Archive for the 'NFL' Category

27
Jan
12

Super Bowl Advertising Preview

By Heather Horsey 5 Comments
Categories: Ads, Advertising, B2C, Branding, commercials, NFL and Super Bowl
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The average cost of a commercial for the Super Bowl is around $3.5 million this year, and NBC pretty much sold out its ad inventory by Labor Day. With the DVR changing how we watch TV and creating commercial skipping, television advertising seems like a dying media. So, why do advertisers mortgage the farm to get an ad for the Super Bowl?

Fewer events are more hyped, create as much fanfare, attract more interest from celebrities, politicians and average Americans than the Super Bowl. And live is still how viewers like to watch sports with the NFL leading the sports pack in fan base size. Last year’s Super Bowl had an astonishing 110 million viewers – definitely worth mortgaging the farm.

Therefore, we wanted to preview some of the spots that we think will be real highlights this year.

Volkswagen

One of the highlights last year came courtesy of Volkswagen as they unveiled their commercial, “The Force,” which featured a young Darth Vader and a new 2012 Passat.

Volkswagen may have replicated its 2011 success with a memorable ad for the  Super Bowl XLVI. They have a teaser (yes – an ad of an ad) for this year’s Super Bowl commercial, which includes dogs barking the Star Wars theme and is named “The Bark Side.”

As a dog lover, and Vizsla owner (top row-center), I for one am excited to see this ad.

Sketchers
Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, will be guest starring in Sketchers third-consecutive Super Bowl ad. With expectations lowered after last year Kim Kardashian commercial, Sketchers can only improve, right?

It turns out that this particular ad features racing greyhounds that lose to a tiny dog wearing Sketchers.

Doritos
In my opinion, Doritos has been throwing multiple game winning touch downs with its “Crash the Super Bowl Contest” for the last couple of years, and this year looks to be no different. Here are some of the top contenders.

Sling Baby
What do you get when you mix a baby in a swing, a mean grandmother and a bratty kid taunting them both? A great commercial.

Man’s Best Friend
Dog-themed entries always grab my attention. This entry features a dog trying to cover its tracks and a human that can apparently be bought off for just a sack of Doritos.

The Voice
A promo for “The Voice” that will be aired during the Super Bowl, for a series that premieres directly after the Super Bowl, will at least create some conversation at the water cooler on Monday. The spot is titled “Vokal Kombat,” so I can only assume that it features Christina Aguilera ripping Adam Levine’s head off, vocally that is.

So, we are interested to know, what commercials are you most excited to see and , more importantly, do stellar commercials make up for a Super Bowl that is heavy on defense or one-sided? Let us know here on The Side Note, or on Facebook (Facebook.com/WeiseCommunications) or on Twitter (@Weise_Ideas).

01
Feb
11

Eva Longoria available for the right price

By Mark Plumb 3 Comments
Categories: Advertising, Celebrities, Communications, Marketing, NFL, Social Media, Social Networking and Twitter
Tags: , , , , ,

The recently launched site TwitChange is taking social media in a new direction.  TwitChange gives people a chance to win a celebrity auction, but not your traditional celebrity auction.

You bid on a donation amount to the designated TwitChange charity and attempt to win the Twitter affection of your favorite celebrity. The largest bidder is declared the winner of the TwitChange auction and can win one of three valuable rewards:

  1. A follow from your favorite celebrity on Twitter
  2. A special tweet from your favorite celebrity
  3. Your favorite celebrity will re-tweet one of your tweets

Last September, Eva Longoria (who has more than 1,217,000 Twitter followers) led the effort to raise money in earthquake-ravaged Haiti. Leveraging the power of her celebrity, the TwitChange auction produced more than 30 million hits in 30 days, and raised $500,000 to build a home for disabled and special needs children in Haiti.

The latest auction started Jan. 29 and goes through Feb. 4. It benefits Operation Once in a Lifetime – the charity ensures soldiers’ homes aren’t foreclosed on, heat and electricity stays connected, and families are safe while soldiers are deployed.

As an added incentive for the current Operation Once in a Lifetime auction, the highest bidder on Pittsburgh Steeler Troy Polamalu (NFL defensive player of the year) will receive two Super Bowl tickets to this Sunday’s game between Pittsburgh and Green Bay.

A huge Side Note Blog congratulations to Eva Longoria and Troy Polamalu for using Twitter to bring awareness and financial support to these charitable causes.

This is the best example we’ve found of Twitter being used for social change that can change the world.

Let us know if you have found social media efforts that you believe deserve recognition. Share your thoughts with us right here on the Side Note Blog or on Facebook at Weise Communications and follow @Weise_Ideas on Twitter.

