ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL????? Well if you’re anything like me …then the answer is NO. But we are ready for some Super Bowl commercials and perhaps the chance to work the Super Bowl! And to all those prospective clients out there, we have a great team in Tampa standing by! Mustard Lane has staffed its fair share of sporting events and represented some elite brands while doing so. If you’re looking to book a live activation for Super Bowl, reach out to us! In terms of this year and everything Super Bowl LV, here’s the quick skinny:
When and Where?
Super Bowl LV is Sunday February 7, 2021 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. The battle hardened Kansas City Chiefs will face off against the mighty Tampa Bay Buccaneers. This Super Bowl is the first ever in history that has one team playing on their home field! It’s also the first ever in history to house 20,000 socially distant fans sporting face masks in between sips of overpriced domestic beer.
It will be televised on CBS and also live streamed on the CBS All Access App, so now is the time to cash in on free trials if you haven’t already.
Who’s strutting their stuff at intermission, I mean…what’s it called? Halftime? Knew that.
The Weekend will perform at Halftime this year….OK, NOW YOU REALLY HAVE MY ATTENTION.
What will the commercials be like this year?
After 6 years of annual marketing by way of Super Bowl Ad spots, including spending $100,000 on thousands of Brand Ambassadors for a Super Bowl spot, Avocados from Mexico passed and will ride the bench this year. Other veterans including Pepsi (just Pepsi brand, not PepsiCo), Hyundai and Olay the skin care brand, similarly passed after years and years of doing major Marketing/Ad Spots during the big game.
As of December, only 80% of this year’s Super Bowl Ad inventory had been sold in comparison to years passed where Ad Spots were sold prior to Thanksgiving. CBS Super Bowl Ad Spots go for around 5.5 million dollars per 30 seconds of airtime, which is down from last year’s 5.6 million.
On the other hand, with some brands sitting out this year, others who have profited very well this past year will have a chance to shine. These brands include the car marketplace company Vroom, the lawn product purveyor Scotts Miracle-Gro and freelance marketplace Fiverr. Obviously with companies like Scotts Miracle-Gro benefitting from a positive pandemic attentiveness to home and garden this year (25 million new consumers), they have a chance to use their best year ever to do something they’ve never done – a Super Bowl commercial.
What is it going to be like in Tampa for the Super Bowl?
As for Tampa Bay’s response to Covid and handling a major sporting event such as the Super Bowl (that traditionally brings in upwards of 70 thousand people) – they’re doing their best.
Like any major arena event open during Covid, attendees are required to wear a mask upon entry and asked to keep it on unless eating or drinking. Tailgating will not be permitted, and social distancing will be monitored. Heck, fans aren’t even allowed to toss the pigskin in the parking lot. The Raymond James Stadium website neglects to mention how these will be enforced. Click here for my details.
Another Covid precaution this year and a brave endeavor is it’s going completely cashless! All retail and food outlets will be cashless and utilizing ‘Reverse ATMS’ located throughout the Stadium for guests to convert cash to prepaid cards. There will be no food hawkers in the stands and all concession stands will have plexiglass installed. This will hopefully decrease transmission through high touch surfaces such as cash and coins.
For those wishing to be a part of a more ‘interactive’ experience, The Tampa Riverwalk along with the Julian B Lane Park will host free-ticketed time slots (via the NFL One Pass App) to visit and explore days before the game. This Covid safe marketing event, which is the kind of thing staffed by Mustard Lane begins on January 29th and fans will have the opportunity to see the Lombardi trophy, use the app to grab virtual autographs, and actually see with their own eyeballs the 54 Super Bowl rings on display at Julian B. Lane Park.
We have no doubt this will mark a truly unique year for the NFL and Super Bowl events. Should you need top notch staffing at a top notch event like this, reach out to Mustard Lane, Laners are standing by!