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How Tech Giants Drive Year-Round Value Through Customer-Centric Marketing
Lana Chan, Senior Marketing Manager at Workday, shows how brands turn a Super Bowl moment into lasting influence through sustained storytelling, authentic fits, and human-led AI.
Key Points
Large scale events like the Super Bowl no longer ends on game night, creating pressure for brands to turn a costly moment into sustained engagement that reaches distracted, multi-screen audiences in the days and months that follow.
Lana Chan, Senior Digital Marketing Manager at Workday, explains that effective campaigns around the Super Bowl extend across channels, audiences, and time rather than relying on a single ad.
The winning approach pairs long-term storytelling with authentic partnerships and responsible AI use so technology strengthens human connection instead of replacing it.
You're paying so much money for exposure, but what happens before? What happens after? That’s where the real impact happens.
Lana Chan
The Super Bowl has evolved from a high-priced spotlight into a year-round growth engine. The brands that win treat game day as the launch point, designing campaigns that build anticipation before kickoff, extend engagement long after the final whistle, and turn fleeting attention into sustained credibility across channels.
Lana Chan, Senior Digital Marketing Manager at enterprise AI platform Workday, helped lead the company’s first Super Bowl campaign and saw firsthand how the strategy has evolved. The media buy still commands attention, but she views the broadcast as a catalyst rather than the payoff. The real return comes from how that visibility fuels year-round brand presence, digital engagement, and executive-level trust. "You're paying so much money for exposure, but what happens before? What happens after? That’s where the real impact happens," says Chan.
Enter the rock stars: The best campaigns extend well beyond game day. Workday’s Super Bowl campaign in 2023 marked the company’s first appearance at the event. "It built brand awareness that we continued to sustain with our team throughout the year," she says. The strategy focuses on reaching senior decision-makers, including C-suite executives, through LinkedIn and live events like the Masters and F1 to maintain visibility throughout the year.
The second-screen grab: Live activations capture attention, but success comes from extending the experience to viewers’ digital habits. Audiences often engage with a second screen while watching big events. "When we're watching something, we're on a second screen. How can you carry that through?" Strong campaigns connect with viewers where scrolling, clicking, and sharing happen, turning a single exposure into sustained interaction across multiple channels.
Authenticity drives results. Ads require more than entertainment and must align with brand values. The most effective brands center people in every strategy, keeping people central to campaigns.
The real deal: Influencer partnerships work best when values and audience alignment are clear. Celebrities who naturally fit a brand strengthen authenticity and increase credibility. "We've seen that with Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, and Dunkin'. That is a very Massachusetts brand, so it's just a good fit." Campaigns succeed when the partnership feels seamless, not forced.
More than a machine: Authenticity also shapes how brands use AI in advertising. Strong campaigns combine automation with human judgment and clear accountability. "The companies that are really leaning into ethics and responsibility when it comes to AI, they're the ones that are going to be trustworthy. They're going to be the ones that win this AI competition," she says.
Chan emphasizes that effective marketing goes beyond flashy campaigns or one-off moments. Success comes from authenticity, sustained engagement, and using technology to enhance, not replace, human judgment. "The human is still part of this story, just in a new role. We need to stay in the driver’s seat, guiding AI as a partner."
