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Super Bowl advertisers still forgetting links to online channel

Search-engine marketing firm Reprise Media released their second-annual Super Bowl Search Marketing ScoreCard. The study rates how effectively companies follow up on their Super Bowl commercials with online marketing, based on a series of search-marketing best practices including keyword selection, ad text and landing page content.

Unfortunately, a year didn't make much difference in the overall search showing of Super Bowl advertisers. Surprisingly, many companies still don't even include URLs in their commercials, an easy way to indicate to users that there's additional content online. For example, PS Cleaning Products spent a ton of money to launch their new brand, and we're still trying to find their Web site, says Reprise Media.

Perhaps the most dramatic turnaround came in the film industry, in which movies such as "Cars," "The Shaggy Dog" and "Mission Impossible 3" utilized Super Bowl-specific keywords and listing copy, capturing the attention of interested users and giving them access to trailers, sweepstakes and downloadable information.

Other than Cadillac, all of the automotive companies put forth a fairly uninspired effort, often getting bumped from the first page of results for a long line of resellers and service providers. Some even provided traffic for their competitors. Ford had one of the more memorable commercials for its new Escape hybrid vehicle, starring Kermit the Frog. Competitor GM purchased the word "Kermit" to promote their own hybrid car line, essentially getting all the benefits of having a Super Bowl ad, with none of the hassles.

View Reprise Media's Search Engine ScoreCard results.