NFL Lets Fans Pick Two Super Ads
The National Football League is offering fans a shot at picking a pre-game Super Bowl ad featuring a fan and a spot during the game that presents a player telling a personal anecdote.
Samsung is sponsoring “That’s How I See It” stories from the fans, with the pre-game spot to be selected from 48 videos that are now posted on NFL.com. Fan voting through Dec. 3 will whittle that group down to 24 videos, with a second round of voting through mid-December picking the top eight, plus a wild card. The final selection will take place in polling ending on Jan. 4.
Samsung has started running spots featuring fan videos to plug the online polling or online to select the fan for the 30-second pre-game spot.
The NFL collected stories from more than 400 fans in a cross—country tour with a production van that stopped in 14 cities. Those stories included quarterback Brett Favre’s brother Scott reminiscing about the two of them at practices as kids with their father, who was also their coach.
The idea is to engage NFL fans more deeply as the season moves toward a climax. “We want to put the best possible spots out there and we want the fans to tell us which will be the best,” said Tracy Perlman, NFL vice president of entertainment marketing and promotions.
The NFL ran a fan spot based on peer voting during the big game two years ago, and a produced a spot featuring a player during last year’s game.
The NFL shot stories of 210 players during training camp, and has posted 48 for the fans’ review. Fans will vote for one of six players from each division in the “SuperAd: Believe In Now” promotion, with a final round of voting for the top eight videos – and a wild card – through Jan 4. The player to appear in the 60-second spot will be selected by the fans and a panel of media judges.
A TV spot featuring Houston Texans teammates Chester Pitts and Ephraim Salaam is pointing fans to the Web site during NFL games. TeamDigital Promotions developed the Web site.
The player spot will be produced by NFL Films and BBDO.
