Having gone through this blog, I wanted to know the result of the game when I got up in the morning today. I am currently working in Bahrain (Middle East) so I checked the local news paper, Gulf Daily News and The Times of India, none of theese papers had any news related to the Superbowl. Forget the front page, even the sports section did not have any mention.
The only superbowl related information I found was in Khaleej Times, one of the largest selling news paper in the United Arab Emirates, in its entertainment section, with the headline 'Madonna dazzles with slick Super Bowl halftime show'. This 400+ word news item does not even mention the names of the teams playing in the superbowl.
Most locals in this region do not know what the game is about so all the hype, hoopla and advertising is lost on them, but Madonna is not.
I agree that "Super Bowl" is somehow a "national" phenonomen although it has started to slowly pick up here in my part of the world (I live in Copenhagen). When we hear of NFL it's mostly when one of the players has done something illegal, negotiated a huge paycheck or - Super Bowl.
ReplyDeleteWithout knowing for sure I would guess that most of the advertisers are targeting the US (+ perhaps a few other native english countries) market as the primary. The rest is just "nice to get" but not at all in focus...
I haven't seen even one of the Super Bowl advertisers having co-ordinated any of their $ in SB spend as part of a world wide campaign - which is quite weird I think... or what do you think?
But as Anupam says - SB is big in the US... almost none existing in other - and large parts of the world.
From my own personal standpoint I find Super Bowl VERY INTERESTING - not so much because of the sport (I like soccer better :-) but because of the marketing strategies, campaigns, roll outs and new and funny ways of trying to get our attention and send our $ in their direction.
What is king....? Cash, content or marketing ;-)
A delightful perspective--thanks!
ReplyDeleteI've been living in the US for the last 10 years and I am original from Brazil - "the land of the soccer". Brazilians some years ago could care less about American Football, that is how we call it over there, but during the past 3 years I've seen a huge interest increase in American Football among my friends and acquaintances back in Brazil. They learned the game, they know the teams and can't wait for the Super Bowl. I would attribute that to the power of the Internet and to the improved Brazilian economy. It is always good to see a new niche open up in a growing economy.
ReplyDelete