05:44 PM PST on Monday, January 9, 2006

By Terry Corbell

Joe Theismann always seemed to be on target as quarterback for the Washington Redskins, but I’d like to hear what he’d say now after he erroneously predicted the wrong NFL player would be this year’s MVP. He didn’t criticize Shaun Alexander’s ability, but Theismann said the Seahawk couldn’t win the award because Seattle is a smaller media market than others, such as New York City.

The moral? Anything is possible if you dream big and work hard.

And even though the Seahawks haven’t even taken the field in their first playoff game – the game in which they will handily defeat the Redskins en route to their Super Bowl victory – many pundits are also predicting the wrong Super Bowl winners.

For example, the Indianapolis Colts are the Super Bowl favorite of 33 percent of respondents in a nationwide TNS Express Online Survey sponsored by Coors. Among males, 47 percent picked the Colts, but there was no word whether the respondents were imbibing a sample of the survey’s sponsor before they made their predictions.

The same poll asked fans to pick their favorite Super Bowl moments. Nearly half of the males said at least one of their early top Super Bowl memories was included in the current Coors TV campaign, “Coors Light Super Train.”

Three of the mentioned favorites include:

• Joe Namath’s 1969 prediction that his New York Jets would beat the then-Baltimore Colts. You might recall he went on to sell tons of products, especially hosiery.
• Hank Stram’s colorful quote the following year, “Pump it in there, baby,” was a lesson in perseverance.
• The invincible “Steel Curtain” of the Pittsburg Steelers, which taught us lessons for protecting brand equity.

Personally, I wasn’t a Steeler fan but I loved watching the team’s cast of defensive stars, including “Mean” Joe Greene, L.C. Greenwood, and Jack Ham. I also enjoyed Greene’s poignant commercial when he gave his jersey to an adoring nine-year-old boy who gave Mean Joe a Coke.

His memorable commercial also sold a lot of Cokes. Many commercials are clever and cute but they fail to generate revenue.

For a lesson in business execution, I really enjoyed watching the aerial artistry of Terry Bradshaw’s pass completions to Lynn Swann and John Stallworth. They were like graceful ballet dancers as they leaped to catch the ball. They were also very tough and never fumbled.

But my all-time favorite Super Bowl was in 1980 when the Steelers defeated the Los Angeles Rams in a highly entertaining game, 30-19. My most inspiring player in that game was All-Pro Ram defensive end Jack Youngblood who played every down of the NFC Title Game and Super Bowl on a broken leg. After all, courage is needed for success in business, right?

So, what about lessons in marketing strategy?

This year, the Coors’ study shows more than 50 percent of Americans plan to watch the Super Bowl. About 87 percent of them will watch with friends and relatives in a party-like environment. The viewership is expected to be astronomical as usual.

Coors as you might guess is the official beer of the NFL. The beer company is implementing creative ways to maximize its Super Bowl investment with complementary PR. With the average Super Bowl 30-second ad now costing an estimated $2.6 million, it’s imperative for an advertiser to take every precaution to ensure success.

Even non-advertisers are getting into the Super Bowl buzz. Reprise Media is launching its second annual “Super Bowl Search Marketing ScoreCard.” That’s a report designed to measure how well advertisers capitalize on their Super Bowl advertising investments. The technology firm helps companies increase their brand equity in online marketing.

The company contends that national advertisers fail to capitalize on their Super Bowl commercials by not taking enough precautionary steps in online marketing. That means focus on ad text, keyword selection, and landing page content.

Not to oversimplify, the company offers four basic reminders:

1. Make sure to include your Web site address in your advertising.
2. On search engines, bid on your company’s name, products, services, and your spokespersons.
3. Ensure a common thread in all your advertising and repeat your key phrases.
4. Prevent buyers’ remorse by making visitors feel rewarded. Offer to let them register to win a product and promote interaction with you.

To see Reprise Media’s critique of last year’s Super Bowl advertising: www.reprisemedia.com/images/SuperBowlScorecard.pdf

Smaller advertisers, too, can benefit from Super Bowl-like performances by learning from successful national advertisers.

With inflation, prices for goods and advertising continue to escalate. For many years, I’ve advised clients that they’ll reach the best prospective customers with good credit or net worth by advertising on local news outlets.

My sense is that cost-effective keys to online success include television and newspaper advertising that mention your Web site. Pick daily newspapers and TV stations with strong journalistic standards. You’ll also be amazed how economical their Web sites are, too, if you insert banner and rich media ads. Don’t forget to generate opportunities by submitting quality press releases to their news departments, too.

From the Coach’s Corner, because of declining revenue the past couple of years, one major advertiser has now decided that it has been neglecting penny-conscious customers for too long. Wendy’s revenue was down again last year so CEO Jack Schuessler has resurrected the company’s “Super Value Menu” with items priced at 99 cents.

Schuessler said he’s targeting the other 18 to 20 percent of consumers who will only buy the lowest-priced products. Obviously, that’s a concern in the fast food business, especially when the company no longer has a super salesperson. (I’ve said it many times: deceased founder Dave Thomas knew about quality, customer service and what his customers wanted.)

In recent years, I’ve also mentioned that my research also has shown that 18 percent of consumers are solely focused on price. If you want to generate good margins, be sure to target consumers who want value.

For them, price is also important but their purchases are decided on emotion, or how they feel about your company.

In order of importance, their five buying perceptions are:

1. What they think about your spokesperson and employees.
2. Your company image.
3. Product or service utility.
4. Convenience.
5. Price.

If your customers have positive impressions in these five areas, you will sell more products to 82 percent of the population.