That Super Bowl
So, the Super Bowl is upon us again. It is nothing related to British culture at all, and yet we keep being bombarded in London with news about the Super Bowl, which takes place across the Pond, in US. Maybe, it is because of the many people from that country that live over here? They show some good and funny TV commercials too, like the ones below.
For those of you who are interested, it takes place tomorrow, 2nd February at 23:30 UK time from New Jersey. But, what is the Super Bowl in any case? Apparently, it is an American football game played once a year between the champions of the National and the American football conferences. This match determines the champions of the National Football League. This year, Seahawks play Broncos. Who do you think will win?
Now, the name they gave to this event quite interesting. I first thought it was regarding the stadium where it is played, which might have a strange shape. However, it is all supposed to be a joke.
This match was one of the conditions of the merger between the American Football League and their rivals the National Football League to determine the world champion. Competition levels seem to be quite high over there! One of the people involved was supposed to have referred to it as super bowl, which is a play on words from the Wham-O Super Ball and college ‘bowl’ games.
Still, why is it so widely spoken about here? I guess it might make sense that places like the Canadian bar in Covent Garden shows it – they’re even charging an entrance fee. It seems to me like there are a few similarities with the football-soccer culture here, eg, mostly male oriented, lots of beer and there are loads of money involved in it.
Any other ideas?
From the point of view of advertising and marketing, it gets spoken about almost all year round. I can see a lot of above-the-line tactics coupled with social media. In fact, some TV ads are quite good. Here are some examples from this year.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63b4O_2HCYM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOMrA-BGuLY
Thanks for reading this post and enjoy the game if you watch it!
A Londoner from Afar
Reckon the big lads in helmets will win
There is a really good commercial that won’t be shown during the superbowl because it would be too controversial for Americans, you can watch it here: http://www.filmsforaction.org/watch/heres-an-ad-about-rskins-that-its-makers-dont-have-the-money-to-show-during-sundays-superbowl/
Nice one. Thanks for sharing it here. I have already tweeted it too.
It makes no sense to me. Canada has its own football league. CFL. They don’t even play by the same rules. We are not involved in the Super Bowl in any way. Yet somehow, once a year my TV is taken over and we have Super Bowl Sunday. It makes no sense to me.
Could it be ’cause you’re close to the US? Do you also get to see all the merch sold at bars? I tend to hate it when some sport tournament takes news over.
One of my colleagues watches the Superbowl and took Monday off to recover!