| EVENT REPORT 02.03.09 4:05 PM |
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More Super Bowl Shots: Events From NBC, NFL, Pepsi, and DirecTV
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 | Blake Lively at DirecTV's Celebrity Beach Bowl in St. Petersburg on Saturday
Photo: Getty Images |
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Following yesterday's coverage of some of the biggest parties surrounding the Super Bowl, here's a look at some more events, from big game broadcast network NBC, DirecTV, Pepsi, and the NFL.
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Super Bowl, NBC, N.F.L., DirecTV |
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| NEWS 02.02.09 12:48 PM |
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What the Press Said About Super Bowl Weekend: Low-Key, With Little Imagination
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 | Bruce Springsteen at the Super Bowl halftime show
Photo: Jamie Squire/Getty Images |
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Super Bowl weekend came and passed with little surprising news. After weeks of speculation that the party scene in Tampa would be more subdued this year, that’s exactly what happened. And at the game itself, Bruce Springsteen's halftime show has earned praise for being adequate—neither an inspiration nor the kind of disaster seen in the past.
Celebrations started as early as Wednesday and carried on through last night, but the most successful parties seemed to have been Thursday and Friday night. Sports Illustrated reporter Arash Markazi named John Madden’s “Madden Bowl XV” the party of the week, though he also noted that ESPN The Magazine’s party would likely earn the rest of the press’s affections—mainly because the two shared something in common. “ESPN and Madden were the only two parties that didn't scale back from previous years (if anything they grew from last year) and it paid off,” wrote Markazi.
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Super Bowl, Bruce Springsteen, ESPN the Magazine |
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| NEWS 01.30.09 5:23 PM |
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Maxim and Fox Shrink Super Bowl Parties, While Sports Illustrated, Audi, and Victoria's Secret Vanish
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 | Last year's Maxim party
Photo: Alexandra Wyman and Theo Wargo/WireImage |
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The recession is taking a toll on the Super Bowl festivities this year, with more than a few brands following Playboy's lead, and bailing on the hosting duties they've typically taken on. Among them is Audi, who last year took over a private manse in Phoenix's chi-chi Paradise Valley neighborhood to host its Audi Forum, a multi-day gifting suite and party venue that showcased the company's R8 vehicle atop a plexiglass truss in the pool.
Also taking a back seat this year is veteran host Sports Illustrated. The magazine plans to trot swimsuit model Brooklyn Decker around town this weekend, but is not sponsoring any parties. Same goes for Victoria's Secret, which hosted its first gifting suite and Saturday-night party last year, going head to head with longtime host Playboy. After two years of producing Vice the Party, Bookem Danno's Dan Parente opted out this year because "Sponsorship money was scarce and ticket sales even tougher." Instead he's producing Coors Light's Apex party tonight in Orlando, where Nelly will perform.
Lad mag Maxim is returning as a host, but with a scaled-back party. Produced by TK New York's Tracy Kessler and Maxim corporate events director Amanda Civitello, tonight's party at the Ritz Ybor Tampa will welcome roughly 1,200 guests, half of last year's 2,500 attendees. DJs AM and Vice are returning, though no "surprise" entertainment act is scheduled. (T-Pain and Akon performed in 2008.) Samsung is back as a lead sponsor, with its 26-foot tunnel of 40 flat-screen TVs.
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Super Bowl |
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| NEWS 01.30.09 12:09 PM |
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This Year's Upfront Week Falls Into Place, Starts at Super Bowl
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 | The 2008 Fox upfront party
Photo: Jessica Torossian for BizBash |
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The economy and the television industry may not be in the most stable position at the start of 2009, but The Hollywood Reporter noted that this year's upfront sales pitches—slated for May 18 through 21 in New York—won't look much different from the pared down, more businesslike presentations seen during the 2008 Upfront Week.
NBC still plans to forgo its old presentation at Radio City Music Hall for intimate "in-front" meetings with advertisers in April, and there definitely won’t be a return of last year’s carnival-like “NBC Experience” at Rockefeller Plaza.
The network actually plans to get an early jump on advertiser wooing at this Sunday’s Super Bowl. "They would never show you programming," a media buyer told The Hollywood Reporter, referring to past sporting events where networks entertained buyers. "I think the NBC plan is smart because they have a larger percentage of clients at the Super Bowl than they would at the upfront."
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Upfront Week, Upfronts, CBS, NBC, The CW, ABC, Super Bowl |
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| NEWS 01.29.09 3:52 PM |
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Dreamworks Partners With Intel, NBC, and PepsiCo for 3D Super Bowl Marketing Stunt
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Teamwork doesn’t always pave the easiest road to success, but partnering a troupe of different brands for a high-profile marketing stunt can be efficient—and cost effective. That’s what Dreamworks did to distribute the 125 million pairs of glasses necessary for a 3D Super Bowl event to promote its new film, Monsters Vs. Aliens, this Sunday—while scratching the backs of partners like PepsiCo, Intel, and NBC.
