Imagine being a marketing executive for Budweiser or Doritos or Pepsi – and having the pressure to deliver a Super Bowl ad that’s more entertaining and effective than last year. You might come up with the memorable ‘Weego’ featuring a dog that fetches Bud Light when you call its name or create the clever ‘sling baby’ that snags a bag of chips out of big brother bully’s hands. Then again, you might have a distorted opinion that your audience is moved to make a purchase because you show Danica Patrick scantily clad or David Beckham in his briefs.
Sometimes I wonder who has more pressure in ‘America’s Biggest Sporting Event’: the players and coaches or the advertisers. Yesterday’s game really didn’t have a clear winner in the ‘what happens during timeouts at $3.5 million every 30 seconds’ category. I heard a radio announcer this morning say, “We kept waiting and nothing outstanding ever appeared.”
The challenge with trying to top your greatest hit is it’s difficult to keep raising the bar. (Think about Madonna’s new single as compared to some of her best-known releases.) That’s why some are questioning Tom Brady’s legacy today… as if taking his team to five Super Bowls isn’t enough of a career accomplishment. On the other hand, experts are talking Hall of Fame for Eli Manning. What a difference a couple of minutes make at sports’ highest level.
For the rest of us mere mortals, perhaps it’s best to just try and be a little better each day. Over time that makes a big difference in the results of your company. Most of all, thank your stars there aren’t 80,000 people and a billion more around the world watching you work right now.
For the record, at the Super Bowl party I attended, laughs were loudest for these five spots:
M&M’s – ‘It’s that kind of a party’
Doritos – ‘Dog buries cat collar’
Skechers – ‘Mr. Quigley dog racing’
ETrade – ‘Speed Dating’
Acura – ‘Jerry Seinfeld’
