Now that the Super Bowl is over, advertising and marketing communities are busy calculating — or at least estimating — which brands scored the game behind the game: the hunt for eyeballs and social media attention. Social media data is now showing that one of the biggest winners was Pepsico's ($PEP) Mountain Dew.

A Super Bowl ad for Mountain Dew featuring Brian Cranston re-enacting the famous Jack Nicholson "Here's Johnny" scene from The Shining had people chattering on social media both leading up to — and following — the big game.

Before the ad was teased, Mountain Dew averaged around 7,000 mentions on Facebook. As of this week, that number is up to 66,6000: a growth of 851%.

But it was on the day of the teaser — ahead of the Super Bowl itself — that the brand picked up the largest spike in mentions.

At the end of January, Mountain Dew teased images of Bryan Cranston as Jack Nicholson's iconic Jack Torrance from The Shining. On January 30, mentions of Mountain Dew on Facebook jumped 390%. Since that day, mentions continue to grow as Facebook users continue to chatter about the ad and Mountain Dew.

Other ads were social media winners for brands as well. Leading up to the Super Bowl, many eyes were on Planters, which staged a somewhat bizarre death of its Mr. Peanut mascot. The campaign won the brand 24,000 followers on Twitter. 

The news should come as welcome relief to PepsiCo, which has seen sagging engagement on Facebook as of late, at least for its other brands including Doritos and Pepsi.

About the Data:

Thinknum tracks companies using the information they post online - jobs, social and web traffic, product sales and app ratings - and creates data sets that measure factors like hiring, revenue and foot traffic. Data sets may not be fully comprehensive (they only account for what is available on the web), but they can be used to gauge performance factors like staffing and sales. 

Further Reading: 

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