Focus On The Family Got Super Bowl Buzz It Wanted

Suddenly, the focus is off the family — and on the data.

One day after the evangelical group Focus on the Family aired its Super Bowl commercial — following a storm of controversy — it was clear on Monday that the group achieved its goal: a torrent of new attention for its website and its brand in social media land.

“Our website is crashing,” jokes Jim Daly, president and CEO of Focus on the Family. In fact, it would have crashed had the group not beefed up its servers in anticipation. After the ad aired, the site’s traffic ballooned to 40 times its normal volume — with 50,000 unique visitors and 500,000 hits.

But the ad itself posted a low score in USA TODAY’S Ad Meter, a real-time consumer testing of the ads as they air. The ad featuring quarterback Tim Tebow and his mom, Pam, was ranked 54th of the 65 ads in the game by the panelists.

“People are searching for real meaning in their lives after the recession,” says Robbie Blinkoff, a consumer anthropologist. “Focus on the Family hoped its ad would stand out as a values ad. Instead, it got lost in the shuffle.”

But the enormous attention that the ad received before, during and after the game could become a case study for marketers. “We won long before the ad ever ran,” Daly says. The data don’t lie.

Read More: By Bruce Horovitz, USA TODAY