Football And Advertising A Love Affair

Football, it’s one of Americas’ favorite sports. It’s action packed and always leaves you on the edge of your seat. Truly anything is possible, whether it’s an awe-inspiring catch, a deflating call made by the referees, or even a detrimental missed kick. It’s a game that brings people together. People come together to watch this phenomenal game, live and in person or on TV. Believe it or not, hundreds of thousands of eyes are on the game. 

What advertiser wouldn’t like the sound of that?! 

Let’s think hypothetically about this- if you have a product or company that you want others to know about, football is one of the best ways to gain awareness. Why? Because you could have thousands of people tune into a football game and on top of that you could sell car insurance, a food product, a restaurant name, almost anything.

Did you know that there was a total of 40 bowl games played in the 2018 NCAA Football season? In each of those games advertising and sponsors were everywhere. Be it during commercials on TV, signs throughout the stadium, or even in the event name (Goodyear Cotton Bowl). All 40 different bowls had advertising sponsors for the games. Thousands of different companies had the opportunity to showcase themselves around the nation. Whether or not it created front-of-mind awareness or just subliminal messaging for the consumer, brand awareness made a huge appearance in all of these games. 

Was it worth it? Absolutely! According to an article on Forbes, companies may have paid $500,000 to $1 million for their title sponsorship opportunity. However, the companies gained much more than just brand recognition and brand awareness. They have trained the consumer to act a certain way, to hopefully prefer a specific product over another just by advertising during a football game.

This is exactly what was intended with each and every advertisement, large or small.

Football and advertising, it’s a love affair.