Super Sunday

Today is Super Bowl Sunday. By the time most of you read this and respond, the big game will be history, and there will be great celebration in either Chicago or Indianapolis.

I saw a story this morning about a church that wanted to host a Super Bowl party, complete with big screen projection TV, snacks, and a good clean alcohol-free and smoke-free environment. Sounds a lot like what Mr. Crafts invited us all to at Common Ground, right? According to this story, copyright laws prohibit the showing of the Super Bowl if the screen is bigger than 55 inches or if admission is charged. It sounds like most of these churches, when notified of the NFL's ruling, simply agreed to comply with the law. How did Grace Point adjust to the ruling?

Many people view the Super Bowl as much for the commercials as for the actual game. I've been reading Michael Crichton's ( Jurassic Park) latest novel, Next, which explores the whole area of genetic research, including stem cells, cloning, and other hot-button issues of ethical conflict. In the story, one geneticist tries to pitch the idea of using genes to create fish that can glow with a corporate logo--and it wouldn't be exploitation of the environment, it would be more like sponsorship and protection. Why advertise like this? Because Americans receive exposure to some 3,000 advertising inputs per day, whether it be television, radio, popup ads on websites, and the like. We are so conditioned to a barrage of advertising that we have learned to ignore it. In order to be seen, and remembered, an advertisement must be unique.

One such unique advertisement is on the pregnant belly of this Chicago woman, who wanted to see her beloved Bears so desperately she auctioned off space on herself in order to get Super Bowl tickets. You may not remember many of the ads you see, but Ubid.com is certainly counting on people remembering their name as it appears on Ms. Gordon's pregnant belly. Perhaps that's why Super Bowl advertising is so expensive. Companies know that people will actually be watching and voting on the best commercials. It's not only the championship of the NFL, but the championship of the best marketing departments in the country, too!

I'll try to update this post after the game and we can share opinions about the cleverest ads. More importantly, I'd like to ask about the effectiveness of advertising and how our school and the churches who send their students here ought to be promoting ourselves.

UPDATE: Here is a review from CNN on the advertising spots. Most instant surveys are rating the Bud Light spots (paper, scissors, rock) highly. Blockbuster's ad with animals using a real mouse to order was popular. I thought it was interesting that the Doritos ads were user-submitted and not produced by some marketing wiz on Madison Avenue.