Making a Difference at the Super Bowl

When it comes to Super Bowl advertising, we tend to focus on the shock & awe, or the big reveal, or the entertainment value of the big brands...it is the marketer's holiday after all. It's a day for the big brands to shine and to show off their power, especially the ones that can afford the $4.5million price tag.

Every brand on air, online, in-store, and at the stadium is shouting, "Look at me, look at me, look at me." Who will win this game? That'll come in the post game analysis.

NBC announced that it finally sold all of its inventory, thank you very much. A lot of the spots are :60, which means these brands have spent close to $9.0million just to show up.

But this "big stuff" is not all that happens during the big game. There's a lot more going on than just the big spend, so I'd like to highlight a couple of very worthy initiatives that are worth their weight in gold...two brands that are clearly trying to make a difference at the Super Bowl.

First, the NFL itself. All I can say is WOW...this one actually made me cry out loud the first time I previewed it. I don't care why the NFL released it, I don't care if they were forced to release it, I don't care about their agenda. They released it and it's powerful...it's going to help make a difference. 'Nuff said.

I'd also like to commend Uber for its partnership with MADD during the Super Bowl. Super Bowl Sunday is one of the biggest drunk driving nights of the year, and these two brands are doing something to help people keep safe. For every Uber ride taken Sunday night, the brand will donate $1 to MADD...as long as the rider uses a special promo code. I know we'd probably rather see them drop the "code" part, but I'm sure it's part of an effort to actually track results. I've participated in the brand's other causes, and trust me it's easy. Bravo either way. Let's hope the initiative keeps a few more people safe.

One more...I have a feeling, given the issue that Go Daddy stirred about the fair treatment of animals in their "puppy" preview, that we just might see an animal rights PSA pop up as well. We will have to wait and see.

As I've said many times, we're always searching for Super Bowl advertising "magic." Everyone's talking about it, and everyone's debating about where we'll find it. Maybe we just did?

What's your experience?  JIM.

PS - We'll be tweeting live about the advertising during the big game at #SuperBowlExp