Newcastle Might Win The S** B* Ad Championship With An Ad It Didn't Make And Can't Afford To Buy

from the game-that-must-not-be-named dept

Tue, Jan 28th 2014 4:03pm — Timothy Geigner

The end of the NFL football season is upon us, which brings on a familiar competitive scene that all Americans will be watching with anticipation. Big names competing for the spotlight of glory, battling against one another in a free for all that will have commentators chirping even weeks after it's over. I'm talking, of course, about the advertising campaigns unleashed during the game that nobody is allowed to talk about, thanks to the NFL's lawyers. Hell, even some of these very commercials like to poke fun at the overbearing trademark-i-ness of the NFL's signature game.

Still, as a group that's long believed in the concept that advertising is content and content is advertising, it's sometimes difficult to see the way forward when it comes to winning the advertising war for the (small-case) big game. Production budgets have to be huge just to be in the running. The competitive landscape is enormous. Even some of the spots that required the most amount of effort fall flat on their faces compared to a couple of talking frogs. So how does a relatively small company win?

Well, according to the makers of Newcastle Brown Ale, you take a page out of 80's movie history and decide that the only way to win is to not play at all. That appears to be the concept behind Newcastle's non-campaign that's all about the commercial spot they were totally going to make, but didn't want to spring for. Oh, and they make fun of the NFL's trademark nature on top of it. For instance:

An ad about an ad they didn't make but want you to test market? And it's funny? A good start, but one clever spot ain't going to do it. Good thing Newcastle decided to make a bunch of content around this idea, including celebrities talking about how awesome their voiceovers were going to be, or footage of fake market testing for an ad they never made.

Now, this would be the appropriate moment to mention that the only disclosure I have to make about the relationship between myself and Newcastle is how much I dislike their Brown Ale. Seriously, I would rather stay sober during an all-night expose on the physics behind paint peeling than drink that beer. But that's a matter of taste (on both counts) and it doesn't keep me from appreciating the concept of an engaging, lighthearted ad campaign that pokes fun at beer ads, the beer company itself, and the NFL all at once. This is how you win the advertising wars of early February. By not playing, which is actually playing, but pretending not to be...you know...playing.

Taking the benefits of this kind of light-hearted content as advertising method further, it allows Newcastle to get involved in other new media in a way that keeps things just as light and doesn't come off as annoying. For instance, they sponsored a post on Gawker Media about the non-campaign campaign, and appear to have given the writer enough latitude to attempt their own funny tie-in in the "article", going so far as to headline it: We've Disguised This Newcastle Ad As An Article To Get You To Click It.

Newcastle bought this ad to promote the S**** B*** commercial they couldn't afford to make. I know you're probably cycling through the five stages of grief since you're reading an ad and ew, gross, but maybe just stop reading and watch the videos I've embedded. After all, Newcastle didn't pay Gawker Media a fraction of the cost of a S**** B*** commercial so you could read another think piece about M*ckl*m*r*.

No, they bought this space in a shameless attempt to force their Mega Huge Football Ad — and smooth, delicious Newcastle Brown Ale — down your throats. They also "bought" me — an in-house copywriter — because actual Gawker writers can't accept money from advertisers (not that I'm personally cashing Newcastle's checks but you know, whatever). As someone being paid to write this, I have to say that it's the greatest ad ever, mostly because Newcastle asked me to use those exact words. Is it the greatest ad I've ever been paid to call the greatest ad ever? Yes.

It goes on like that and it's nice that a company appears to be having so much fun at its own expense, even going as far as to allow new media writers to mock the new media concerns about new media sponsorships (This repetitive sentence brought to you by the folks at Techdirt. Techdirt: the other white meat). As I mentioned, nobody at Newcastle bothered to pay me to write this post, though if they did, I'd totally have killed it. Like, way better than Gawker. There would have been penis jokes and riffs about brown ales mixed with the obvious toilet humor. It would have been glorious.