The project hinges on the first-ever 3D commercial, a participatory film trailer during the game’s broadcast. “We wanted to do a stunt 90 days before the opening of the movie,” said Dreamworks head of marketing and consumer products Anne Globe, “and then we had the chance to use the biggest media event in the world.”
Dreamworks had already partnered with Intel to develop the technology for the 3D film, so enlisting the company to produce the glasses was a no-brainer, but finding the partner to distribute the glasses took a bit more thought.
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Dreamworks, NBC, NBC Universal, Intel, PepsiCo, SoBe Lifewater, Super Bowl |
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| EVENT REPORT 01.22.09 4:45 PM |
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Budweiser Brings 20-Foot Plane to Yonge-Dundas Square for Super Bowl Contest
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 | Contestants in the Budweiser competition
Photo: BizBash |
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FROM TORONTO
A replica of the Bud Plane touched down in Yonge-Dundas Square Thursday for Budweiser's Hands on a Plane event—a five-hour competition involving 25 football fans who had the chance to win a trip to the Super Bowl. "Our contestants today will be vying for the ultimate football experience," Ben Seaton, associate brand manager for Budweiser, said in an interview prior to the start of the event. Competitors had to complete a range of tasks—throwing a football, kicking a football, and answering NFL trivia questions—while keeping one hand on a 20-foot replica of the Bud Plane. The winner will receive a flight to Tampa, tickets to Super Bowl XLIII, and access to what Bud called V.I.P. Super Bowl parties.
"We wanted to bring that NFL and Super Bowl experience to the streets and to the fans," Seaton said. The Bud Girls, dressed in red parkas, handed out boarding passes for a chance to compete in the event, which kicked off at noon and was scheduled to wrap up at 5 p.m. Onlookers could take part in interactive games in the Budweiser Big Rig, drink an ice-cold Budweiser in a beer garden surrounded by heat lamps, and sample a free lunch courtesy of the Pickle Barrel.
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Budweiser, Super Bowl, N.F.L., The Toronto Sun, 102.1 The Edge |
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| NEWS 01.19.09 2:19 PM |
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USA Plugs Burn Notice and Super Bowl With Free Toys
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Taking full advantage of its rights to air the Super Bowl on February 1, NBC Universal is employing some not-so-subtle marketing tactics to promote the television shows of its various networks. This weekend its cable channel USA touted the return of Burn Notice by handing out Nerf balls at sports bars across the country. The 10-city stunt targeting football fans—especially those out watching the NFC and AFC championship games—hit New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Detroit, Washington, Dallas, and Tampa.
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USA Network, Burn Notice, NBC Universal, Super Bowl |
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| NEWS 01.14.09 8:00 AM |
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Playboy Nixes Super Bowl Party
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 | Bunnies at Playboy's 2008 Super Bowl party in Arizona
Photo: Stephanie Fay for BizBash |
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Longtime Super Bowl party host Playboy has bowed out of this year's Tampa hoopla, citing the economy—and dwindling ad revenue in particular—as the reason. "Yes, the economy has played a role, marketers are holding tight to their budgets," said Playboy divisional senior vice president of marketing Lisa Natale. "For us, this wasn’t the most prudent event to produce given the financial climate. We explored smaller parties, parties with partners, but we didn’t want to compromise the integrity of our event. We didn’t want to scale it back."
After nine previous parties, Playboy's bash was known as one of the weekend's biggest, reeling in 2,000-plus attendees last year.
In order to have some presence during the Super Bowl weekend, the magazine is opting to sponsor DirecTV's Celebrity Beach Bowl tourney on Saturday, January 31, where bunnies will be on hand to represent the brand. Natale said that Playboy will "absolutely" be back in 2010, adding, "I don’t think anyone will be surprised to hear this. Every day you read the trades about other parties being canceled. No one's renting private jets. The spots during he game aren’t selling. It’s sort of expected."
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Super Bowl, Playboy, South by Southwest, Grand Am, N.B.A., N.B.A. All-Star Game |
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| NEWS 09.29.08 12:24 PM |
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The Boss Signs on for Super Bowl XLII
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The NFL isn't looking to stray from its recently established tradition of booking talent with proven longevity for the Super Bowl halftime show. NBC and the NFL announced during last night's Sunday Night Football broadcast that Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band will headline the entertainment for the big game game next year.
Springsteen joins Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Paul McCartney, Prince, and the Rolling Stones, as an act whose lack of timeliness is outweighed by the familiarity of its repertoire for the Super Bowl's massive audience. The 2008 broadcast of the halftime show raked in 148 million viewers in the United States alone.
The 2009 Super Bowl will be played in Tampa, Florida, at the Raymond Jones Stadium on February 1 and broadcast on NBC. —Michael O'Connell
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