash in on the big game. The first ever #BrandBowl is Twitter’s official competition to honor the best-in-class campaigns as played out on Twitter.  

Image from Blog.Twitter.com. Displays 2018 Twitter Brand Bowl Winners

Brands had to enroll in the ‘Twitter #BrandBowl’ competition to qualify for the subscription event and the prizes. Once enrolled, the brand’s Twitter activity is monitored by Twitter’s Semantic Core team for the duration of the big game.

Twitter is well-known as the go-to social media platform for live tweets and reactions. It should come as no surprise that Twitter is the place to be heard during the largest sporting event of the year, the big game.  This year Twitter launched #BrandBowl to engage brands even further and cash in on the big game. The first ever #BrandBowl is Twitter’s official competition to honor the best-in-class campaigns as played out on Twitter.  Brands had to enroll in the ‘Twitter #BrandBowl’ competition to qualify for the subscription event and the prizes. Once enrolled, the brand’s Twitter activity is monitored by Twitter’s Semantic Core team for the duration of the big game.

Image from Blog.Twitter.com. Displays 2018 Twitter Brand Bowl Winners

Twitter made it easy for users to be a part of the #BrandBowl by allowing them to subscribe to the event as well as follow the hashtags.  Users could opt in to automatic updates by retweeting the original Tweet from @TwitterMKTG which launched the event. The notifications alerted subscribers when new spots aired in real-time during the game and periodically as each quarter ended. The notification linked to a Twitter Moment with all of the ads that aired throughout the quarter. Once the game concluded, there was a final notification alerting users to explore the winners of the #BrandBowl52.  Just to be clear, #BrandBowl isn’t just for those who paid $5 million for a TV commercial, but for those brands who can creatively take advantage of the largest advertising event of the year.  Brands have done this year after year, for example, Esurance in 2016 with the ‘Pass it on’ twitter sweepstakes, or Oreo’s ‘Dunk in the Dark’ tweet in 2013.  Whether it be a formal sweepstakes/campaign or an impromptu tweet, brands more than ever can leave a lasting impression and become a winner of the first ever Twitter #BrandBowl.


The winners of the #BrandBowl were announced on BuzzFeed’s ‘AM to DM Talk Show’ and received custom trophies, 90-day use of custom emoji, and an insiders’ marketing survey from Twitter to help them take advantage of all opportunities on the platform.

There were four categories in which brands could take home an award.  The winners of each are linked below!


#MVP:Brand with the highest percentage of all brand related Tweets during #SB52


Winner: Pepsi with their #ForTheFans and #PepsiHalftime strategies


#Blitz: Brand who drove the highest velocity of most Tweets-per-minute


Winner: Doritos & Mountain Dew with their Co-Branded ‘Rap battle’ featuring Peter Dinklage and Morgan Freeman #IceCold #SpitFire


#QuarterBack: Brand with the most Retweets on a single Tweet during #SB52


Winner: Jurassic World’s new trailer - #FallenKingdom


#Interception: Brand without a national TV spot that drove the highest % of brand conversation.


Winner: Ally Bank with their Interactive Game (downloadable app) giving away $250,000 #AllyBigSave


In addition, Twitter honored brands that received the highest percentage of all in-game brand conversation versus category competitors across various industries, winners in bold - CPG (Tide), dining (Avocados From Mexico) , entertainment (WestWorld), tech/telecom (T-Mobile), automotive (Ram Trucks), alcoholic beverages (Bud Light), financial services (ETrade), retail (Amazon Echo), and travel (Australia.)


The big game continues to be one of the largest events of the year and companies continue to think of ways to attract viewers engagement. Whether you are a fan of football, genius TV commercials or both, the big game has something for everyone.

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