Wait, maybe the potentiality of that post could be some kind of Techdirt ad campaign?

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Filed Under: advertising as content, commercials, content as advertising, native advertising, super bowl
Companies: newcastle

46 Comments

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silverscarcat (profile), 28 Jan 2014 @ 3:29pm

Trademark?
Superbowl, Superbowl, Superbowl!

Let's keep going until it loses it's meaning!
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- Alana (profile), 28 Jan 2014 @ 4:12pm
  
  Re: Trademark?
  WHY IS EVERYONE TALKING ABOUT MY SUPPER BOWL IS IT THAT TASTY?
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  - Anonymous Coward, 29 Jan 2014 @ 1:33am
    
    Re: Re: Trademark?
    Awesome! I love the blumpkin bowl it's my favorite one, well I'm off gotta prepare cuttlefish and asparagus here I come.
    
    blumpkin - getting your unit sucked while dropping a deuce.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Ninja (profile), 29 Jan 2014 @ 1:42am
    
    Re: Re: Trademark?
    I'm sorry, I tried to find a way to include a synonym of loose and the word bowels in the mix to poke fun at your supper but I ended up getting the phrase "unconstipated bowel" which honestly sounds funny but doesn't start with S. Sorry :|
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Not an Electronic Rodent (profile), 29 Jan 2014 @ 2:31am
  
  Re: Trademark?
  Superbowl, Superbowl, Superbowl!
  
  Let's keep going until it loses it's meaning!
  I'm there already....
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 28 Jan 2014 @ 4:17pm

If I owned a potty company
I would make a commercial talking about our "Super Bowl" and then run that add right along side a partnership with poo pourri!
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This comment has been flagged by the community. Click here to show it

out_of_the_blue, 28 Jan 2014 @ 4:27pm

Hey, "sports" fans: be consistent, complain about fat cats there too.
Just sleazy grifters with a legislated monopoly:

NFL Commish Makes $29.5 Mil a Year� 15 Times More Than Tax Free Org Gives to Charity, More than CEOs of Ford, Heinz, FedEx

http://www.showbiz411.com/2014/01/21/nfl-commish-makes-29-5-mil-a-year-15-times-more-than-tax-f ree-org-gives-to-charity-more-than-ceos-of-ford-heinz-fedex

And don't forget that just yesterday even Mimeograph Mike mentioned that "sports" is only "cheering the lingerie".
It's not any "ism", it's The Rich. When The Rich are limited, everyone else has a chance at freedom. (192 of 192)

12:26:41[n-677-5]
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- This comment has been flagged by the community. Click here to show it
  
  Anonymous Coward, 28 Jan 2014 @ 6:10pm
  
  Re: Hey, "sports" fans: be consistent, complain about fat cats there too.
  "Hey, "sports" fans: be consistent, complain about fat cats there too."
  
  that should be "Hey, sports "fans": be consistent..... I think!!!
  
  but either way, yes, they should.
  
  blocking you only gives you more power, and gets you read every time !!!!
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - jupiterkansas (profile), 28 Jan 2014 @ 6:33pm
    
    Re: Re: Hey, "sports" fans: be consistent, complain about fat cats there too.
    actually, replying to him gives him power.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 28 Jan 2014 @ 4:27pm

The NFL sux
College football is where it is at. They play hard. The pros take a dive if they see a defender within 10 yards. But who can blame them, those guys weight 300 lbs, bench press 400 lbs and run like a deer. If they hit you, it is going to hurt!
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- Mason Wheeler (profile), 28 Jan 2014 @ 5:03pm
  
  Re: The NFL sux
  College football is a huge part of the problem, as is high school football. Basically, the whole game is corrupt from top to bottom. If you want to see just how bad, have a look at Pros and Cons, the result of a great deal of research into the football system's systematic coverups of criminal behavior by its athletes, to the point where over 30% of NFL players have been charged with a violent felony that fans never hear about.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - PopeRatzo (profile), 28 Jan 2014 @ 7:15pm
    
    Re: Re: The NFL sux
    College football is a huge part of the problem
    This, exactly. It's why I'm very interested to see what shakes out of this attempt by Northwestern football players to unionize.
    
