30 Second Superbowl Ad or Youtube?

Nov 3, 2006 Michael Brito

As social media begins to dominate the marketplace, it is imperative for marketers to include this growing channel into their overall strategy planning; millions of impressions are at stake. Dove has done an excellent job in leveraging social media in their mix. According to Ad Age, the “Dove Evolution,” a 75-second viral film created by Ogilvy & Mather was uploaded to YouTube.com on Oct. 6 and has been viewed over 1.7 million times since. Compare this to Dove’s 2006 Superbowl commercial that resulted in 500 million impressions and it’s not that significant. However, the cost for the Superbowl ad was $2.5 million; whereas there was no cost whatsoever for Dove to upload “Evolution” to YouTube. The conclusion is simple: stronger ROI from a YouTube Video than Super Bowl ad.