All the football fans of the world are united by one thing: a passion for their sport! Whether playing by FIFA rules, American rules, Australian rules, or rugby rules, an extraordinary fervor comes to mind as the common denominator.
This week, the United States is warming up for its annual (American) football celebration, the Superbowl. Even for non-fans (read: spouses), the Superbowl is the closest thing to an all-American holiday. All over the country, Superbowl parties gather friends and neighbors around
BBQs, beer, chips, and the ubiquitous TV. Last year, 61 percent of US televisions were tuned to the game and an average of 40.4 percent of American households with TVs were watching at any given moment.
Whereas football is a great sport, many viewers only pay attention during the commercial breaks. This may seem paradoxical to non-Americans, but some of those TV ads are truly chefs d'oeuvre of creativity. The fact is that between touchdowns (equivalent to “gooooaaaaal”), corporate America typically spends north of US$1 million for a 30-second commercial slot to reach this record viewership. This partly explains why a 60-minute game lasts over three hours.
Professional football and its ultimate championship game, the Superbowl, are organized by the National Football League, better known as the NFL. The official site of the Superbowl is surprisingly dull for such an outstanding event at the crossroads between sport and show business. In essence, it is a text portal, with minimal branding that focuses on downloading speed and probably seeks to minimize stress on the servers.
It is to be expected that, on Superbowl Sunday, most fans will access the site using a slow dial-up modem connection, and generate millions of hits concentrated during just a few hours, causing considerable traffic. Unfortunately, the lack of splash and colors on superbowl.com contrast with the upbeat reputation of the event as well as the great online branding achieved by its main sponsor, Pepsi.
NFL.com is somewhat more elaborate, but is also largely a text portal that lacks branding cues. The site gives access to information on the teams through editorial content which includes interviews with players and coaches, scores, schedules, game information and more.
*Due to the constantly changing environment of websites, some reviews may no longer reflect the current website for this brand.
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