On Sunday night as many as 110 million Americans, and up to a billion people around the world will tune in to see the NFL Super Bowl.
The game itself pitches the Baltimore Ravens who have come through as underdogs all season and the San Francisco 49’ers who last played in the season finale in 1994.
As many as watch the game though will be watching out for the most expensive advertising  ever to be aired.  The average cost of a slot in this year’s programme is $3.8 million (€2.8 million) and one of those who people be watching belongs to Volkswagen.
Two years ago the company produced one of the most popular ads of all time when casting a young boy in the role of Darth Vadar and seemingly giving him ‘the force’ to turn on the family car.  It’s success was partly achieved through a smart social media campaign in advance.
This year VW have once again stolen the thunder of others with ‘Get in, get happy‘.  The ad features a glum workplace where the only happy employee is a white guy from Minnesota who happens to speak in a Jamaican accent.  He’s happy because he drives a VW Beetle but the ad has raised issues of racism, stereotyping and all manner of controversy.
It has already been viewed by more than 2.5 million people online and that number is spiralling upwards.
The Jamaican authorities have embraced it, seeing it as a positive image of what the country is like as a potential holiday destination, and VW are themselves happy with all the pre match marketing buzz centred on them.
One company that might not be so pleased are Mercedes-Benz who have naming rights to the New Orleans Superdome but are being left behind in the awareness stakes.
In tomorrow’s Sport for Business Digest we will give you a ten point guide on everthing you need to know about the Super Bowl.  In Saturday’s Members Weekly we will take a peek behind the scenes at the making of the VW ad but for now, here it is for you to make your own mind up, and perhaps ‘turn that frown upside down’.

 
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