Super Bowl Advertising: You Don’t Need a Commercial Just Some Creativity

POSTED BY: Arleen, FILED AS: Advertising Ideas, ON: Tuesday, January 7th, 2014

Young adults watching football
We did it. We braved the holidays and sailed into the New Year. Now our reward is just around the corner. What reward you ask? Well none other than the Super bowl of course. I wait all year to see the best commercials advertisers have to offer. Of course I watch the game, but as a marketer I look forward to the commercials too. With an estimated 111 million viewers watching the game, The Super Bowl is an event for football fans but for business alike. This is the only time of year where businesses obtain this extensive amount of viewership. Do not underestimate the power of Super Bowl Sunday! With Super Bowl Sunday comes the power to draw in viewers, capture their undivided attention and make consumers actually sit up just to watch commercials. I have been at Super Bowl parties where the room is just as quiet for commercials as it is when the game is on.

The Super Bowl can be summed up into three categories, the game, the half-time show and the commercials. It is from the game that this day gets its origins, let’s face it, we all want to know who is going to Disney World, but we also want to see what Doritos or Coke and Pepsi will come up with this year. The first Super Bowl was in 1967 but there were no note worthy commercials until the 1970’s. In 1967 a 30 second commercial spot cost $42,000 this year a commercial spot cost 3.7 to 3.8 million dollars but with the opportunity to sell your product to the largest television audience of the year companies see this day as a marketer’s dream.

So now the question becomes, how your business can capitalize on Super Bowl Advertising. The cost for one commercial slot might be over budget for your company, however, here are a few ideas to put your business in the game too.

It’s not just about football… how your business can capitalize on the Super Bowl

Your Business Can Relate to Football in More Ways Than You Know
OK, so your business has nothing to do with football or sports at all but that doesn’t mean you can’t use Super Bowl Sunday to your advantage. One lending company sent an email to its customers comparing their company with the success or record-breaking NFL seasons. Don’t be dismayed because your company is not sports related. There are plenty of commercials every year whose companies have nothing to do with sports. Dare to be different!

Not a Fan? Not a Problem!
Even though 100 million people are a lot of viewers, there are still 200 million other Americans who are doing something else, go get them! Establishments such as restaurants can offer their customers a TV free day with the promise of a quiet dinner. I can think of many people this would appeal to. But there is nothing wrong with getting your customers involved, it is actually a great idea to get your loyal customers involved so why not take a survey and ask your customers what they would like to do on Super Bowl Sunday in lieu of watching the game. You may just find an idea that can spark an annual event therefore making your company synonymous with the day.

Grab the “after the game crowd”
So what do you do when the game is over and the Super Bowl party you are at is winding down but you are not ready to go home? This is a question that plagues many so why not have the answer. A great way to advertise to the post game crowd is by using a promotion based on how the game ends. Maybe you have a promotional giveaway that includes your logo with the winning team colors or offer a percentage off of you products based on the winning score. If the winning teams score is 33, give 33% off purchases made by the first 20 customers. Something like this would grab my attention.

Everybody Loves Party Favors
Promote your business with products that will be used throughout a whole party. For example, get your logo on disposable items like cups, napkins and plates. Every time a person at that party looks down at the food on their plate they will see some part of your company logo. By the time they leave they just might Google your business just because they have been looking at the logo all night and want to know more about your company and isn’t that the purpose of logo’s?

Pick a side
This is not always easy especially since I myself usually don’t side with a team until halftime unless, of course, it’s the Eagles. But choosing a team early can be beneficial. Let’s say the 49ers were playing the Carolina Panthers, if you are a San Francisco fan, why not offer discounts and specials to everyone that walks into your business with a 49ers jersey on. Get creative, when the Giants played New England one year a NY bar banned the sale of Boston Sam Adams beer. You may be surprised to find how something so little can draw a crowd.

Don’t be left out in the cold this Super Bowl Sunday just because you didn’t have millions of dollars to spend on a commercial, there are unlimited ways for your business to gain exposure and profit. Through fun giveaways, sports promotions, football logo merchandise and by thinking outside the box you can discover a way to forever link your business with the Super Bowl.

Just for fun…here are some of the best Super Bowl commercials of 2013.

What are some ways your company participates in the Super Bowl? If you haven’t in the past, will your this year and if so, how?

