The NFL regular season has now concluded, the playoffs completed and we are left with the final two competitors – the evergreen New England Patriots and the newly-remodelled Los Angeles Rams.
To the victor, the spoils, and it appears, everything else that comes with it.
Which in today’s modern era, means huge revenues, not only in terms of TV rights and sponsorships at time the Super Bowl is played, but victory bonuses, advertising rights and future-looking sponsorship deals for the team that comes away with the famous Lombardi trophy.
Whilst NFL players are paid handsomely over the tenure of their long-term contracts and would receive a hefty victory bonus should they win the Super Bowl, ranking them amongst the highest-paid professional athletes in the world, a 30-second advertising slot at half-time of the Super Bowl championship game would cost in excess of $5,000000.
Therefore, it would appear that half time sponsors and the organisers of ‘America’s Showpiece’ are to be 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 are queuing up for a slot in one of the most globally-televised events of the year.
It is estimated that around 180 million viewers around the globe will tune in to watch the Super Bowl not even including the fans in attendance at the game 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 have been working around the clock leading up to the Super Bowl, to ensure their adverts are perfected and their brands polished and ready to be unleashed upon 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.
Indeed, the half-time show of the Super Bowl is one of the most star-studded and highly-anticipated events of the year, meaning that advertising during this period, could prove to be the most expensive, yet the most lucrative opportunity for those that can afford it.
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 and have far-reaching consequences.
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 01206 700113 or email [email protected].