Lip-Sticking

And the Winners are.... Super Bowl XLVI Wrap-Up

By Guest Blogger, Donna DeClemente, Donna's Promo Talk

Who came out winners from Super Bowl XLVI? Obviously as we all know now, the New York Giants beat the New England Patriots in what was a come-from-behind, great game. The Giants got to parade down Broadway in New York City yesterday to celebrate with their fans. Yes, the fans and New York are all winners here as well. Plus of course we have Eli Manning, the MVP of the game, who now has two Super Bowl rings, one more than his brother Payton as the media was sure to bring up several times.

In the 6th annual Doritos Crash the Super Bowl Contest the two ads that were chosen from the 5 finalists to broadcast during the game were both winners. However, the Sling Baby ad has now been picked as the winner in the USA TODAY/Facebook Super Bowl Ad Meter. Online voting, began after each ad aired during Sunday night's broadcast and ended at 6 pm on Tuesday. Viewers picked from 55 commercials on which advertisers spent up to a record $3.5 million for each 30-second slot. Kevin Willson submitted the ad of the grandmother and baby who snatched a bag of Doritos and he will now receive a million dollars and a consulting contract with The Lonely Island. The other Doritos ad that was broadcast during the game, Man's Best Friend, came in #6.

Who, other than the Giants or Patriots, will come out winners from Super Bowl XLVI?

 By Guest Blogger, Donna DeClemente, Donna's Promo Talk

This Sunday I will be one of the millions watching Super Bowl XLV1 and hoping for a good game, which it should be. As I've stated in my posts over the past couple of weeks, I'm behind the New York Giants all the way and would love to see Eli Manning get another super bowl win, especially while in his brother Peyton's home stadium. I'm sure Peyton will be there also, just not on the field this year.

I'm also hoping to see some real social media integration with the advertising campaigns that we see. If the advertisers are paying an average of $3.5 million for a spot, you would think they would try and get the most bang for their bucks. Last year I called it the "Social Super Bowl" and was disappointed with the overall advertising experience. Other than posting ads on social media, the brands did very little to really engage people and integrate social media into their strategies.

Other than the Giants beating the Patriots, who else is going to come out a winner? Last year the Volkswagen Darth Vader ad scored the highest in the USA Ad Meter for best liked ad. (What was not to like?) Volkswagen utilized social media to post the ad on their blog, on YouTube and their Facebook page five days before the game and it had 13 million views before kickoff. Sine then the ad as gotten numerous awards and nearly 50 million views on YouTube.

This year Volkswagen has already launched The Bark Side, a teaser video featuring a chorus of dogs barking The Imperial March. If you haven't seen it yet, here it is. I love it and think it's brilliant (especially since I'm a sucker for doggies!). It currently has over 10 million views on YouTube. If you click through to YouTube you will also be given the opportunity to view their new game time ad called "The Dog Strikes Back".

Chevy's got a Super Bowl App and a big Game Time Sweepstakes

By Guest Blogger, Donna DeClemente, Donna's Promo Talk

For anyone that is a true football fan, last Sunday was by far one of the most exciting NFL conference championship game days you can have. Yes, it will take a while for Raven fans to get over the missed chip-shot field goal and the 49er's to wonder what if they didn't turn over the ball in overtime. We're now moving on to Super Bowl XLVI with a big rematch between the Patriots and the Giants. As I said in my last post, I'm betting on Eli Manning and the New York Giants to be this year's champions.

The Super Bowl has now become the most active topic of the millions of us who write blogs posts and updates on Facebook, Twitter and now, Google+. In 2011, the only Facebook status update topic in the world, amongst 800 million users at the time that beat out the Packers winning Super Bowl 45 was the death of Osama bin Laden. Since many of these tweets and Facebook updates come via a mobile phone, this year General Motors and Chevrolet is adding mobile to their mix to capitalize off this.

Getting Ready for Super Bowl XLVI and those silly Doritos Contest Ads

By Guest Blogger, Donna DeClemente, Donna's Promo Talk

It's that time of year again to be writing about one of the biggest marketing events of the year. Super Bowl XLVI will be played on February 5 in Indianapolis at Lucas Oil Stadium. Now that the Green Bay Packers and the New Orleans Saints have been eliminated, what teams do you think will win? I'm going with Eli Manning and the Giants. Here's a great article I read yesterday from the WSJ titled "Why Giants Really Could Win It All".