29
Oct
10

FOX Sells Out Super Bowl Advertising: Return of Corporate Spending?

By Mark Plumb Leave a Comment
Categories: Ads, Advertising, Business Strategies, Communications, Marketing, NFL, Pepsi, Recession, trends and Uncategorized
Tags: , , , ,

Three months before the big game and FOX has sold out advertising for Super Bowl XLV. Coupled with Thursday’s announcement that Microsoft net income rises 51 percent in the quarter ending Sept. 2010, these are two strong indicators that corporate spending is making a comeback.

KGB - "It's in the Hole" Ad

Selling out the Super Bowl this early is quite an accomplishment. It calls attention to the improved economic conditions providing comfort to advertisers. It also indicates the appeal of live sports to marketers who continue to seek appointment TV in the era of DVR’s but that is a blog topic for another time. If you use that DVR, you might have missed some creative ads, for example this spot from KGB.com.

Last year, CBS was still selling Super Bowl advertising in February, days before game. To give you an idea of FOX’s achievement, consider the following:
  • In 2010, CBS aired 48 minutes of advertising including NFL messages and CBS promotions for programs.
  • There were 66 spots sold at an average of $2.75 Million for 30 seconds = $181 Million.
  • Last year, due to the economic downturn, Pepsi and General Motors sat out the Super Bowl (they are back in 2011).

Automakers, beer/soft drink companies and dot.com’s are still the categories most represented, companies reported to be in the 2011 Super Bowl ad lineup include:

As other evidence of increased corporate spending is revealed, this is an important time for marketers to look for short-term opportunities to buy advertising at a discount once the elections are over November 2.  Advertising outlets are still feeling downward pressure on prices and marketers can take advantage before the outlets prices reflect the demand for advertising.

Tell us if you have seen indicators of corporate spending making a comeback, and how you have been able to leverage the network into business gains. Please write a comment and let us know. You can find Weise Communications on Facebook and follow @Weise_Ideas on Twitter.

 

13
Nov
09

Steve Hayden: Product Focus groups are Silly

By Jay Weise Leave a Comment
Categories: Ad Agency, Ads, Advertising, Brand Loyalty, Branding, Business growth, Business Strategies, business to consumer, Copy writing, Creative, Facebook, focus groups, NFL, Social Media, Uncategorized, Video Ads and YouTube

Last night here in Denver, while listening to Steve Hayden’s talk From Big Ideas to Big IdeaLs… (that’s an entirely another blog on another day)…Steve talked about a campaign for Shreddies, the Canadian version of Shreaded Wheat here in the U.S., that used a focus group to learn more about the new Shreadies product, DIAMOND SHREADIES. As you’ll see, people in focus groups are very polite people and will provide the desired response even if obviously wrong. This “focus group” video was then posted on YouTube and was viewed by almost a million people, that’s a lot in Canada, and sales ‘went way up beyond expectations’ after this and the new “Diamond Shreadies” campaign broke. I agree with Steve. It is silly to use focus groups to gain insight into the effectiveness of an ad or when your questions in the focus group lead the people to the answers you want to hear.

See for yourself.

Focus Group Video

Shreddies Commercial

Also, 81 Facebook pages and over 280 discussion groups have been started on this topic of Diamond vs. Square.

Steve Hayden is one of the most revered advertising copy writers since the mid 1970′s. He’s most respected for his “1984″ commercial for the introduction of Apple’s Macintosh computers… an ad that only ran once during the 1984 Super Bowl, and most recently the “Real Beauty” campaign for Dove.

04
Sep
09

hut, hut, tweet!

By breannehight Leave a Comment
Categories: Facebook, NFL, Social Media, Twitter and Uncategorized

585059_football_1The National Football League (NFL) has banned players, coaches or anyone associated with/representing the team from using social media during games. They’ve even gone so far as to ban it up to 90 minutes before and after games. Oh, and media on the sidelines are prohibited, as well.

I get it. I really do. Many companies are finding it necessary to implement social media policies for employees, and players are employees of the NFL. Who needs players absorbed with tweeting from the bench, facebooking in the locker room at halftime and updating social media with the play-by-play instead of participating in post-game interviews?

The Cincinnati Bengals’ wide receiver, Chad Ochocinco announced via a social media network that he plans on tweeting while playing regardless of the rules. Although I am by no means a football star, I just don’t know how well this will work. My thoughts:

I don’t see much storage space for a mobile device in those uniforms.

I don’t know how feasible it is to catch a football with a phone in hand.

If I was making millions to play a sport I love, I probably wouldn’t be pushing the boundaries and breaking the rules. Just saying.

What is the social media policy at your company? Do you think the NFL is going too far including the media in its policy?

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