Game Day for Advertisers

In case you’ve been living under a rock since the holidays, this Sunday is the BIG GAME. As the nation’s mega-TV-watching event of the year approaches, the teams involved are most certainly gearing up to see whose reputations will be crushed in agonizing defeat – and whose will be hoisted high on the pillars of victory, fame and even greater fortune.

Oh, and between the commercials there will also be a football game played by two NFL teams whose names escape me at the moment.

Yes, even if you’re not in the advertising industry like I am, the grand and glorious spectacle known as the Super Bowl has become as well-watched and celebrated for the commercials shown during the broadcast as for the football played on the field – sometimes more so. I’m not being original in any way when I say that far too often the commercials are more exciting and memorable than the game itself.

This Sunday’s match up should be no different. The television audience around the world is expected to be so huge that advertisers have spent almost $4 million for each thirty seconds of commercial time during the game. That’s nearly $8 million a minute! These guys should be in Congress, spending money like that.

How important have commercials become to the Super Bowl phenomenon? On Monday’s Tonight show on NBC, host Jay Leno didn’t interview a single player from either team playing this weekend. Instead, his big guest was Donny Deutsch, celebrity ad man and frequent commentator on the network’s Today show. Naturally, Deutsch’s own agency created several commercials slated to air during the game which he duly promoted.

Many Super Bowl advertisers have learned to leak – or tease, if you will – their commercial “spots” weeks before the game itself in hopes of generating the all-important buzz that gets people searching for their spot online and sharing links to them on social media outlets.

From my own extensive experience, I know that many advertisers and the agencies that produce their commercials hope and pray that someone, or even better, some group, finds the spots offensive enough to try to prevent them from airing during the game. When that happens, my friends, it’s marketing nirvana. Already last week, the media was muttering about actress Kate Upton’s supposedly-too-sexy Mercedes commercial that will be exposed during Sunday’s game. I have no doubt the folks at Mercedes are thrilled at the faux controversy.

As I write this, several groups are up-in-tattooed-arms about a leaked Volkswagen spot that features an office worker from Minnesota encouraging grumpy co-workers to cheer up. The joke is that this whiter-than-Wonder-Bread worker has a heavy Jamaican accent. Horrors! I think it’s a brilliantly calculated effort that will have millions of eyeballs glued to the TV screen to see if the commercial runs, or if it will replaced by another one the agency already has locked and loaded (pardon the gun-related analogy, Ms. Pelosi) to air in its place.

By the way, as an example of the value of a well-made commercial aired during the annual Super Bowl, I would bet that more people remember Volkswagen’s adorable Darth Vader Kid spot from last year’s game than which team won the game itself. Am I right?

In spite the highly calculated internet leakage of many spots, viewers can still expect surprises during the game. From what I hear, many of those surprises will come from the remarkably risqué nature of the ads. Oh joy. Like we don’t get enough of that any other day of the TV-viewing week. Interestingly, and in spite of stratospheric costs, more advertisers than ever will run longer 60- and 90-second spots this year, too.

So who will end up the big winner this weekend? Only time will tell. One thing’s certain – it will be great fun to watch. And with any luck there might even be a decent football game in between. I’ll see you ‘round town.

Bombs Bursting In Airheads

Now that the smoke has cleared from the sky, the backyard BBQs have cooled and the cobs have been de-corned, what do you remember most about this past Monday’s celebration of our country’s birth? The food? The fireworks? The sales? Or simply a day off work? Personally, I won’t forget the cacophony of car alarms triggered with every loud burst from the fireworks high above CVHS. Really, people?

With each 4^th of July observance, I can’t help but be reminded of Jay Leno’s ‘Jaywalking’ segments on the Tonight Show where he interviews random people on the street about various topics. A few times over the years his interviews have posed questions to average Joes about the meaning of our nation’s 4^th of July holiday. “Why do we celebrate the holiday?” he’ll ask, or “Who was George Washington?” Or even “What does Independence Day mean?” Believe it or not, many who walk among us don’t have the slightest idea that the 4^th of July and Independence Day are one and the same. I’ve watched with my mouth agape as Leno asks his subjects what or who we declared our independence from some 235 years ago, only to get blank stares in return. At first it’s funny. Then sad. Finally, it’s frightening.

I’ve seen Leno quiz college students, recent high school grads, parents, young adults, even some people who claim to be public school teachers. Granted, only the most dense and clueless make the show, but the fact that our society seems to be turning out increasing numbers of historically illiterate mouth-breathers is cause for alarm.

The truly despicable thing (in my opinion, at least) is that – as a direct and purposeful result of our left-leaning, multicultural-focused education system – more American students today could likely tell you what Cinco de Mayo is all about then could explain the importance of the Fourth of July. What have we done?

We’ve created a culture that is increasingly blasé and in many cases, apologetically embarrassed about the bright, shining uniqueness of this exceptional country. Even our current President, when asked if he believed in American exceptionalism said yes, he does, “… just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism …” In other words, America is no big deal. Ho hum. When’s my next tee time?

What can we do to reverse this dangerously deliberate dumbing down of our citizenry? I’m so glad you asked.

One of the wisest men alive today, Dennis Prager, is a Southern California resident, prolific author and talk show host with an impressive national radio audience (heard in my media market on KRLA 870AM ). This past week, Prager introduced what may turn out to be a the easiest, most effective way to teach the next generation some of the most important aspects of America’s founding. After years of stressing the importance of ritual and tradition not only in family life, but in the life of our country, Prager has created what he calls a 4^th of July Declaration.

This important new ceremony was patterned after the world’s best known commemoration of a historical event– the Jewish Passover meal, which has been instrumental in keeping alive the memory of the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt for over 3000 years. To participate (and appreciate!) this ceremony, one doesn’t have to be Jewish, Christian or any faith at all. You just have to be an American willing to dedicate less than ten minutes of your holiday to the cause of American community.

Predictably, the ceremony (and its author, for that matter) has been blasted by the left as trite, jingoistic, unnecessary, childish, corny and much worse. Then again, consider the source. A unhappier, more bitter and antagonistic lot has never has so much to say nor so many ways to say it than the left has in today’s digitally supported iComplain culture. 

And yet, the need for just such a ritualistic remembrance is great. As Prager states on his Prager University web site,  “As Americans … we need to rediscover the meaning of our country’s creation. And we need to do it every year. That is the reason for ritual – to enable us to remember. Without ritual, memory fades. And without memory, life – whether of the individual or of a nation – loses meaning.” Amen, sir.

Independence Day 2011 is already history. But I urge you to take a look at what Mr. Prager has created and see if it wouldn’t make next year’s holiday more meaningful, more memorable, and most importantly – more significant than any your family has experienced to date.

I’ll see you ‘round town.

Note: This is a slightly modified version of my column first published yesterday, 7.7.11 in the Crescenta Valley Weekly newspaper (cvweekly.com).

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