2015 Hashtag Bowl Winners: Congrats To Facebook, McDonald’s & Bonobos

The dust has settled on our 4th annual Hashtag Bowl, and it’s time to announce this year’s winners.

Winners, with an “s”? Yes. As always, the Hashtag Bowl crowns one social network a winner based on how often it’s represented in the commercials that air nationally during the Super Bowl. That’s a reflection of which social media outlets major brands feel are important. But this year, we also wanted to honor some of those brands, too, not just a social network. So we’ve expanded the winner’s circle to include two additional awards:

• Best Social Effort By An Official Advertiser
• Best Social Effort By An Unofficial Advertiser

With that, let’s reveal the winners of the 2015 Hashtag Bowl.

Award: Most Mentioned Social Network

Winner: Facebook

This one is no surprise. As our post-Super Bowl coverage showed, Facebook edged Twitter, 4-3, to be the most mentioned social network in Super Bowl commercials this year. It’s the second straight year that Facebook has beaten Twitter by a single mention.

But many more Super Bowl ads are showing hashtags now, not the names or logos of specific social networks. Years ago, those hashtags were a win for Twitter, but most major social networks (Facebook, Instagram, Google+, etc.) now support hashtags, making it easier for advertisers to target a message across multiple social networks at the same time.

Award: Best Social Effort By An Official Advertiser

Winner: McDonald’s

We were impressed by the fast food giant’s unique approach to real-time advertising during this year’s Super Bowl. Rather than the typical “me first” approach that many brands used, McDonald’s celebrated all of the game’s other advertisers by using Twitter to give away either the exact product being advertised (including new cars, a trip to Ecuador and more) or a prize closely related to each ad.

Lovin’ that glistening @Lexus so much we want to whip our hair. RT to try to win a glistening new Lexus NX https://t.co/o5J9RBjuuj

— McDonald’s (@McDonalds) February 2, 2015

Contestants had to retweet to enter each giveaway, and that led to a whopping 634,000 Twitter mentions during the game. The series of giveaways, combined with McDonald’s heartfelt TV ad, likely created plenty of goodwill, too. McDonald’s mostly ignored Facebook during the game, but its Twitter performance earned the first “Top Spot” award from Twitter itself. And now it gets a Hashtag Bowl trophy, too.

Award: Best Social Effort By An Unofficial Advertiser

Winner: Bonobos

Brands have learned that you don’t have to be huge, and don’t have to spend $4M+ on a TV commercial to make a splash during the Super Bowl. The men’s apparel company Bonobos made a splash on Facebook and Twitter by taking advantage of one of the day’s most memorable moments and characters.

Although Katy Perry scored good reviews for her halftime performance, “left shark” stole the show and became an instant viral sensation when s/he (it?) forgot the dance routine and started freelancing on stage. Bonobos reacted quickly on both Facebook and Twitter saying that it would make a shark suit and inviting fans to enter a contest to show their interest in making it reality.

Bonobos’ Facebook post has earned more than 1,300 comments, almost 2,500 shares and more than 7,300 likes — huge numbers compared to the typical post on its Facebook page. Its tweet of the same message was a similar success — not huge numbers compared to major brands and advertisers, but a significant increase compared to the company’s typical engagement on Twitter.

You asked, we delivered. Introducing the @Bonobos #SharkSuit. RT to make it happen. http://t.co/DfaYUSSGkD #SuperBowl pic.twitter.com/B1uev2rvqP

— Bonobos (@Bonobos) February 2, 2015

On behalf of the entire Marketing Land/Search Engine Land editorial team, congratulations to Bonobos, McDonald’s and Facebook — our trio of winners in the 2014 Marketing Land Hashtag Bowl. And for all the brands that didn’t win this year, start your work now for next year’s Hashtag Bowl. It’s only 11 months away!