• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, January 21, 2016

Marketers have long been known to glom on to Super Bowl-like ads without actually spending those millions in media placement costs.

In the early days you had the likes of sports marketer Nike buying select local TV station inventory to make it look as if it was associated with the Super Bowl --- without spending the one, two, or three million price.

Now, Google looks to Real-Time Ads -- where marketers can send out promotions targeted to what’s actually happening during the game. With more TV viewers using smartphones as their own personal remotes during Super Bowl parties and the like Google hopes to pull in new wannabe (and in-game) Super Bowl TV advertisers, for its YouTube video platform as well as access to other digital sites it controls.

Marketers have used digital to extend and further monetize their traditional TV buys for some time now. Google hopes other big TV events like The Academy Awards on ABC, traditionally the second-most-viewed TV show of the year, will also work for Real-Time Ads. Comcast is the first advertiser to sign up for this.

Now all this isn’t quite “real-time." Advertisers do need to pre-plan and upload the creative they want to use -- for video. That’s different from what Twitter offers, where brands can create and post content on the go -- not necessarily with video.

The point is obvious: Take advantage of real-time, in-game content, and adjust creative accordingly to get the best impact.

Remember the 34-minute blackout during the Super Bowl in 2013 (also on CBS)?  Oreos became famous for its response to the blackout that read “You can still dunk in the dark” — the result of having a 15-person social media team at the ready to respond to whatever happened during the game.

A creative social media team is now commonplace at many other times of the year, with digital media agencies having “newsroom”-like operations.

In the future, we can imagine, many more marketers will need to play ball.