It hasn’t been the brightest of falls for football in the tri-state area, or even down the Turnpike to Philadelphia, but this year’s Super Bowl has certainly generated more buzz, brand activation and long-term talk than probably any other, and for a league that seems like it’s under constant siege these days that’s good news for Brand NFL.
From 2014 Super Bowl Boulevard down Broadway from West 34th Street, a televised NFL Honors awards show, media day…a ticketed event for almost 15,000 people, at Newark’s Prudential Center, the opening of “Bronx Bombers” (a play about the Yankees, the use of cruise ships as hospitality and a tailgating and pregame tailgating event at the Meadowlands Racetrack, contacts weather discussions, the largest effort to ever raise philanthropic dollars and put money back into the economy for Super Bowl, a host of outdoor hockey games, transportation tests, security technology which will be a bellwether for future mass events and countless economic impact studies over as large a population as has ever hosted the game, the task of making all sail right (barring an ice storm) will be one for the ages, and will set the bar for a host of other cities hosting an event in cold weather, which after all, is what football is played in.
So if you are a brand why or how can Super Bowl 2014 be a differentiator for you in the biggest media market in the world?
One way is capitalizing on the location, regardless of weather. The US Open in tennis has an amazing appeal to brands not because of its great athleticism and state of the art facilities, but because it is the one and only global sports event that takes place just a few miles from Madison Avenue each and every year in the same time period. Brands can build hospitality and marketing programs that lead toward the end of the summer every year, and not have to worry if the “home team” is in the mix. In many ways the same goes for the Knicks and the Rangers at Madison Square Garden. No matter whether the teams win or lose, the buzz of the Garden is always palpable, and it makes for a tremendous entertainment platform, with fix dates, only minutes from hundreds of brand decision makers who call New York home, either full or part-time. And if a brand is not using New York as its home base, rest assured its media company is. The old axiom for business success still holds true today… “location, location, location,” and for the 2014 Super Bowl, the location is New York, the media capital of the world.
Now we are seeing brands get out in front with innovative programs…philanthropic events like playground builds and restoration events for victims of Hurricane Sandy, volunteer rewards programs for all the workers that will be needed around all the events, legacy school programs that can enhance learning, consumer activation programs that can give fans special access to a series of events leading toward the game, getting a much needed edge as well, something that will be tested this year and probably engaged on larger scales beyond this year.
Jaguar, a new Super Bowl partner unveiled an ad during broadcasts of NFL football and on BBC America that tipped some of its hand for its strategy, while Intuit, another first year brand, has launched a contest in which it’s giving away the actual ad to a winning small business. The financial-software brand has set the stage where a winning small company will be the subject of their ad. A story this past week also said that U2 is searching for a partner to introduce their next album live during Super Bowl. Not at halftime but during a spot or a series, with the requisite social media to follow, which would be a first for a music entity. That type of offer is not just because of the game itself, but because of all the scrutiny that has come through the NFL stage that has been created for a “first,” this outdoor in the elements event.
While in past years Super Bowl engagement was about the one-time buzz, the implement of social media and the long tail this game has will actually give brands and businesses who have invested in the game a much longer window not just for success, but for correcting some issues that can come up during the lead up. If someone sees that an ad or a platform is slow to respond around the game now, they can adjust to make sure the message is properly delivered. It’s not all one and done as it has been in the past.
The great irony about the “outdoor” game is that every other sport, even baseball, has dealt with cold in their own ways before, and football last time we looked, is more a game about the elements than any other. However the game here is not for the players, the game of the elements is for the marketers and those who need this event to go well and garner the audience and market share so that others can benefit in similar climates going forward, roof be damned. Super Bowl or NFL in Europe is great to talk about, but a success in New York in February will be a huge push for a mature, business savvy and forward thinking brand like the NFL. Let the Super Bowl business games continue to grow.
Taking From Ted…