Lessons Learned from the 2016 Super Bowl

Arthur Solomon

The phrase “history repeats” is attributed to many, but the one that’s most applicable to the National Football League was coined by Karl Marx: “History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.”

Who would have thought that the German philosopher would foresee the tragedy of workers suffering life-altering and life-ending injuries because of a game played on a football field? That’s the tragedy. The farce is the NFL’s attempt to convince a fanatical fan and marketing base that the league always has the health interests of its players in mind and that the Super Bowl is of paramount importance to all U.S. citizens.

During the weeks leading up to the 2016 Super Bowl, history definitely repeated for Peyton Manning and Tom Brady, as a never-ending echo chamber of talk radio and print articles opined who would be victorious if their teams competed against each other. One thing was indisputable: a more appropriate pre-game song than the National Anthem would have been “As Time Goes By,” from the 1942 movie Casablanca, whose lyrics include “It’s still the same old story / A fight for love and glory / A case of do or die.”

As usual, each Super Bowl provides lessons. So, here are some lessons learned from the 2016 edition of America’s most hyped sport. If some seem familiar, remember that when the Super Bowl is played, history always repeats.

Beyonce, Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars, were the outstanding performers. Proving that Super Bowl history repeats, Lady Ga Ga will again perform at the 2017 renewal.

Peak TV viewership occurred between 8:30 and 9 p.m., once again showing that more people tuned in to watch Beyonce then the violence on the field. (A good decision considering how bad both QBs played.)

Bad news is synonymous with the Super Bowl. Allegations regarding Manning’s use of HGH, a New York Times story about chronic traumatic encephalopathy being found in the brain of Tyler Sash, 27, a New York Giant safety who was on the 2011 Super Bowl-winning team, and media reports on NFL teams settling a law suit regarding paying illegal wages to cheerleaders, along with stories that the NFL is under investigation by New York State for its ticket selling practices, were some of the headlines during the run-up to the Feb. 7 game.

There were other negative stories as well, including the suicide of Junior Seau, the unexpected retirement of San Francisco 49ers linebacker Chris Borland, who quit at the age of 24 after only one season because he didn’t want to risk his health and a Times article detailing that quarterback Ken Stabler wanted his brain examined after his death and was found to have stage 3 CTE. The story, which described Stabler’s personality changes, said Stabler “is one of the highest-profile football players to have had C.T.E.” The list, now well over 100, includes at least seven members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, including Seau, Mike Webster and Frank Gifford.” CNN reported that former Minnesota Vikings linebacker Fred McNeill had CTE when he died and that QB Earl Morrell had CTE.

NFL brass probably would have preferred if Carolina’s quarterback Cam Newton would have treated the media as Marshawn Lynch did during the 2015 Super Bowl: ignoring media questions. Instead, he injected race into the 2016 Super Bowl equation by saying, “I’m an African-American quarterback that may scare a lot of people because they haven’t seen anything that they can compare me to.” Not exactly true. Many quarterbacks play poorly.

A Times story of special interest to marketers reported that since 2010, celebrities have starred in a third of Super Bowl ads but the commercials were flops when viewers didn’t connect with the endorsers. Nevertheless, celebrities were prominent in 2016 commercials.

The Times also reported that death attributed to football is not only limited to NFL players. On Feb. 2, an article about a study in the American Journal of Health Economics said the death rate from the flu is higher for fans attending Super Bowl parties. That’s because the game is played during the flu season and due to the close proximity of those at the parties it’s easier to catch the flu from an infected person.

The annual 2016 Super Bowl marketing media hype began when the Times, on Jan. 25, ran a story on page one of its Business Today section regarding the Avocados From Mexico’s reported success as a first-time advertiser. The same story also said that many first-time advertisers choose not to return.

On Feb. 5, a GoDaddy marketing executive told the Times that there are so many commercials during the Super Bowl it’s difficult to stand out. On Jan. 26, the Wall Street Journal ran a story regarding some marketers’ successes advertising during the game. The story also mentioned that a 90-second Bud Light commercial “didn’t boost the perennial Super Bowl sponsor’s sales.”

Just several hours prior to the kickoff, WCBS-AM reported that Super Bowl Sunday is one of the most dangerous days on the road because of the number of inebriated drivers.

The most farcical news prior to the Super Bowl was that the NFL was investigating the HGH allegations regarding Manning. There was a better chance of winning $1-million playing daily fantasy sports than the NFL finding their poster boy guilty. Which they didn’t.

Media coverage leading up to the Super Bowl in 2016 was dominated by racism, HGH allegations, concussions and investigations regarding the NFL’s tickets selling policy. Largely missing was talk about the Big Game. Perhaps the Golden Era of the Super Bowl was when the negative coverage was limited to only concussions.

While a person is unlikely to be a winner by wagering on the outcome of NFL games, one can bet that as the 2017 Super Bowl nears, much coverage will be devoted to the dangers of playing America’s most violent big time sport. The New York Times fired the first salvo this year with a brilliant full page story on January 15 detailing results to a player’s brain after a hit.

The Times story was followed on January 19, when Mark Gastineau, the New York Jets pass rusher in the 1980s, said that he believes various brain problems he now has was caused by playing football.

On Feb. 5 in Houston, Super Bowl 51 between the New England Patriots and Atlanta Falcons will be played. But for many PR people and marketers the most important lesson learned is that like PR crisis specialists, it’s obvious the vaunted NFL shield is no protection against negative publicity.

What we can nevertheless be sure of is that marketers that spent a reported $5 million for a thirty-second commercial — and only they know how much more was spent on ancillary promotions — will say publicly that they are happy with their results. What they will say in private, or course, is anyone’s guess.

As someone who’s managed and/or played key roles in many mega national and international sports marketing events, what I can say for certain is that marketer’s public statements and private statements are not necessarily the same.

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Arthur Solomon was a senior VP at Burson-Marsteller. He now is a contributor to public relations and sports business publications, consults on PR projects and is on the Seoul Peace Prize nominating committee. He can be reached at [email protected].