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The Social Bowl

Every February after enduring a long, brewing season beginning in summer, fans of the National Football League anxiously await the championship of the year. The NFL Super Bowl was first played and televised in 1967, and ever since then it has been one of the most widely watched sporting events in U.S. history (Shmoop, 2008). It continued moving its way up the ranking list with Super Bowl XVI in 1982 as 49.1% of all American households watched the game when Diana Ross provided the musical entertainment during halftime (NFL, 2015). Basically referred to as a holiday in this day and age, Super Bowl Sunday now racks in hundreds of millions of viewers. The question is, do people care more about the game or the social aspect that comes with it?

After holding its 49th event this past February, the NFL Super Bowl has turned into quite the social event. It’s considered the second-largest day for food consumption following Thanksgiving, and has become a good venue for famous singers and entertainers during the half-time show (Waggoner, 2015). Some people even claim to tune in just so they can enjoy the commercials.

Since the Super Bowl brings in so many viewers, the people in appropriate marketing and advertising industries have stepped up. Whether it’s a live performance or a time-slot for a commercial, large companies and entertainers compete for as much airtime as possible. Either way, their main goal is to get their name out there to create some sort of recognition to the audience. In order to make the most out of their advertising and to use social media marketing to its full advantage, Twitter and Facebook play a huge role in viewers’ interaction. Upon watching commercials, viewers are enticed to tweet about or share the things they like or dislike.

A couple years ago, Budweiser created a large campaign where they used a puppy to provoke involvement and positive reactions towards the company. They released the commercial prior to the Super Bowl to get the audience excited and even made a Twitter account for it (@BudweiserPuppy) to allow viewers to follow the story and learn more about the #BestBuds if they were so inclined (Twitter, 2014).

Media strategists of Budweiser, and other companies across the U.S., have learned to take advantage of the Super Bowl and all of its publicity and make it their own. This approach has led them to effortlessly create even more buzz around the globe. With an increasing number of campaigns similar to this, social media is becoming a necessity for the modern millennial. Sports and social media will soon be inevitably intertwined.

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