By modern streaming media standards, I’m practically a living fossil. Left in the dust by defectors to Spotify, I cling to my circa-2011 media habits.

Most companies don’t take the time to truly think about their competition, and that’s a huge mistake – and a potential risk of your customers flocking to competitors for something you weren’t aware of.

Written By VI Marketing and Branding’s PR Director Larry “Mac" McAlister

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. 

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”.

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.

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.

The Super Bowl has a long-standing tradition as not only the most anticipated football game of the year, but also the night where companies strut out their ad execs’ best work, from the Budweiser Frogs to Clint Eastwood, Super Bowl Sunday brings out the best (hopefully) in Advertising.

Follow Chad Keffer on Twitter at @AppMonkey1