So the next question will be what marketing and advertising campaign will come out a winner? The team at Doritos is at it again with their sixth "Crash The Super Bowl" contest. This contest has become the grandfather of all user-generated contests. The contest finalists have now been posted and last week their submissions surged to the top of the viral video chart after generating over 1.7 million views. This year's contest received more than 6,100 entries from people hoping their video will become one of two Super Bowl ads to be televised during the game, with a possible $1 million prize if viewers rate their ad highly enough.

Are you Ready for Some Football?

By Guest Blogger, Donna DeClemente, Donna's Promo Talk

Anyone that has been reading my blog posts over the years knows that I'm a huge football fan. This week we kicked off a new NFL season and while I will miss the summer, I'm so glad football is back. To top it off, my team, THE BUFFALO BILLS, won on the road! Not only did they come home with a "W", but they dominated the Kansas City Chiefs, 41-7. Those that follow the NFL know that the Bills have had a really bad streak over the past decade. Not since the days of Jim Kelly when we made the Super Bowl four years in a row have we had anything to celebrate. Maybe, just maybe this will be the year!

Okay, now that I got my gushing out of the way, what I really want to write about is the huge marketing arm of the NFL. Many big brands and media companies were shaking in their booties over the fact that the NFL season might not have happened this year. However, the owners and players finally got together and agreed to some terms and the training camps began.

What I think the NFL and some of the brands are really starting to get is that there are many of us women who are huge football fans. It's not just the guys, who yes can be carried away by any sport. But women really love football. Maybe because it started with our high school teams on Friday nights and then college weekend games. Or maybe because there are so many good looking quarterbacks. I don't know. But I'm hooked on the game.

So was Super Bowl XLV really a Social Super Bowl?

 By Guest Blogger, Donna DeClemente, Donna's Promo Talk

Super Bowl XLV has now come and gone and the Vince Lombardi trophy is back home with the Packers in Green Bay. Yeah! I've been reading many of the reviews that report on what ads people recall the most, which ones they like, which ones they don't like. etc. and honestly, I have to admit I feel a huge let down from the overall experience.

Maybe it's just me because I've been writing the past several weeks about the different marketing and advertising campaigns from the big brands and how this was going to be the "Digital Social Super Bowl". I reviewed many of the TV commercials online before the actual broadcast of the game including all the Dorito's and Pepsi Max ads as well as most from the auto makers, especially Chevrolet which I got to watch all four together. There is something to say about watching these ads all at once with a person's full attention which is great for a brand. But then when you see them during the game it's kinda ho-hum.

Here's a couple of interesting facts:

The Volkswagen Darth Vader ad scored the highest in the USA Ad Meter for best liked ad. (What was not to like? It's cute.) Volkswagen utilized social media to post the ad on their blog, on YouTube and their Facebook page five days before the game and it had 13 million views by kickoff.

This was the fifth year Dorito's hosted the Crash the Super Bowl contest and added Pepsi Max which combined, they aired six consumer-made spots during the game. The Doritos' spots have finished in Ad Meter's top five every year and twice they finished first. This year each brand placed two spots in Ad Meter's top 10. That included one Doritos spot, The Pug's Revenge, that tied for first place. On Sunday night, Doritos and Pepsi had 3 million-plus video views between them.

Super Bowl XLV let's you "Go Inside" with new Twitter page sponsored by Visa

By Guest Blogger, Donna DeClemente, Donna's Promo Talk

Super Bowl XLV is now only four days away from kicking off at Cowboy Stadium in Arlington,Texas. You would think that Texas would be immune to winter weather, but not this year. The storm that has blanketed half the country even hit Dallas yesterday and thousands of flights have been canceled. Nonetheless, the game will go on and I'm sure many die-hard Packers and Steelers fans will make their way to Arlington one way or another.

I've predicted in the first post I wrote about this year's big game that Super Bowl XLV will be the "Digital Social Super Bowl" and every post I've written since then has backed that up. One of the more recent social media news released this past week has been the partnership between the NFL, Visa and Twitter to launch the first official online Super Bowl XLV destination featuring Twitter content.

"Go Inside Super Bowl XLV with Visa" @VISANFL promises to provide fans with a single location to experience the most relevant Super Bowl XLV chatter happening on Twitter, including coverage of the event from all angles. It will include Tweets from some of the best people covering Super Bowl XLV and will pull in Tweets about the game, the NFL (@nfl), the Green Bay Packers (@packers) and Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers). It also states it will feature Tweets from NFL executives, media personalities, NFL players, Visa and celebrities contributing to telling the story of Super Bowl XLV on Twitter.

Super Bowl Sunday has gone to the dogs!

