COMS 454
Research Paper
Kevin McDonald
The Super Bowl
The society that we live in has taught everyone how to constantly consume, to an extent where no one even realizes how connected he or she is aiding consumerism. It has reached a point where consumerism is consuming consumers. Ill be the very first person to admit I am just as absorbed as the next, but for each person it’s a different set of products or brands that makes them feel like they connect. At a very young age I always loved sports and often was considered a fanatic by my friends and family. But one sport more than any of the other sports had this effect on me, the type of effect that would dictate my moods and decisions through the rest of the day. That …show more content…
sport was football, maybe it was because I never got a chance to play football, or because I watched my first game when I was 8 years old and saw this team in purple and gold play a great game only to lose in the championship game. Whatever the reason was since the age of 8 I have been a consumed by the Minnesota Vikings and the National Football League. Starting from the Draft combine as early as April, all the way through the very last day of the each NFL season the Super Bowl. I have sat through almost every game of each season for the past 15 years, and the reason I’m sharing this information with you is for you to understand that I am definitely qualified to discuss the National Football League. But my topic is about one specific event in the NFL season, and that event is the Super Bowl. I conducted some research to gain further knowledge about the Super Bowl, so I could discuss different aspects of this special event. Ill be sharing ideas of the economics behind the Super Bowl, the marketing involved with the Super Bowl, all the way down to the actual athletic piece of the game that effects each teams image as a whole.
The Super Bowl has evolved into a national holiday in the United States, granted the game is played on a Sunday, everyone finds themselves at party or an event that is showing the game on that day. The key to the Super Bowl is that attracts diverse cultures as its audience, along with finds ways to appeal to both men and women. Have you ever heard someone say I’m excited to watch some commercials? Well the Super Bowl has found a way to make people say that sentence and say it proudly. On this day there are many types of people that attend a Super Bowl party. As we run through these types of people one by one, the goal will be to point out how they are aiding the money making machine that is the Super Bowl. The first person you will encounter at every Super Bowl party is the die-hard fan, he has been dreaming about the day his team will make it to the big game and that day has finally arrived! On a side note, sadly I have yet to experience this day, but that’s story is for another story probably one that involves physiological effects of people rooting for teams that never win. Regardless, this person has been addicted to his team and the NFL for years. He owns many jerseys of his favorite team and has a never-ending passion for the sport. He has been so involved in football that he would be willing to spend any amount of money if his significant other allowed him to, to attend the game. These types of fans have spend so much money on the top sporting TV packages, team memorabilia, along with weekly pizza orders that they might as well have stocks with Dominos, DirecTV, Nike, and the beer company of their choice. For this individual its past the idea of knowing you are being consumed, its more about enjoying the product that’s being put in front of you and not caring about what the media world is trying to brainwash into your head through every commercial piece. Also this game has a special place in his heart, because there is a high level of emotional intensity that will be attached to this game. So regardless of the result of the game, this type of individual will never forget this game because of the level of emotion involved when watching it.
The next type of individual at the game is type of person who really doesn’t care for the game, but always attempts to be involved as much as he knows. He throws in money during quarterly and half time bets, sits around and eats, watches each commercial mentally analyzing what he enjoyed more but not talking about it in front of his friends, and occasionally throws out a football reference. They say that an average of 40 % of Super Bowl viewers are not football fans. These type of viewers are what feed the Super Bowl the most money, but on usual Sundays when the game is on they are no where near a TV but for this event they not only watch the game, they follow commercials, participate in the betting aspect of football which is illegal here in Los Angeles, along with eat and drink the same things they are watching commercials about. This type of viewer is aiding in every aspect of the marketing process that takes place in during the Super Bowl, he uses it as an excuse to get with the guys and kick back, and throw a little money around. Moving on to the females, there are generally two types of females that are involved in Super Bowl Parties, one is the like the die-hard fan either knows everything about football or is trying to learn and fit in on that day. Regardless they are usually wearing a football jersey as well and partaking in all the activities that come with the Super Bowl. Then there are the women who just host the parties, and don’t have the slightest interest in the game. They are the ones that are running around super markets shopping and making sure everything is ready for the big day, but for them its an attempt to show off their cooking and hosting abilities, they can care less who wins, they just wanted their guests to enjoy the experience. The reason why the different types of people who are at these Super Bowl events is being discussed to point at that regardless of the individual when at a party for the Super Bowl you will be surrounded by Brands. Whether you are watching on a SAMSUNG TV and realize how clear the HD is on it, or if the homeowner has Bud lights passed around all the way down to the type chips and ketchup they choose to use you will be surrounded by a specific brand. This one sporting event has a lingering effect on the economy believe it or not. Last year consumers spend about $5.6 billion dollars on Super Bowl related items. So as you can see if you’re the lucky individual who gets to host a Super Bowl party you have different styles of people you have to adapt to so brace yourself.