    I would love to see big-money collegiate athletics to disappear, forcing the NFL to create a professional minor league the way baseball has.
    
    Big money college football programs are purely about exploitation. This pretend "amateurism" that forces student athletes to hide every nickel they make from the fame while bringing millions to the institution. And they're all one injury away from being tossed away like used kleenix and one concussion away from a ruined life.
    
    I used to be a big fan of college athletics and a big booster for my alma mater, but some switch has turned in me over the past decade, and now I simply am unable to enjoy any big money college athletics any more. It actually sickens me. May this effort by the NW'ern students cause people to finally figure out what the NCAA really is, and hopefully cause that plantation to finally disappear.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Andrew D. Todd, 29 Jan 2014 @ 6:26am
      
      Just a Different Kind of Exploitation (to PopeRatzo, # 15).
      The baseball minor leagues have set up Florida Leagues and Arizona Leagues, centered around Sarasota and Phoenix, respectively, using the major league camps, so that they can efficiently sort through players. However, they have also set up training leagues in Venezuela, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic, which cost practically nothing to run (*). Football is more internally differentiated than baseball. The difference between a quarterback and a center is greater than the difference between a pitcher and an outfielder. What would happen if the NFL set up minor leagues is that all the linemen, and about half the backfielders would come from various Caribbean countries. For many positions, football puts a premium on physical hugeness. The leagues would medically screen eight-year-old boys in these countries to identify those who were on track to become six-foot-eight, and begin systematically training them as linemen. There would be a much sharper distinction between those players who needed to be interviewed by sportscasters on camera, and those who did not.
      
      (*) Ian Gordon, "Played," Mother Jones, March/April, 2013
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Anonymous Coward, 28 Jan 2014 @ 4:32pm

I'm looking forward to the Superb Owl this year.
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- Anonymous Coward, 28 Jan 2014 @ 6:07pm
  
  Re:
  I cant wait for the new soup bowl.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- justok (profile), 29 Jan 2014 @ 3:04am
  
  Re:
  Who?
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Anonymous Coward, 29 Jan 2014 @ 4:56am
    
    Re: Re:
    Left shift the B (twice)
    
    It is from the Colbert Report.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Anonymous Coward, 29 Jan 2014 @ 9:31am
    
    Re: Re:
    funny
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Anonymous Coward, 29 Jan 2014 @ 9:50am
    
    Re: Re:
    Owls who?
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Rapnel (profile), 28 Jan 2014 @ 4:33pm

Super Bowl
*'d out. Nice.

And they haven't paid much in tax since the 60's. Nice free ride they got there.
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PRMan, 28 Jan 2014 @ 5:05pm

Pork is gonna sue you blind
for this comment:

Techdirt: the other white meat
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- ltlw0lf (profile), 28 Jan 2014 @ 6:46pm
  
  Re: Pork is gonna sue you blind
  Pork is gonna sue you blind for this comment
  
  Techdirt: the other, other, other white meat?
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 29 Jan 2014 @ 5:08am
  
  Re: Pork is gonna sue you blind
  Or Sue is gonna pork you blind. Prefer that, actually.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Anonymous Coward, 29 Jan 2014 @ 8:35am
    
    Re: Re: Pork is gonna sue you blind
    Or you are going to pork Sue blind.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 28 Jan 2014 @ 5:07pm

For a moment there, I was wondering what a soccer team had to do with an American Football tournament.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- PopeRatzo (profile), 28 Jan 2014 @ 7:21pm
  
  Re:
  Comic relief? After all, what's funnier than a bunch of grown men in short pants running around throwing themselves to the ground writhing in pain every time an opposing player looks at them funny?
  
