Brand Bowl 2012 Game Day Site

OK football and TV advertising fans, the game day edition of Brand Bowl 2012 is live. Mullen and Boston.com together have launched Brand Bowl 2012, a social media event using Salesforce Radian6 to analyze the Twitter commentary and rate the most popular and disastrous Super Bowl TV commercials.

Realizing how social media has changed the way fans enjoy the game, Mullen launched the original Brand Bowl four years ago when Twitter was just a niche platform. Boston.com, one of the nation’s largest regional news portals, began hosting the information on their site last year. The virtual event at BrandBowl2012.com features an up-to-the-minute stream of Tweets about Super Bowl commercials to determine which brands are the most and least effective. Last year, over 300,000 Tweets were counted to determine the winner of Brand Bowl 2011. Chrysler finished number one and Cars.com finished at the bottom in last year’s rankings. The brands are ranked based on volume (who has the most/least chatter) and sentiment (who has the most/least positive and negative comments).

“Advertising is social, and given that Twitter’s active user base continues to grow and that armchair advertising critics are an expanding population in social media, we expect to get some outstanding data this year,” said Edward Boches, chief innovation officer at Mullen. “The most savvy brands are recognizing the power of social media and have released their commercials before the Super Bowl to build the buzz online, and have been orchestrating elaborate social media campaigns to maximize the impact of their multi-million dollar investments.”

“We’re excited to host Brand Bowl again this year with Mullen, and it gives us yet another opportunity to provide our readers with the interactive experience that they’ve come to expect from Boston.com,” said Ron Agrella, editor of Boston.com. “We aim to not just provide content, but to engage our readers in the public conversation, especially surrounding a significant event like the Super Bowl.”

New features this year include:

• “Head-to-head” statistical breakdowns between brands
• A “featured tweet” section that highlights funny and insightful tweets from participants
• A streamlined Brand Bowl mobile experience so users can more easily see the live rankings and Tweet their votes

Participation in Brand Bowl is easy. During the game, users can reference a specific commercial or simply include the hashtag #brandbowl in their Tweets to voice their opinions. The Tweets will be streamed live on Boston.com and a new mobile-friendly version of the Brand Bowl site during the game.

The single page feature also includes videos of the commercials and lets readers share Tweets, post images, follow conversations and see what other Super Bowl commercial fans are saying – good or bad – about their favorite ads. Post-game, the winners and losers are ranked in these categories: top scores (a combination of volume and popularity), most popular, most volume, and least effective.

Enjoy the game and the commercials everybody and please check back throughout the game to see who’s winning Brand Bowl 2012.

Luckily for Mullen, the 1999 Monster.com spot When I Grow Up is still in the mix. Thanks Teressa and Fast Co. for recognizing this gem from Mullen’s past.

We’re hoping that some enterprising reporter will track down the kids who were cast in this spot and see how their careers are going.  Hopefully they’re all gainfully employed in inspiring jobs with dynamic companies or at least doing something to save the world.

Best of Show went to W+K in broadcast for Nike’s Write the Future and in interactive for Old Spice’s Responses.

Here’s how the Art Directors Club describes their awards:

The polished, heavyweight ADC Cube is an enduring symbol of creative leadership and innovation. Winners take their place in the industry’s revered archive of the best work ever produced in advertising, design, photography, illustration and interactive media.

Mullen’s creative team is off to Cannes this week in hopes of perhaps a little Lion. We shall see. Expect Old Spice to clean-up (deservedly so) in France.

This Stanley Cup series was phenomenal. I know the ratings paled compared to what they get for NFL, NBA and even MLB, but the viewing #’s were up, it was awesome TV and the announcers, with their quirky Canadian accents, were outstanding. Geico and Verizon got a ton of exposure from their sponsorship deals, not that either needs much more exposure. And the NHL “No Words” spot was in the same league as NBA’s Amazing, IMHO.

At Mullen, we’re damn proud of what the Boston Bruins have done and proud to have been their partner on the Bruins Hockey Rules campaign the past couple of years. Roll-out the Victory Dance video one more time. The Bruins are Stanley Cup Champions!

Barnes and Noble Creative Credits for Read Forever.

Creative Credits for JetBlue Mr. Non-Stop 4 18 11

While we await answers to these excellent questions, we do have the answer to an age-old riddle courtesy of our friend The Bear.

Good luck to the Bruins in the playoffs and don’t forget to grab your playoff tickets. This feels like it could be the year of the Bear.