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Opinion: Networks Raise Their Games With SB Promos

January 28, 2010


By Jonathan Block-Verk


No corner of the media landscape compares with the noise and fanfare of the Super Bowl.  And each year, as the biggest names in brand advertising lay down mountains of cash for multiple :30s in the big game, the biggest advertiser on Super Bowl Sunday is always the network that is broadcasting the game.

Last year, the biggest brand advertiser was Anheuser-Busch, with four-and-a-half minutes of airtime. NBC retained more than seven minutes of media at an estimated value of $42 million.  
 
Even as the stakes grow and the roster of advertisers change, one constant is that the wizards in charge of network promotion have a very, very big day each Super Bowl Sunday.  Just as the Colts and the Saints rose to the challenge throughout the playoffs and seek to peak on Feb. 7 as they compete for the championship, the CBS promo team led by George Schweitzer and Ron Scalera are surely doing the same.  
 
Ignoring, for a moment, that a football game is played on Super Bowl Sunday, let’s look back at Super Bowls past. In 2007, the Colts handed the Bears a defeat, but more people may remember the :10 CBS spot featuring Oprah Winfrey and David Letterman curled up on the couch as husband and wife watching the game together. The spot plugged The Late Show with David Letterman and shrewdly played off of the rumors that the two talk stars had an ongoing feud.  
 
Last year, NBC pulled out all the stops in a cinematic spot pitting the cast of Heroes against a real NFL line in a football game. A perky Hayden Pannettiere gets pummeled by a huge linebacker, but quickly snaps her collarbone back into place with her Heroes powers. The top-notch production value and football tie-in make for a clever, funny and visually pleasing promo.  
 
NBC also took advantage of Super Bowl XLIII to promote its other properties including Hulu, Bravo and USA -- integrating each subset of the brand into either pre-game coverage or the big show. It will be interesting to see if CBS uses the valuable airtime to promote its other properties such as TV.com.