41 thoughts on “Super Bowl Advertising: You Don’t Need a Commercial Just Some Creativity”

  4. Hello; sounds like you have doing a lot of thinking outside th box with this blog post. My favorite suggestion is using paper products with your logo at your own party. I know a food concessions business owner who has his logo on everything including th napkins people use. he did it originally to control costs and got the side benefit of brand recognition. I know restaurants have been doing that for years, but he was the first one i knew in the mobile food industry to start the practice. Here in houston the owner of gallery furniture mattress mac as he is called has often run a promotion where you can get half your purchase back if you buy by a certain date and correctly predict the winner. So, people should also be thinking of promotions that can encourage people to spend in advance of the game to get a benefit. And once you come up with something for Super Bowl sunday start working on something unique for march madness or just the final four and the daytona 500. and with the ncaa basketball don’t forget the women’s teams. In some parts of the country the women’s team is more popular than the mens such as the texas longhorns for example. thanks for getting us thinking and take care, max
    maxwell ivey recently posted…My first video and a special offerMy Profile

  6. Hi Arleen,

    Well, I have no interest in football, but I do love the super ball commercials though. They are so entertaining. I really enjoyed the ones you have here.

    I will add your blog to my list of new blogs I want to visit regularly this year. I know I’ve been here before, and I think I’ve seen you at my place, but would love to really get to know you more on this new year 🙂

    Happy New Year!
    Sylviane Nuccio recently posted…What Is All The Fuss About Hypnotic Writing?My Profile

  7. Gosh, I’d never thought about it that way. Even if you’re not a sports fan (like me), the SuperBowl does get on your radar with the commercials and half-time show. There’s always at least one car company that launches a brilliant ad at this time. That would be worth a blog post, for sure – perhaps also reflecting on SuperBowl commercials from years past … Great idea!
    Krystyna Lagowski recently posted…Volvo: Sweet on safetyMy Profile

  8. Hi Arleen,

    An epic, interesting and cute marketing content. You’ve really shared a good point on the marketing angle inclination to the most famous and popular sport event in the United states.

    I love the unusual marketing analytical point you mentioned in the ‘Grab the “after the game crowd”, I’m sure it will help bring in the dollars.

    From a blogging perspective, I’m sure that bloggers are also part of the remaining 200 million Americans that are not glued to the TV; promotional offers can also be offered in like manners.

    Thanks for sharing and do have a prosperous new year.
    James recently posted…Modern SEO: The end of social bookmarking websitesMy Profile

  9. As a teacher, I participated in the Super Bowl by having students analyze the commercials in the week following the game. Next, they worked in teams to make their own extremely low budget productions. It was a lot of fun and informative too. I barely pay attention to the game. I’m definitely all about the commercials and halftime show.
    Jeri recently posted…Author Interview: Christy BirminghamMy Profile

  11. I’m not a fan of football but I LOVE the commercials. You are so right about how a business can benefit from the Super Bowl, fan or not. It’s all about positioning your product to entice and encourage someone to use at the the time the watch the game (Such as pizza, chicken wings and take out of all kinds) or a myriad of reasons. 🙂
    Susan Cooper recently posted…Slow Cooker Chicken Stock: RecipeMy Profile

  12. Positively amazing how the price of these commercials has increased over the years and the incredible impact that this one event can have on a product and/or brand. So I think it’s brilliant to bring the hupla home by creating a tie to your own business… i.e. picking a side and offering discounts. On a personal note, it’s a tough game for me to watch…I love football, so I have an intense interest in the game. But I don’t want to run for a bathroom break during the commercials!! LOVE the commercials….it’s a dilemma 🙂
    Jacqueline Gum (Jacquie) recently posted…Where’s The Justice…Great Gams!My Profile

  13. I don’t watch Superbowl. It was intriguing when I first learned about Superbowl, after I moved to US, but I still didn’t watch it (I am particularly interested in watching any sport, at least not anymore. I prefer playing it :D).

    As for Super bowl ads, I do check a few of them online (especially, after I began to blog and learned about marketing). We could get a lot of ideas from these ads 🙂

    Anyways, thank you for sharing the post, Arleen 🙂

    Note: I couldn’t play the video (getting a please try again later error..might be my computer so I will stop by later).

    Also thanks for heads up on the logo. I have fixed it (I think…I’ve cross-tested it on other browser and it seems to be working fine now).
    Jeevan Jacob John recently posted…Goals, Resolutions and Motives – Why?My Profile

  17. Arleen,
    I know that I’m in the majority but I am not a football fan. Much to my husband’s chagrin, I just can’t follow it and I really don’t have the urge to learn it. However, I do love the Super Bowl commercials! That’s the only part of the game that I watch.

    I like the idea of reaching the 200 million Americans that aren’t watching the game! These are great tips and this was a very creative topic for a post.
    Sherryl Perry recently posted…Is GoDaddy Really Bad for Website Hosting?My Profile

  18. I always mute the TV when commercials come on. But isn’t it interesting that people look forward to the Super Bowl commercials. However, I don’t think they have the allure that, say, the famous Apple commercial had back in the 1980s. For some reason advertisers aren’t promoting their commercials in advance of the game as much as they used to. Let’s face it, creativity in advertising reached its peak in the 1960s and 1970s. It’s hard to get excited about most TV commercials today.
    Jeannette Paladino recently posted…Is Social Media Being Oversold?My Profile

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