Hello party planners! Just checking in on how your Super Bowl party went! A few weeks back I blogged about how easy putting together a Super Bowl party is – the game, commercials, food and drinks, minimal decorations. The biggest concern I wrote about was what to do if the game was a blow out. There was no need to worry about entertaining your guests because if the game isn’t playing, the commercials are running. Historically the commercials were sometimes more entertaining than the game itself. So that is why I said a Super Bowl party is one of the easiest parties to throw – even if some of your guests don’t know a touchdown from a homerun, the commercials were what they watched and enjoyed!
Gone are the days when everyone was noisy and cheering during the game and hush quiet to listen to, laugh and then talk about which commerical was your favorite “so far” as they played out during the game. Then at the end of the game, everyone ultimately discusses their favorite commerical and then their top 3. We are on a severe downhill slide with commercial content. Last year there were a “few” acceptable ones. This year in my book, rates a C-/D+. The commercials were either boring/non-creative car commercials, video type games or movie trailers (none of which I would see) all trying to make a statement. There were only a few commercials that were entertaining and brought a little chuckle – Mr. Clean dancing, the Mexican avocados, Cam Newton playing pee wee football and Yellow Tail wine’s kangaroo trying to be a “party animal or an animal at your party”. There was nothing light, funny, witty about any of this year’s commercials. The troops watching the game in real time was touching – as you know that is very near and dear to my heart. Sentimental – yes, entertaining – no!
Bring back the old brands and commercials – Doritos, Coke (with the big white bears), Budweiser (horses or puppies), GoDaddy (Danika), E-Trade, Pepsi, or Viagra (and Fiat). Commercials where we laughed and waited with anticipation for all 30 seconds, to see what was happening next. We were thoroughly entertained – that’s what we still want! Maybe I am speaking just for me, but I don’t think so!
What does my soap box commercial diatribe have to do with your Super Bowl party? In previous Super Bowls you could always count on the commercials to continue to entertain your guests while the game went to “commercial break”, but not anymore. Each year the advertisers are losing momentum and credibility for great ads. So that means that you can expect your guests to move about more during the commercials – which means – more trips to the food and drink tables, more trips to the bathroom, the need to plan for back up games or entertainment if the game is a blow out. Next year plan for a little more food and drinks and make sure your bathroom is stocked, have some “games or entertainment” in your back pocket, unless we hear early that Doritos, Coke and/or Pepsi and Budwieser are back! Then whoo hoo – it will be back to easy party planning and great entertainment! We will pow-wow on this in January 2018! Until then – what is your next party?
“Success is a little like wrestling a gorilla. You don’t quit when you’re tired. You quit when the gorilla is tired.” Robert Strauss
Agree on the commercials…..but I wonder if they are targeted to a much younger audience???? But still, how can you NOT like horsed and dogs? Thanks for all you good tips on how to make the party a success.