Dissecting the Super Bowl

Tuesday April 05, 2005

The Super Bowl has gone from a pigskin showdown to a marketing showcase where the commercials create as much buzz as the quarterbacks and the halftime show can make everyone forget the game entirely. “The Bob Langford Show” of WPTF Radio invited Todd Coats and Billy Warden to share their marketing expertise on the Super Bowl XXXIX. Here’s a recap of their thoughts, before and after the big event.

Billy on the muted tone of this year’s Super Bowl:
Last year, the government and public came down hard on a blitz of bad taste — from Clydesdales passing gas on behalf of a beer company to desperate pop stars in tear-away clothes offering unwelcome anatomy lessons. While coaches scratched out strategies, the NFL and Fox hatched a new game plan for the Super Bowl’s commercials and halftime show. Unfortunately, the plan called primarily for playing it safe. And that left little room for fun.

Todd on the current crop of Super Bowl ads:
The commercials played it safe, and in some cases, a little baffling. Full of the requisite animals and star turns, we also saw fly over the fence and a new Mama’s Boy action figure. The spiciest moment was a young woman’s shoulder strap malfunction. But they weren’t all that good, either.

In the Monday-morning director’s chair, it’s easy to be critical and say these ads were merely okay for 30 seconds. But will this year’s batch live up to the greats like Coca-Cola’s “Mean Joe Green” and Apple’s famed “1984”? No. Are they worth the $2.4 million per it costs to run each one? Probably not.

Advertising — and Super Bowl advertising in particular — has a job to do. They sell stuff. And while doing it they become cultural signposts. Strategy and compelling execution should never go out of style or be considered off-color. Now, with hype machines humming, the ads themselves become the message. Our interconnectivity — from Web to news shows to viral email — have smart advertisers getting their messages out there in more ways than the paid media.

Billy on the Paul McCartney halftime show:
The halftime show especially suffered. Here’s an “event” created exclusively to engage audiences beyond the core football demographic — namely women and young people — with eye and ear candy.

What the NFL served up, however, was a helping of reliable leftovers. Back in his Beatles heyday, Paul McCartney would’ve made the switchboards light up with complaints of imminent cultural demise. But 2005’s Sir Paul and his note-perfect rendition of decades-old songs made the Super Bowl feel outdated and tired. And that’s positively off-brand for the NFL and an event that is supposed to be a spine-tingling test of the best.

Todd on the future of the NFL brand:
Fortunately, having brought off the Super Bowl without an invasion of naked private parts, the NFL and the networks will no doubt get back on brand. The “family” approach didn’t work for Las Vegas (which, after a brief flirtation with Ozzie and Harriett-land, has now resorted to “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas”). And it’s probably not the best long term game plan for pro football. Look instead for a return to traditional big-time sports values — that is, exuberance and flamboyance. It’s the American way.