@JaguarUSA wins #AdScrimmage 2014; more top Super Bowl hashtags

Luxury auto brand Jaguar USA is the winner of the third annual Twitter #AdScrimmage, scoring the most votes for its #GoodToBeBad ad, edging out 34 other competing brands. In its Super Bowl debut, the British carmaker launched its F-TYPE Coupe with cinematic flair. Filmed by Oscar-winning UK director Tom Hooper, the 60-second commercial roars through the shadowy streets of London and stars a trio of actors: Sir Ben Kingsley, Tom Hiddleston and Mark Strong.

The spot poses the question, have you ever noticed how in Hollywood, all the best villains are played by Brits? Some of the reasons given: those accents, just-so sense of style and, inevitably, having a Jaguar as their getaway car. Throughout the Super Bowl, Jaguar USA engaged fans from its social media lair, even creating a cheeky Vine video response to Tide, one of the night’s tweeting commercial commentators.

In the days after the game, Jaguar USA kept conversations building as #AdScrimmage votes poured in with Promoted Tweets that featured a villanous tone and tongue-in-cheek hashtag.

#AdScrimmage 2014 honorable mentions go out to four more big game ads that garnered the most votes:

• Microsoft’s #Empowering spot traced all the evocative ways technology is reshaping the human experience.

• Budweiser also tugged at the heart strings of puppy lovers with its #BestBuds ad.

• Butterfinger tickled our funny bone, highlighting the tasty threesome in its #ButterfingerCups.

• And Radio Shack went back to the future with a nostalgic ode to the 1980s and its #InWithTheNew look.

More top Super Bowl trends and hashtags

During this year’s Super Bowl, we saw a record number of Tweets, and the number of ads with hashtags jumped from 50% in 2013 to 57%. Fourteen brands even invited Twitter team members into their game day command centers, demonstrating a greater focus on live marketing and being prepared for unplanned moments.

Retailer JCPenney snagged early buzz on Twitter, consistently and conspicuously misspelling Tweets early on in the game, only to ultimately reveal the reason with a hashtag: #TweetingWithMittens.

That was not before several brands responded to its attention-grabbing Tweets, highlighting this Super Bowl’s top real-time trend: brand-to-brand banter.

By engaging other big game advertisers, many brands boosted reach and earned media, while tapping into the live conversation happening around commercials. And Vine (which wasn’t around for last year’s big game) was central to many of the most shared and creative brand tête-à-têtes.

The bragging rights for most-tweeted brand of the night goes to Esurance, according to Nielsen. Its post-game ad invited TV viewers to tweet the hashtag #EsuranceSave30 for a chance to win $1.5 million (the 30% discount the company saved by running the ad after the game). The hashtag was the top trend on Twitter for most of Sunday evening and was still in the top trending topics on Monday morning.

For more insights, check out the full Nielsen Twitter TV Ratings report. Our congrats to all the hashtagging winners!