Blog Bitch-fest

Yesterday the United States celebrated the first great Holiday of the year...the Super Bowl. And, as has been the case for many years, there is more buzz about the commercials than the game itself.

But as I surfed between Web sites, emails and blogs, I noticed something that I found rather surprising...the large amount of bitching, whining and general discontent streaming out of the blogsphere.

We ALL know that the days of throwing a :30 or :60 ad on one of the big three networks and watching it work are long gone...but what amazes me is how many people don't understand that the Super Bowl is an anomaly.

Advertising on the Super Bowl isn't about branding, or loyalty, or engagement...like the game itself, it's about sheer entertainment. Aligning with the Super Bowl is like sponsoring Christmas...It's simply brands piggy-backing on a great time being had by EVERYONE IN THE WORLD.

Sure, there were probably a few malcontents blogging, bitching, and pouting about the commercialization of the big game, how big companies "just don't get it" and how the new consumer wants a voice in the marketing conversation, blah blah blah blah. Not on Super Sunday.

This is a day when the everyday joe...the men and women who work their asses of during the week, want to kick back and just be entertained. We spend our lives respsonding to emails, returning calls on our cell phones and shooting pins and ins to friends, family, clients and co-workers...but for these four to five hours, it's nothing but simple entertainment.

And please don't spout about how Madison Ave doesn't understand how to use the Internet. Madison Ave doesn't have to use the Internet because everyone else does. The sheer size of the event makes EVERY ad viral...I've received 57 separate emails today with links to sites running all the Super Bowl ads and even links to sites running ads that didn't make the cut. Do you know how many of these sites were paid for by the advertisers or made by marketers? One. That's viral marketing at its best.

So while all you self-proclaimed 'new marketers' out there don your favorite black turtlenecks and moan about big agencies over your lattes, I'm going to sit back and do what I did yesterday...be entertained.

Cheers.