By Guest Blogger, Donna DeClemente, Donna's Promo Talk

It's that time of year again when I write about the Super Bowl and all the hoopla associated with it. I started last week with this post on my blog, Super Bowl XLV predicted to be the Digital Social Super Bowl. Since I wrote that post I already have to eat these words: "the only real question that remains is which NFC team will lose to the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLV". Now that certainly won't be the case as the Pats have been sent home for the season by the New York Jets. Surprise, surprise! The way this season's playoffs have been going I'm just glad I didn't have any big money on any of these games.

As we're all well aware, the Super Bowl is a huge marketing opportunity. The list of Super Bowl XLV advertisers isn't final yet, but the big ones are back: Budweiser, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo with Doritos and Pepsi Max, Go Daddy, Pizza Hut, Career Builder, General Motors, eTrade and more. However, a few brands that aren't advertisers will be capitalizing on the big game for the seventh year in a row. This is one program I'm surprised that I haven't written about in my past four years of covering the Super Bowl.

Animal Planet returns to the field with PUPPY BOWL VII, kicking off on Super Bowl Sunday, February 6 at 3 pm, before the big game begins! All of the animals featured in PUPPY BOWL VII come from rescues and shelters. With the help of Petfinder, they have search throughout the country to find the toughest pups to play in Animal Planet Stadium. The lineup is now assembled, the water bowls filled and the chew toys all distributed to the furry team. In a game day first, chicken cheerleaders will be clucking on the sidelines and fans will experience the field from the player’s perspective with new puppy cam technology.

NASCAR: It’s not what you think

By Amanda Ponzar

I spent the weekend in Charlotte to watch David Ragan race the UPS/United Way car in the Bank of America 500. And I’m now a NASCAR fan. (That’s saying something coming from a person passionate about Masterpiece Theater, Jane Austen and Starbucks.)  

Yes, I’ve heard of Danica Patrick (woman driver!), but I assumed NASCAR was a redneck sport full of chest beating, beer-drinking, testosterone and revving race cars.

Admittedly, there was a bit of that –- RVs as far as the eye could see, tailgate parties, carnival atmosphere, lamb-chop sideburns, cowboy boots and cutoff jeans. And a bunch of guys at the parking entrance with a lengthy jump rope made of bras. (Yes, they were accepting donations.) You jump it, they give you a margarita.

But there’s another side to NASCAR. It’s a serious sport. 

It’s not just 500 miles. It’s a non-stop, action-packed race that rewards strategy, safety and endurance.

Former driver and ESPN Commentator Dale Jarrett said he lost 17 pounds during a race once from sweating in the car; he claimed drivers in peak physical and mental condition perform better. 24-year-old driver David Ragan told us it can be 50 degrees hotter in the car than on the track, and talked about eating right and exercising. We even got a chance to tour Roush Fenway Racing and tour the Charlotte Motor Speedway with its 24-degree-angled banks.  (I scraped my car on a concrete column in our parking garage this year and still can’t parallel park –- yet these drivers zoom around at 200 mph on a sharp incline!)

During the race, I listened on a head set and could hear the entire crew talking LIVE with Ragan while he was driving, letting him know when he was clear to pass or yelling “green, green, green!!” when a caution period was over. David qualified #26, and I was on the edge of my seat while he worked up to #16, #14 and eventually, a top 10 finish! WOO HOO! Any other NASCAR fans out there? Let me hear you!

Photos courtesy CIA Stock Photography; view of track from UPS suite photo is mine

BlogPaws 2010 Recap - The Woodstock of Pet Bloggers

By Guest Blogger, Donna DeClemente, Donna's Promo Talk

The post Yvonne wrote yesterday about BlogPaws 2010 "A community of storytellers get together" was such a great way to sum up the event. All I keep telling people is that it was amazing and that I had a blast. No I just have to take a moment here to share some of my own thoughts and reflections on the weekend.

I had the honor of being part of the VIP committee, as well as a speaker, that helped to pull this first-time event together for pet bloggers and pet-lovers. Those of us on the committee got together over another conference call last night where we each took turns giving our assessment of the event while it was still fresh in our minds.

I was one of the last ones to speak so I listened on as everyone stated what a highly-organized event it was, not only for a first-time conference, but it was one of the best conferences some had ever attended. Some shared suggestions on little details that could be improved upon, such as the panel sessions went too long and there wasn't enough time for Q&A's. Well I'm sure many of us have had that experience before.

I was trying to think of something to say that hadn't been said yet. So when it got to my five-minute turn to speak I started out stay that I thought BlogPaws had a great mix of inspirational, keynote speakers, combined with the nuts & bolts of the panel sessions on top of all the great networking and socializing time. But what was really unique, was the people. Everyone was really having a great time, soaking up all the information and trying to meet as many people as possible.