So the 2014 Super Bowl was played last Sunday. Seattle schooled Denver pretty decisively, and by most accounts it was not a particularly good year for the commercials. I can’t say definitively, as I didn’t watch it. (I’m not going to be one of those snobs who brags about watching Downton Abbey instead of watching the big game. I listened to the first half of Sunday’s blowout on satellite radio in the car.)
So what is worth remembering about this year’s NFL championship broadcast?
- Music during the Super Bowl’s half-time show is not live
We’ve had lots of talk about how “live” performances are at big public events like the Super Bowl. This year the Red Hot Chili Peppers didn’t even pretend to be playing live, leaving their guitars visibly unplugged. (Thanks to Dylan McLemore for the links.) - The Super Bowl provides great opportunities for social marketing, even if you don’t advertise during the Super Bowl
PR Newser had the top 14 PR and social media winners from this year’s Super Bowl, and one of them didn’t even do anything during the game. PR Newser honored last year’s big winner Oreo for sitting out the game and reminding followers of their brilliant instant response to last year’s stadium black out. While Radio Shack got a shout out for its nostalgia approach to its campaign, it wasn’t helped by the news that the company was closing 500 stores that broke this week.
- Reports that broadcast television is dead are premature
Super Bowl 2014 had the largest television audience in US history Sunday night, averaging 111.5 million viewers. Don’t tell me broadcast television is dead. - The best Super Bowl commercial this year was a local Georgia ad for a personal injury lawyer.
A flaming sledgehammer and a lawyer named Jamie Casino. This may well be the greatest local ad of all time!
- Google may be biggest Super Bowl winner (other than Seattle)
Given that Super Bowl ads are as big of a deal these days as the actual game, the big winner on the weeks surrounding the big game may be Google rather than the network carrying the game. Why? Because all those big budget ads that air once or twice during Sunday’s broadcast get repeat attention online, primarily through Google’s YouTube video service.