The NFL Network is reprising its “predictions” ad to run during Fox’s broadcast of the Super Bowl.
The ad will feature a flashback to September to show how much things can change over an NFL season. Scripting was still being finalized for a shoot by agency Triple Double, scheduled for this past weekend. However, one suggestion was a fan saying, “The closest Eli Manning will get to a Super Bowl this year is going with Peyton.”
A similar “predictions” spot ran in the regular rotation for NFL Network last year.
Moving to the digital side, Planters is pairing its Super Bowl spot with a presenting sponsorship of what used to be Superbowl.com but which has been rechristened NFL.com/superbowl. Other Web sponsors include Circuit City, offering an autographed football from a hall of famer with the purchase of a TV from NFL sponsor Samsung.
Other NFL sponsors on the site include Campbell’s Soup, Canon and Cadillac, artfully integrating its online voting for the game’s MVP with TV and online Super Bowl MVP vignettes.
“As we become more multimedia sales driven, I’d look at Cadillac’s activation as a template,” said Ron Furman, NFL Network senior vice president of customer marketing and sales.
The official programgot an election-
year boost from cable news
networks.
CUSHIONING THE BLOW: For the 15th Super Bowl, Meeting Street Promotions, Westport, Conn., will be supplying the branded seat cushions that have become a requisite premium at the game. Halftime show sponsor Bridgestone gets its logo on 74,000 seat cushions.
Sponsored goodies in the pouch affixed to the cushion include an offer from other NFL corporate patrons. Pepsi will tie in its Pepsi Stuff card for one free music download or five Pepsi Stuff points. Sprint will again offer a postage paid plastic pouch with which to recycle unwanted cell phones; while NFL Network has a card good for a free download of Super Bowl XLII highlights from the NFL Network Store on iTunes.
According to Meeting Street founder Greg Rosen’s calculations, this will be the year his company tops the million mark in Super Bowl cushions.
PROGRAMMED FOR PROFIT: Another perennial Super Bowl cash cow is getting an unexpected bonus due to this year’s presidential election. The 228-page Super Bowl program, published by HO Zimman and distributed by FMI, has 100 pages of paid advertising, including separate ads from television rivals CNN and Fox News, both touting their election coverage, said Craig Ellenport, senior editor at NFL Publishing/NFL.com.
Other advertisers are NFL corporate patrons Visa, Pepsi, Gatorade, Samsung, Coors, Sprint, Sirius Satellite Radio and Campbell’s Soup, along with licensees the Northwest Co. and Wilson, which have NFL exclusives on blankets and footballs, respectively. Ads from outside the NFL sponsor family of note include the normally endorsement-shy Tom Brady pushing Stetson cologne, Ralph Lauren’s Chaps apparel brand and Sony.
About a million copies retailing for $15 are printed and distributed in bookstores, newsstands and widely in the Phoenix market. A special stadium-only edition goes for $20.
