13 Lessons in Marketing, Super Bowl Style

Each year, the Super Bowl provides marketers opportunity to study and learn from the games advertisers, players, and coordinators. Super Bowl XXXVI was no exception. Foremost, of course, was The Games appropriately patriotic theme. Americas mettle and proud heritage were showcased to the world through this years red, white, and blue logo; music selection by the performers; and depictions of historic U.S. icons. The Game further supported U.S. patriotism through the presence of the armed services, police department, and fire department at the game as well as interviews with troops in Afghanistan. Finally, as if by design, the unlikely Patriots won the championship.

Super Bowl XXXVI provided other lessons as well - lessons applicable to small budgets as well as large. Because the same marketing basics and strategic rules apply whether you are marketing online or off, the lessons can be applied to Internet as well as traditional marketing activities.

On to the lessons - one for each Old Glory stripe...

Lessons from the Advertisers

Lesson 1: Know your target audience.

Both Pepsi and Levi demonstrated this lesson.

Pepsis commercial re-creating several campaigns through the years showed how the company changed its advertising and image to reflect the teen targets interests. The commercial also played to the current teen markets interest in nostalgia.

You may have noticed that Levi ran the same commercial twice during the game - the first time in English, the second time in Spanish. This reflects an awareness and appreciation of target audience demographics.

Lesson 2: Research

Before airing the Super Bowl commercial, Levi completed a customer preference survey of visitors to the Web site. The winning spot was aired during The Game.

Lesson 3: Consider launching your campaign around an event.

E*Trade launched a new campaign by firing the monkey and officially announcing a new image. This new positioning carries through to the E*Trade Web site. You can also watch the commercial on E*Trades site.

Lesson 4: Teasers can build interest.

Anonymous mLife commercials in the days before the Super Bowl caused many to wonder, "Just what is mLife?" Late in the game, AT&T revealed mLife as the concept of a mobile, wireless life. Mlife, presumably, is prelude to a series of new AT&T products.

Lesson 5: Research trademarks carefully.

As a result of the mLife campaign, MetLife initiated a lawsuit against AT&T, claiming mLife will dilute the MetLife brand. The lesson? Be aware of the potential for opposition from those with similar names, even if your products are unrelated. This pertains to domain names as well .

Lesson 6: Sponsorships can help build brands.

Schwab, E*trade, and Miller all helped brand equity by sponsoring portions of The Game this year. Consider this same tactic on a smaller scale. Numerous events, ezines, Web sites, and local causes offer sponsorship opportunities.

Lesson 7: Events are new product opportunities.

Reebok offered limited edition commemorative sneakers. Super Bowl apparel is abundant. You can apply this same technique by brainstorming new products related to both online and offline events.

Lesson 8: Be sensitive to changes in sentiment.

This year E*Trade ditched the cute monkey in favor of a more trustworthy company image. Likely, this is due in part to a change in values and expectations from the companys customers.

Lesson 9: Strategically place brand logos.

Motorola produced headsets worn by The Games coaches. You probably already knew - their logos flashed on the screen in every coach shot. Logos were predominant on the earpieces and facing outward on the microphones. Take a cue from Motorola and place your logos where they will be seen.

Lessons from the Game

The league and teams themselves displayed lessons in marketing related to strategy, analysis, and implementation. Among them:

Lesson 10: Involve your customers.

The NFL draws interest in both its broadcasts and Web sites by conducting votes online. During the game, fans were asked to take various polls online and could vote for the Super Bowl MVP.

Lesson 11: Promote across media.

The team used multiple media outlets - game broadcasts, SuperBowl.com, and NFL.com - to promote the game. Additionally, they synergistically built audience for all three outlets by cross-promoting each through the other two.

Lesson 12: Take advantage of competitors weaknesses.

Look for a chink in the competitions armor and use it to your best advantage. One of the few Rams weaknesses is a propensity for turnovers. The overmatched Patriots knew exploiting this weakness was one of the few chances they had of winning The Game. When the opportunities came, they were ready.

Lesson 13: Implementation is key.

The underdog Patriots played a strong game. When it was time to execute, they pulled it off well. The same holds true for marketing programs. Preparation and planning is meaningless without effective implementation.

Copyright © Bobette Kyle, 2002. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Bobette Kyle has over 10 years experience in Corporate Marketing; Brand and Product Marketing; Field Marketing and Sales; and Management. She helps businesses integrate traditional and Internet marketing strategies through her newsletter, http://www.websitemarketingplan.com/sr4.htm. For a step-by-step approach to developing a Web site marketing plan, read her book How Much For Just the Spider?, Strategic Web Site Marketing for Small-Budget Businesses.

To contact online, see details below:

bobette@WebSiteMarketingPlan.com
http://www.WebSiteMarketingPlan.com