The NFL season has now concluded, with the New England Patriots being crowned victors at the dramatic conclusion of Super Bowl XLIX.
Their quarterback: Tom Brady, led the Patriots to victory from a substantial deficit in the fourth quarter, and in doing so, bagged himself a third Most Valuable Player award, as well as his fourth Super Bowl championship ring.
But who were the real winners in Super Bowl XLIX?
Tom Brady? Patriots Owner Robert Kraft? Patriots Coach Bill Belichick? All of the above?
To some it would seem an obvious question, given the outcome of the game, however, in terms of commercial success, the answer is much less clear.
Whilst NFL players are paid handsomely over the tenure of their long-term contracts, ranking them amongst the highest-paid professional athletes in the world, 30 second advertising slot at half-time of the Super Bowl championship game clock in at $4.2million each! It would appear that half time sponsors and the organisers of ‘America’s Showpiece’ were the true victors at the final whistle.
To put that in perspective, a similar slot in the very first Super Bowl in 1967, would have cost no more than $45,000.
That may seem an exorbitant amount of money for a 30-second opportunity of commercial advertising and exposure; however, businesses were queuing up for a slot in one of the most globally-televised events of the year.
An estimated 160.5millions viewers around the globe tuned in to Super Bowl XLIX, along with 78,000 fans at the stadium itself. Such numbers would therefore seem ample justification for sponsors and businesses splashing out for an advertising slot, given that such commercial exposure and reach could not be matched at any other point in time.
Therefore companies and sponsors had been working around the clock leading up to Super Bowl XLIX, to ensure their adverts were perfected and their brands polished and ready to be unleashed to the world.
The importance of such seemingly-short adverts has never been greater, and the organisers of the event know it, with corporations happy to pay out the staggering fees for advertising slots, safe in the knowledge that their reach, exposure and long-term gains, will soon fast outweigh the initial expenditure if they get their advert right. After all office talk (and twitter and facebook posts) this morning will be just as much about the best adverts as it will be about the game
As a result, intellectual property, brands and the protection of these has never been more important. Whilst putting your brand out there on such a global scale can seem like a great idea, if this is not sufficiently protected, it could become disastrous.
We here at Fisher Jones Greenwood LLP can help advise you on the protection or your brand and intellectual property. Should you wish to have your present intellectual property position reviewed, or if you would like to find out more, please contact our Corporate Commercial Department on [email protected] or 01245 584515.
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