I didn’t wanna post about the Superbowl, but…

Every marketing/advertising website/blog had something about the Superbowl this week. I didn’t see the point of jumping on that, but this story really needs to be told. Apparently, 80,000 customers in the Tuscan area were treated to a 30-second clip of pornography during the replay of the big 4th quarter of Fitzgerlad’s touchdown. For you non-geographically aware folks, Tuscan is in Arizona, which is home to one of the two teams battling it out on Sunday night.

The Real Superbowl Winners

Every advertiser at the Superbowl is trying to get your attention. 30 seconds of time isn’t that much, and everyone’s trying to make sure that they’re unique, memorable, and can drive you to some sort of action (visit a website, buy a product, etc.). The porn website, Jenna Jameson’s Jenna Club, probably got more attention for free, than anyone who paid the millions of dollars for their 30-seond spot. Not only were they able to showcase their product to over 80,000 viewers, (many of whom perfectly fit within their demographic btw), but they’ve gotten coverage across the entire internet. Apparently the girl in the scene, Trstan Kingsley, has gone from no-name to one of Google’s top searches overnight. In 30 seconds, they made more of an impact than every single advertiser who parterned up with the NFL for the big game.

If you’re on the marketing team at Club Jenna, this is your DREAM COME TRUE (well aside from having a night with one of those Club Jenna models)! Actually with almost any company, if you got to steal 30-seconds of air time in a way that gets people talking, then you’re gonna be sleeping quite happily tonight.

The Real Losers

The advertisers like Coke, Doritos, GoDaddy, etc., didn’t benefit as much as Club Jenna did, but they still got great exposure from a traditional point of view. They were still seen by more people from around the world, and were featured on a plethora of websites. The real losers however, are Comcast. With such a prime time screwup, they’ve been going crazy with their PR team trying to calm the situation down. They will be issuing a “$10 credit” to viewers who were impacted as a sign of goodwill. I think some people are definitely blowing this out of proportion, but even if I did have a family with young children who were watching, I still probably wouldn’t switch since it’s such a freak accident (allegedly at least). Still, people are complaining, and unfortunately for them, this is definitely one of those instances that will always be remembered.

Going Forward

Whenever some does something a little different that gets attention, people try and instantly copy it. Remember when the Blair Witch Project came out with those viral online videos? I don’t, but I remember every single horror movie doing the exact same thing the next year. Obviously this isn’t the type of thing that will be replicated due to legal reasons, but it’s easily the type of thing that could be parodied..

Club Jenna got lucky, and they should ride this wave to help leverage their new-found publicity. They’re apparently working on some Superbowl parody video or something, which is probably exactly what they need to do.

Comcast, in my opinion, should be doing a lot more than offering a $10 credit. While I personally wouldn’t care, reading the comments of outraged customers and whatnot, it would make more sense for Comcast to bite the bullet, subsidize its customers by providing them with either more premium content for a month or two (while still giving the $10 credit), or reimbursing them for the month. It’s a costly move for Comcast, but the customers who leave, and the negative word of mouth that follows could be much worse.

[ Deadspin ]