The Kansas City Chiefs won their first Super Bowl in over fifty years against the San Fransisco 49er’s last Sunday 31-20 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami. The two teams were tied going into halftime, but then KC scored 21 points in the 4th quarter to seal the game. Patrick Mahomes, the Chief’s quarterback, was the youngest player ever to earn both MVP honors and a Super Bowl. And it’s the first title for their coach, Andy Reid, 61, who up until Sunday night had been known as the best head coach to have never won a Super Bowl or NFL championship. This was his second Super Bowl appearance in his 21-year head coaching career.

Besides the ads, people were talking about how great Demi Lovato sang the national anthem after she just recently had a emotional performance on the Grammy’s.

The other big winners of the day were Shikira and Jennifer Lopez who performed for the Pepsi Halftime show. Their performance has gotten more coverage then the game itself.  Alex Rodriquez, J-Lo’s finance, tweeted while dancing with the audience, “AMAZING!! She ABSOLUTELY CRUSHED IT! Wow, that was so fun!”

Now back to the ads. Which one was your favorite? While the majority of the ads focused on humor, the ad that instead tugged at our heartstrings, Google’s “Loretta”, was the most effective ad of the year according to video ad tech company Unruly. I had seen the ad already since it had been released before the game, but still have to admit it choked me up a bit. It brought back memories of my parents who we had lost our mom seven years before dad. However, I still don’t understand what Google’s Assistant is really all about, so I may look into it a bit. One article I read pointed out that it was strange that Google spent this much money to show us a different way to catalog our photos.

Two of the top three ads by most articles I’ve read, including USA Today’s Ad Meter, were automobile ads. At number one was Bill Murray who was featured in Jeep’s Groundhog Day ad, along with an adorable groundhog.  This made perfect sense with Super Bowl Sunday being on Groundhog Day this year. Number Two was the Smaht Pahk, Hyundai Sonata’s Remote Smart Parking Assist feature which included David “Big Papi” Ortiz among others. I had to go back and watch the Jeep ad  since I missed it during the actual game…it was worth it.

One of my personal favorites, Weathertech’s Lucky Dog ad, featured Scout, a golden retriever cancer survivor. I also have a golden retriever, Molly, and as I wrote in last’s week post, my daughter attend the the University of Madison’s Veterinary School and is now a vet. So I am partial to this ad.

Another first was made in this year’s Super Bowl game with Offensive Assistant Coach of the 49ers, Katie Sowers, on the field. She is opening the door for women and LGBT people to help them pursue any career that they chose. Thanks to Microsoft for showcasing her in their ad Be The One: Katie Sowers.

Pepsi, which sponsors the Super Bowl halftime show, drove the largest Twitter conversation share with its interactive tweet campaign, which invited users to guess elements of the half time show. Pepsi used its campaign to drive awareness for Pepsi Zero Sugar, which included giveaways and major prizes tied into its new offerings. People were invited to Tweet #PepsiSweepstakesOK every time someone said OK during the broadcast to enter for a chance to win.

So we experienced a pretty good football game, some memorable performances by J-Lo, Shakira, and Demi Lovato and also were entertained by Bill Murray, those folks from Boston, Baby Nut, Lil Nas X and Sam Elliott, and a host of others. It was a fun few hours to spend at the start of February.

Here’s looking forward to the next NFL season. Hope you enjoyed my posts.

Happy New Year! Welcome to the new decade. I hope everyone’s holidays were great and you were able to share the time with family and friends. It’s taken me a little bit to get caught up and back to writing for this blog, but here I am. It’s already the 10th of January which means we’re way into the 2020 NFL Playoff season and a countdown to Super Bowl LIV. I normally take the first month of the year in this blog to discuss football and many of the marketing, advertising and promotional activities that surround it. So let’s start by reviewing where we stand.

First off, Super Bowl LIV will be played at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami on February 2. We are now down to the divisional playoff games which are this weekend. We’ve already had the Wild Card Weekend and my team, the Buffalo Bills, played in it, but had a heartbreaking lost to the Houston Texans. But we have great hope for them next year!

Here are the teams that will be playing this weekend that are listed in the screen below. They are the Minnesota Vikings, San Francisco 49er’s, Tennessee Titans, Baltimore Ravens, the Houston Texans, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Seattle Se hawks and the Green Bay Packers.

Marketing and promotions tied into the Super Bowl have been running even before we started the Playoff season. Pepsi, who has been an official Super Bowl sponsor, again ran their Super Bowl Sweepstakes which offers a chance to win a trip for two to be on the field for Pepsi’s Halftime Show.  This year we will be entertained by Jennifer Lopez and Shakira. To enter the Sweepstakes Pepsi invited people in December to follow Pepsi on Twitter and tweet @Pepsi with the hashtag #PepsiHalftimeSweeps. The trip includes round trip airline transportation to Miami, a hotel room for three nights, round trip ground transportation to and from Miami airport, the halftime show and $400 in spending money. Pepsi makes it clear that watching the game won’t be on the itinerary with this stated in the rules “No ability to attend or watch the game will be provided.” This Sweepstakes has now ended and 17 Grand Prize Winners have been selected.

One of my favorite brands is also an Official Sponsor and running a sweepstakes to win a trip to the game.  The Olay Super Bowl LIV Trip Sweepstakes just kicked off on January 7 and runs till January 20. People can enter through the brand’s loyalty program, Club Olay. For new Club Olay members people need to become a member by creating an account and once registered, click the “Enter Sweeps” button to receive an entry. Existing Club Olay members who are subscribed to receive emails need to log-in and click the “Enter Sweeps” button.  Existing Club Olay members who are not subscribed to receive emails must first opt-in to receive future communications.

Grand prize winner will receive a 4-day/3-night trip to Miami, FL for themselves and a guest to attend Super Bowl LIV. The prize package includes round trip airfare for two, hotel accommodations for 3 nights and $100 Uber gift card.

I’m looking forward this weekend to be entertained by some great football games. I was lucky enough to get Lamar Jackson on my Fantasy team this year, so now that the Bills are out of the playoffs, I’m going with the Ravens. A 49’ers vs. Ravens Super Bowl match up would be great.