Beyond the Super Bowl

What a week! This has been such an exciting Super Bowl "season". The advertising has been so in the spotlight, like never before, and it's been so much fun. It started with all the sneak peeks the week before and all the hype on the news outlets. We got to see "The Force" from VW and we fell in love before it even aired. And we had a jaw dropping moment when Chrysler and Eminem told us they were "Imported from Detroit."

The conversation hasn't stopped since the first YouTube preview.

What has made it all fun is the follow up articles and all the social media. In years past, we never had the ability to discuss it all so intensely. Sure, we would gather 'round the water cooler and dish, but it was never to this level. And it was only amongst our friends and co-workers.

This year, through tweets, links, postings, and blogs we were able to talk as an industry. Some live during the game and certainly over and over again after it. We were able to debate the validity of the Groupon strategy (conscious or not), identify the insights (or not) from Coke, Pepsi, Stella, and Bud and we were able to LOL at the Carmax spot.

We even got to meet little Darth Vader on The Today Show.

And while many commented that seeing the sneak peeks ruined the surprise of seeing new advertising during the game, I did enjoy being able to really absorb the creative multiple times. Seeing it live in real time was still a thrill, even if I had caught a glance of it online. All the before and after social media certainly does make the $3million price tag a lot more reasonable. I'm all for that, because for me marketing is about using all the channels (not just one) to create an experience for consumers. Why not spread it around?

I've long said that the Super Bowl is the marketer's holiday. That's never been more true than this year as we share our experiences and collectively learn from each other. Advertising is not only a part of our pop culture, it is a reflection of our culture (as Emma Alvarez Gibson says on her Brainzooming blog post today). And it is certainly a reflection on our industry.

The challenge is to do better every time, on every marketing challenge, every single year. I accept that challenge.

What's your experience.