Gary Vaynerchuk predicts a shift from top-down creative development to a bottom-up approach. Brands will identify their highest-performing organic social media posts throughout the year, and that winning content will become the brief—and perhaps the literal ad—for their Super Bowl spot.
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When an organic post achieves significant viral reach, it has proven its creative resonance. Repurpose that exact video as a paid ad, adding a subtle call-to-action. It will often outperform meticulously tested performance creative because its engagement is authentic and pre-validated by the algorithm.
Let the market validate your ad creative. Post content organically and when a video goes viral, repurpose it for paid advertising. Tweak the validated creative by adding a direct call to action, like a price overlay, to convert brand awareness into sales performance.
Gary Vaynerchuk observes that brands are now treating major events like the Super Bowl as efficient production opportunities. Instead of just hosting parties, they leverage influencers and on-site activations to generate a high volume of social content, maximizing ROI on expensive experiential marketing.
A Super Bowl spot is not a standalone event. Vaynerchuk's team succeeded by executing a 10-day "surround sound" strategy before the game. This included seeding anonymous photos to the press and a heavy media tour to build buzz and ensure the ad landed with maximum impact.
Before allocating media spend, post content organically. The unaided reach and engagement it achieves serve as a direct, measurable indicator of the creative's quality and market resonance. This data turns the subjective 'art' of creative into a quantifiable metric for making ad-buying decisions.
Don't waste money testing ad creative from scratch. First, post content organically across platforms. When a piece performs exceptionally well, use that as a clear signal to put paid advertising spend behind it. The algorithm and audience have already validated its appeal, de-risking your ad budget.
The highest-reaching organic social content has already been validated by algorithms and audiences for relevance. Taking these proven posts, slightly tweaking them for a call-to-action, and running them as paid ads yields far better results than creative developed in a vacuum for A/B testing.
Despite the high price, GaryVee argues no other platform, including Meta or TikTok, can guarantee 100 million viewers for a 30-second spot at that cost. The media buy itself is an unparalleled deal for attention. However, the ultimate success or failure of the investment hinges entirely on the quality and impact of the ad's creative.
Instead of creating ads from scratch, identify top-performing organic content and repurpose it for paid campaigns. The viral creative has already proven its appeal (brand building); simply add conversion-focused elements like banners and direct copy to drive sales performance.
The traditional "big idea" campaign model is broken. A modern approach starts in the mid-funnel with organic social content. Content that resonates with the algorithm and audience on merit then becomes the brief for both lower-funnel performance ads and upper-funnel brand campaigns, de-risking the entire process.
