It is a good thing the NFL moved the Pro Bowl to the week prior to the Super Bowl this year. The game got much-needed attention and a record crowd, and won’t have to deal with being an after-thought on perhaps the busiest big event weekend on the sports calendar. Yes a week after the Super Bowl became the most watched television event of all-time, three major events…the opening of the Winter Olympics, the Daytona 500 and the NBA All-Star Game, will all battle for eyeballs, sponsor return and casual sports fans within 72 hours. Who will wi.? The battle has already begun.
Perhaps no one does a better long-term rollout of coverage than NASCAR does going into Daytona. For weeks, their PR team has been cranking out new activation stories, new coverage angles (Jimmie Johnson 24/7 on HBO) and getting more ancillary attention (will Danica race this weekend and why ois she on CSI Thursda.) to make the brand as relevant as possible going into what really is their biggest window, depsite being at the start of the season. In contrast, the NBA has pushed out their promotional platforms…a week-long caravan of community service projects started in Philly and will culminate Saturday in Dallas, while new sponsor additions and renewals were announced Wednesday and not saved until this coming weekend. Then you have what has been a late but very wide push by all involved in Vancouver to gain exposure with the casual fan, hopefully to also lure viewers starting with Friday's opening ceremony, from Lindsay Vonn's “suggestive” SI cover to all the Shaun White appearances you can take and then some.
So who will win, and which brands will benefi.? Perhaps the audience is wide enough to allow all to win, and even find some space for the Harlem Globetrotters to gran attention during their annual New York swing. The Olympic ceremonies will draw the casual and female follower,Daytona will pull its usual solid numbers and then the All-Star Game, on TNT and the only one of the three not on broadcast TV, will have its core and enough casual fans (albeit on valentine's day night) to be an effective weekend long marketing platform for the NBA and their players. The biggest question will be which events will a cash and staff strapped media staff, and will a rise of blog and indy coverage help each one of the events with buzz and eyeballs. If last weekend was all about the traditional win of broadcast TV, will this weekend be all about tweets and blogs and cabl. Could be, and if so, will provide an interesting yang of spin to the NFL's big Super Bowl broadcast win last week. Regardless, it will be interesting to watch as all three vye for attention and then try and claim their right prize through facts and spin. let the games…and the race…begin.
