There’s nothing better than the hype leading up to the Super Bowl. Hard-fought playoff victories by deserving teams (although my Colts seemed pretty deserving until they arrived at Qualcomm Stadium.) Lots of great story lines for fans, sponsors, and advertisers. A media circus of branding opportunity.
Since sports marketing is my business, I’m an observer of the way people and companies leverage the story lines and hype to get some hard-fought business results. Unfortunately, after a nice lead up to the Super Bowl, I’m struggling to find great personality stories. Especially about the star quarterbacks of both teams.
Where is Ben Roesthlisberger’s activation strategy? I found his website, bigben7.com. It seems like a vehicle meant solely to sell licensed merchandise. So, where is the content about Ben and his brand? His blog, for example, hasn’t been updated since August, 2008. Too bad, because if fans are looking for up-to-date information about Ben, they’re doing it right now. ”Who is Ben and what does he stand for?” Fans are left without much of a connection to Ben.
Super Bowl hype offers a huge built-in audience for a football personality to break out into the mainstream of American culture. (Think, Peyton Manning) A little prep could have gone a long way to build buzz and a bigger fan base.
And, I can’t even find Kurt Warner’s web site. <sigh>
Posted by Ken Ungar
