The Super Marketing Bowl...

The "Big Game", The Super Bowl, the biggest marketing showcase of the year.... All are words to describe the last Professional Football game of the year. The teams have 2 weeks to prepare, and the media has 2 weeks to reiterate the same points over and over. Every pass, run or mistake is broken down and the players involved are scrutinized for their inability to make a split second decision correctly.

The marketers have 364 days to prepare for marketing's biggest stage with hopes of being named "top commercial of the year." The idea behind achieving this hallowed distinction isn't necessarily the impact your commercial has on brand recognition or definition, but the fact that you want people to remember your ad. Little does the actual return on investment weigh in your decision to have dancing animals or people injuring themselves in order to create that "shock value" that everyone will remember. That is who the "true" winners are, the ones that spend 2+ million dollars to have over 100 million people laughing for 30 seconds and then 2 months later, completely forget the product associated with the moments of laughter. The companies who Really win on the big day are the usual hitters that have been flat out producing wonderful brand empowering ads for years... i.e. Pepsi, Budweiser, Frito Lay. and one of the newer succeeding companies that has created an empire in their particular industry as a result of their super bowl ads.... GoDaddy.com. Although their ads are risque and push the envelope of censorship, their product name is always predominantly displayed and allows for unmistakable brand recognition.

This is one day out of the year where the major marketing companies in the United States push to develop that new "big thing" that will project their business as the "It" company to hire. Millions tune in, not to watch the game, but to view the advertisements. When it is time for a beverage refill or another plateful of wings, big game viewers go during the action of the football game, and not during the commercial breaks. The greatest show on turf has become... the greatest Return on Investment.

As marketers, sports have become our greatest medium for promotion. It is one thing the world has in common....sports. Sports encompass our day to day lives and we are surrounded by their impact. For years, marketers have been trying to convey their product during sporting events based upon predetermined demographics and have yielded countless success as a result. The 'Year 2010' marketer need not lie within the boundaries of these predetermined demographics but impact those non-traditional sports viewers. In there lies the greatest untapped market in advertising. Diehard sports fans have their loyalties to various products depending upon their favorite players associating with a particular product. (Nascar fans especially). It is whether the marketers can impact the viewer who is watching the event as an unbiased onlooker and score their uncommitted dollar which truly yields success...