California-based tech company Mophie today will announce plans to advertise on NBC's Super Bowl XLIX broadcast, becoming the "first new advertiser to sign up since" the NFL was "widely seen as mishandling domestic violence charges against some players," according to Bruce Horovitz of USA TODAY. Beyond Mophie, the announcement may be "no less critical to the NFL and NBC." For an event where advertisers pay upward of $4M for a 30-second slot, the "usual network braggadocio about ad sales has been mostly absent since the NFL's image issues took center stage more than a month ago." About 35 advertisers are "ultimately expected to spend a combined" $200M-plus on around 60 Super Bowl slots. This is a "rare moment for new Super Bowl advertises to shine -- before giants such as Anheuser-Busch, Coke and Pepsi begin discussing their Big Game ad plans in any detail." Mophie CEO Daniel Huang said that the Super Bowl is the company's "biggest opportunity to become familiar to the 95% of Americans who have never heard of Mophie." Huang added that he "doesn't believe there will be any negative impact for linking with the NFL and the Super Bowl during this fragile moment for the league and its ongoing domestic violence issues." The agency behind the ad, Deutsch, L.A., has "created previous Super Bowl spots for veteran advertisers, including VW and Taco Bell." Deutsch CEO Mike Sheldon said that this will be the agency's "first ad for a 'new' Super Bowl advertiser." Sheldon: "Anheuser-Busch will make us cry. Doritos will make us laugh. And Kia will spend $10 million on explosions. Given that backdrop, we have to find a way to stand out" (USA TODAY, 10/13).
