Facebook got its first taste of the high-wire act that is Super Bowl advertising in December when the star of its commercial, Sylvester Stallone, leaked information about the secret spot. Stallone was sharing to Instagram from behind the scenes at the commercial shoot in Philadelphia.
It was not a stunt meant to generate buzz, says Antonio Lucio, Facebook’s CMO, now ready to talk about the social network’s Super Bowl debut.
“[Stallone] got really excited within the context of the shoot,” Lucio says, during a recent phone interview. “Kind of playing Rocky, with the Philadelphia stairs, the statue that he has, the crowds. And he became really excited and he released that.”
Stallone’s Instagram footage showed him at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, on the famous stairs from “Rocky,” where there is a statue of the boxing character. Then the Instagram video was picked up by the evening news, and Facebook’s Super Bowl cover was blown. “As simple as that, man,” Lucio says. “I wish it was a much smarter PR angle. It wasn’t.”
The incident became a moment for Facebook to test the style of real-time marketing that is the hallmark of Super Bowl advertising, responding to unpredictable events as they unfold. Much like advertisers do on the day of the game when their ads run, Facebook took to Twitter. “You rocked the cat out of the bag,” the company tweeted to Stallone.
“We decided to jump in and leverage the conversation,” Lucio says.
Facebook has been able to maintain some mystery around the commercial. The company is holding back the full version of the 60-second spot until it runs in the fourth quarter. On Monday, Facebook only released two teasers, which kind of explain the whole “rock” theme. One clip shows Chris Rock doing one-handed (and no-handed) push-ups. Another clip shows kids preparing model rockets for liftoff.
The scenes revolve around Facebook Groups, which are the focus of the campaign.
The real-life Groups in the Super Bowl ad, Lucio says, "are all dedicated to different elements of the word ‘rock,’ whether it is rocket ships or whether it is rocking chairs or whether it is swimming around The Rock here in San Francisco.”