I’m a huge sports fan and I can boast having been lucky enough to attend at least a playoff game in all of the 4 major US sports as well as an Olympic gold medal hockey match; Salt Lake 2002 where the US lost to Canada. 

I grew up with NFL films. Every Saturday afternoon I’d sit in front of our console TV and watch Steve and Ed Sabol deliver their rendition of a famous NFL championship game - written in classic, over the top prose. Their words and film production help make phrases like “the frozen tundra" and techniques like super slo-mo imagery popular and the norm in today’s high-tech, fast-fact society.

Back in the day - five to 10 years ago - companies used to spend $1.5-2.5 million for a 30-second Super Bowl spot in hopes it made enough of an impression to be the office water-cooler talk the next day.

A lot of things stand out when I think about why I love to watch football. What I want to talk about here, however, are the things that don’t stick out; the little things I take for granted when I watch a game. Things that happen in the background that dramatically affect my ability to watch and enjoy a game on TV. I’m speaking of things like the number of camera angles available, the placement of those cameras, sideline microphones, motion graphics that analyze replays- stuff of that nature. Let’s call the sum of these elements “Production Value”.

I’m a list hound. Riddled with ADD from birth, I dig information delivered in memorable, bite-sized chunks. Top 5s, 10s, Rankings, Best and Worst. Can’t get enough.

Volkswagen rolled out one of the most popular, and widely viewed Super Bowl ads of all time with its “The Force” ad featuring a cute kid as a mini-Darth Vader two years ago.

During Super Blog week, we’re examining Super Bowl marketing through various prisms: technological, creative, demographic, and more. Today, we’ll take a look at the politics of race surrounding Volkswagon’s new Super Bowl ad.

For years now, we’ve been writing about the importance of placing Television ads in live programming to avoid the DVR. With over 111.3 million viewers last year, the Super Bowl is obviously the ultimate opportunity to take advantage of a captive audience. That said, the question isn’t whether or not people are going to see this spot? The question is: Is the $4 million price tag worth it?

Outside of many high profile crisis communications efforts, possibly no public relations campaign has been so large, and so successful over the past four decades than that of the Super Bowl.

Do you really like the Super Bowl ads? Really?

How powerful of an advertising venue is the Super Bowl telecast? Almost every year, the Super Bowl propels a lesser known brand forward. GoDaddy. Apple’s MacIntosh. Apple’s Ipod. E- Trade. But, one brand always stands out in my mind when we discuss the brand recognition that can be achieved from an ad during the big game: Master Lock. Remember the spot where a guy fired a high-powered rifle and sent the bullet straight through the lock, but it didn’t open. Then he walked up to it and pulled on it and it remained locked.

As an ad writer, I never stop pushing boundaries. I never cease trying to stretch the limits of what I’m allowed to do, what I’m allowed to say.