Moving to a more interesting point those darn commercials that everyone goes crazy about year in and year out. I mean seriously how excited can you get to watch commercials? Personally I see so many commercials I’m sick and tired of them, but apparently America doesn’t agree with me, because roughly 41% percent of viewers re-watch the commercials online after the game. Really, so these commercials are so funny that you want to go out of your way to find it and watch it again? Well I guess I’m guilty as charged I did do that for that M& M commercial last year, because that was so funny who doesn’t like a commercial that has “ I’m Sexy and I know it” in it. The people in charge of M & M know how to reel an audience in, if you asked me to tell you about any commercial from last year I cant remember a single one, except for the M & M one. Why you ask, that’s because of the song that was in the background of the commercial” Sexy and I know,” by LMFAO. These commercial companies keep getting smarter ideas on how to attract the attention of different types of viewers, and we can understand why. The ability to air a commercial during the Super Bowl is not easy, it’s a luxury. The cost of an 30-second commercial in 2009 was $2.8 million, so they better figure out of a creative twist to put into that 30 seconds to make it worth while or else someone is losing their job. Think about it on a different level, the Super Bowl this year is in New Orleans, which recently changed their stadiums name to the Mercedes Benz Superdome. Every time they go to a commercial break there will be a shot the name of the stadium on peoples television screen. That’s advertising at its finest, people that watch the game don’t realize that they keep seeing it but its there for them regardless if they know it is or not.
After sharing with you the stereotypes of individuals you see at a Super Bowl party, the idea that is more central to the sport is the identity of each team in the league. Each team is it’s on unique style of brand that they try to polish and constantly improve in order to succeed. This brand identity is dependent on three individuals, the owner, general manager, and the head coach. These three individuals play a crucial role in the overall success of a franchise, because in reality sports is a business in its self whether you choose to see that way or not is up to you. But at the end of the day, each franchises goal is to make money, stay in business, and do what its in the best interest of the business.
In football there is a simple formula that always allows a franchise to be successful, and that is consistency plus winning equals Super Bowl. As previously discussed when your team reaches the Super Bowl the money is finds ways to get to you, there is not much one needs to do to make money after making it to the big game. Outside of the millions of dollars that are generated from advertising and shopping for memorabilia, the winning team also makes money for winning it all. Many fans believe the owner, manager, and coach have very little to do with the success of a team, but in reality they have all to do with their success. The argument that is most often thrown around is that the players play the game not the owners or coaches. To put it in the simplest way they choose the players, meaning the players just go out and perform based on the team that has been put the together.
There is statistical proof that helps argue the point based on the Poisson regression model. The model takes into consideration the number of wins depending on the offensive and defensive performances statistics along with other issues involving the game. The important thing to discuss is the success of current winning franchises, lets take a look at the last couple of Super Bowl winners and discuss there head coaches, and managers. The Green Bay Packers, The Pittsburgh Steelers, the New England Patriots, and the New York Giants are the teams that we will dissect to find out if this argument helps develop a more successful brand of football, which eventually leads to more money coming in for the franchise.
The Green Bay Packers, the first team to ever win a Super Bowl. The trophy is named after their head coach Vince Lombardi that should summarize the importance of winning to this franchise. They have won 13 league championships, but when the Super Bowl was officially was termed they have held up the Lombardi trophy twice in 1996 and 2010. From 2000 till 2012 they have only had two coaching changes, which shows that is continuous continuity through out the organization. The Green Bay Packers are a unique franchise, because there is not one owner they are publicly owned by the city, actually there is a gentleman in our class who is technically part owner of the Packers. The Packers are a class organization and are always to model for becoming a winning franchise.
Next up, the Pittsburgh Steelers they have won six Super Bowls in their franchises history and two of them have come in the last decade. The most amazing fact about the Steelers franchise is that they have had three head coaches since 1969. They literally have created the idea of stability through the National Football League. The Rooney family has owned the Steelers since it was created in 1933 that also shows the other spectrum of continuity. The franchise even has maintained their vintage jerseys as an attempt to show their originality. They have also implemented the concept of the terrible towel, which is a yellow towel that they give out each fan when attending a game. This is also another example of developing and maintaining a faithful fan base, and a faithful fan base will eventually lead to consistent attendance, which ultimately means more money.
The New York Football Giants, this franchise is so successful that announcers use the word football as a part of their team name. This shows that the franchise is so important in the sports history that it needs to be discussed when you introduce someone to football. They are probably the prime example of how a head coaching change leads to personal change and can ultimately determine your faith as a franchise. In 2004, the Giants hired Tom Coughlin, that same year the Giants orchestrated a trade to draft Peyton Manning’s younger brother Eli Manning. Since 2004, the Giants have won two Super Bowls, and in each of those Super Bowls the Most Valuable Player has been, you guessed it Eli Manning. The consistency in the front office over the last decade has led the Giants to be the second most successful franchise in the last ten years; there is only one team that have won more Super Bowl’s in the last decade then the Giants.
The New England Patriots, since 2002 the Patriots have made it to the Super Bowl 5 times winning it all 3 times. The two times they lost the Super Bowl was against the same team, the New York Giants, both games had one huge play at the end of the game that dictated the out come or else the Patriots would have won 5 Super Bowls in ten years which is empire like. In 2000, the Bill Belichick dynasty began, and in 2001 he found his man to play Quarterback, Tom Brady. Since then they have gone on to shatter many single season records, along with utterly humiliate many opponents. They have also proved that the model of consistency and continuity within an organization ultimately leads to success. The reason these franchises were discussed were to show that each and every one of them have developed a style, a culture within their organization to find success and once they have found it they stuck with it. Its not that these are the only teams that win Super Bowls, but the brand they establish by winning so many have left permanent marks on the NFL.
The purpose and goal of sharing all of this information is to be able to help everyone understand that in any business the brand of the business is what helps develop consistency and success.
What the Super Bowl does is help promote brands in every aspect possible so much that it should be called the Super Brand Bowl. Whether they brands are appear during every commercial, behind the end zone, or the actual brand of the football teams that appear all over the stadium some type of brand recognition is involved in during the big game. What our country has done is help promote the sport so much that most individuals don’t even realize that they call collectively gather yearly to share the experience of the Brand bowl together.
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