After last year’s “big game,” I wrote a blog post titled “Super Bowl commercials demonstrate the power of brands.” Of course, that is still true. And as I have written before, no brand is more powerful in its field than the NFL (“Why the NFL is king of branding“).
After this year’s run of great Super Bowl advertisement’s I have updated my assessment:
Super Bowl advertisements demonstrate the overwhelming lasting power (= $$) of solid brands. For example, here are some of the longstanding trademarks and brands featured in the promotional activity surrounding Super Bowl XLVI:
– VOGUE – registered for magazines since 1908!
– ROCKY – (registered since 1991) for a variety of good and services including series of motion pictures
– DROIDS – (from Star Wars, owned by Lucasfilm) registered since 1985 for toy action figures
– SEINFELD – registered since 1993 for television series
– BATTLESHIP – (registered since 1968) apparatus sold as a unit for playing a board game having movable pieces
– THE LORAX – registered for “books featuring children’s stories; computer, video and audio recordings made on disks, tapes, cassettes, cartridges and CD-ROM by laser and electronic means, all featuring children’s stories” (in use since 1971, registered since 1997)
– STAR WARS – registered since 1979 for toy action figures and comic magazines
– THE AVENGERS (registered since 1970) – magazines published periodically
– G.I. JOE – registered since 1964 for toy military kits
– MADONNA – registered since 1985 for clothing
Registered trademarks can last for ever. Strong brands can last forever. While the media – and for good reason – is frequently enamored by relatively new companies like Facebook, Twitter, Groupon, etc., the “distinguished” brands listed above serve as a good reminder that building a quality brand can pay dividends for decades, or even longer.
