Remember last month’s post about the Super Bowl and small business, Death Wish Coffee? The company beat out 15,000 other small businesses to win a 30-second Super Bowl commercial, funded by Intuit QuickBooks. Before the commercial, the company had days where it sold low amounts of coffee each day from its Web site and New York coffee shop. What would happen to the business after the Super Bowl? Would the Web site and social media be able to withstand the pressure
The short answer was ‘yes’. What happened next was amazing. Before the Super Bowl, the company’s Web site had a resting count of approximately 500 visitors. By the time the ad finished running, there were already 147,000 unique visitors on its Web site, and almost all were from mobile devices! During the Super Bowl, Death Wish Coffee sold more than $250,000 of coffee! This compares to days when the company felt lucky to sell $250 – $1,000 of product.
Thanks to Intuit, advertising on one of the world’s largest stages certainly paid off for this small business.
Group Activities and Discussion Questions:
- Discuss the risks and benefits of advertising at the Super Bowl.
- Show the video “Anatomy of an Ad”: http://adage.com/videos/a-super-bowl-death-wish-part-3/493
- Note: There are three videos in total that explain the process of developing the commercial. Students will find these behind-the-scenes interesting.
- Show the company’s Web site: http://www.deathwishcoffee.com/.
- Discuss how the company integrates social media into its promotion.
- Divide students into teams. Have each team review Death Wish Coffee’s social media and come up with new recommendations for expanding its reach.
Source: Ad Age Daily
