DLC Super-sizes its advertising

Brokers and marketing experts, alike, are now trying to gauge the impact of Dominion Lending Centre’s Super Bowl ads.

Brokers and marketing experts, alike, are now trying to gauge the impact of Dominion Lending Centre’s Super Bowl ads.

“Everyone was talking about it on Twitter and on Facebook,” says Ingrid Menninga, director of marketing for Jolt Marketing. “Mortgage brokers need to promote; it’s critical to the industry to advertise (because) awareness is the problem.”

DLC gambled big on two Super Bowl ads featuring Don Cherry for the Canadian broadcast of the biggest U.S. sporting event of the year. That kind of personality coupled with that kind of audience could pay big.

“A celebrity endorsement is really powerful, and you are talking to a captive audience with the Super Bowl,” adds Menninga. “It is a sports personality speaking to a sports audience.”

The two advertisements, which reached only Canadian viewers during Sunday’s CTV Super Bowl and pre-game broadcast, featured Cherry touting the merits of DLC’s brokering services.

“We had a full 30-second commercial during the pre-game show and then a full 30-second commercial again during the actual game,” says Cindy Freiman, director of public relations and communications for DLC. “This reached out to the Canadian market.”

Many of the comments on Twitter were positive:

“Did you see the DLC Don Cherry commercial during the Super Bowl? Don knows hockey, we know mortgages!” tweeted mortgage broker Jen Woodley.

“So proud to see our Dominion Lending Centres commercial play during the Super Bowl!” tweeted mortgage agent Angie Pettyjohn.

“Dominion Lending Centres got Don Cherry for a commercial. Smartest money ever spent,” added Michelle Lukings.

Still, for independent mortgage broker Shawn Allen, the proof will be in the pudding.

“It might work for Dominion,” says the broker/owner of Matrix Mortgage Global . “I talked to a woman from Dominion who said the ad got her more recognition. But will it mean more business? Maybe, maybe not.”

The Canadian audience for last year’s Super Bowl topped out at 8.2 million Canadian viewers.

The price of a 30-second commercial on U.S. networks for Super Bowl XLVII averaged $4 million, reaching 111 million American viewers and reaping immediate Twitter followers and Facebook fans. The price for ads on CTV were considerably less, although still sizable.