  Americans just let you Europeans call your little game "football" because we get such a big laugh every time we hear you say it. Europeans will say, "We're watching football" while on the screen there's a bunch of Madonna's backup dancers prancing around kicking a little ball back and forth while the people in the stadium tear each other apart like jackals. Just hysterical.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Anonymous Coward, 28 Jan 2014 @ 8:19pm
    
    Re: Re:
    You do know that we Aussies say the same thing about you Americans and your "Football". A bunch of pussies that have to be armored in order to even go on to the field.
    
    Now, let's see you take all of that armor off and do it like a real man.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - G Thompson (profile), 29 Jan 2014 @ 1:05am
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      Exactly!!!
      
      And I think of said it here before too.
      
      oh yeah
      Here
      
      and my best by far boput the nancy boy game is Here
      
      o_O
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
      - Anonymous Coward, 29 Jan 2014 @ 8:29am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re:
        Why is it that every time someone does a story about football, people seem to have to get into a pissing match (and I'm faulting both sides here) over two completely different games that really have nothing to do with each other? Pissing contests like this are generally held between people who lack the self-esteem to respect others' cultures and traditions. Ya know, when you start to resort to insults against others' masculinity, all you do is call into question your own.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - John Fenderson (profile), 29 Jan 2014 @ 9:31am
    
    Re: Re:
    Personally, I find the pissing match between football fans (of the US variety) and football fans (of the Rest Of The World variety) to be much more entertaining than either game.
    
    However, if I had to choose about which is Manlier -- which is a big part of what makes the debate so hilarious -- non-US football wins hands down. It's not even close.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
The Original Anonymous Coward (profile), 28 Jan 2014 @ 7:32pm

Video on 2013 post not viewable?
Anyone know why the video on the 2013 post (linked to from this post) is marked "private"?

Just curious...
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- ltlw0lf (profile), 29 Jan 2014 @ 10:28am
  
  Re: Video on 2013 post not viewable?
  Anyone know why the video on the 2013 post (linked to from this post) is marked "private"?
  
  I can't find out from youtube anything about the video, so it looks like it just disappeared.
  
  I found it by searching:
  
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2t6CVika6o
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZYNuaroPRs
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
private Frazer, 29 Jan 2014 @ 12:21am

S**** B***
i have spent many minutes trying to work out what swear words fitted into S**** B***.
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- btrussell (profile), 29 Jan 2014 @ 2:45am
  
  Re: S**** B***
  I was going to mention to him that the auto correct reversed part of his headline. I see he still hasn't fixed it.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 29 Jan 2014 @ 12:25am

Clicked on this headline expecting something else...
I genuinely thought that behind the asterisks I'd be looking at something to do with a "Shite Beer" commercial.

Oh well, I kind of am anyway.
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Anonymous Coward, 29 Jan 2014 @ 2:56am

Im confused are you talking about the SUPERBOWL or the
S
U
P
E
R
B
O
W
L
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Anonymous Coward, 29 Jan 2014 @ 5:00am

I think the NFL has lost their cookies - now they are talking about no more extra point and no more kickoff. If they implement these changes they may have to consider removing the word foot from the sport title since there will no longer be any contact between a foot and a ball.
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- Anonymous Coward, 29 Jan 2014 @ 7:37am
  
  Re:
  Not exactly true. Field goals and punts are still performed by kicking the ball, regardless of any changes they might enact.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Not an Electronic Rodent (profile), 29 Jan 2014 @ 8:37am
  
  Re:
  If they implement these changes they may have to consider removing the word foot from the sport/i>
  Bit late.... American "Football" doesn't involve a ball and barely involves feet as it is. Calling it football is like calling "soccer" frisbee because a bit of it involves catching something.
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Phil, 29 Jan 2014 @ 6:33am

boring
I regret wasting my time on the post and the video. Boring. How boring must someone's life be to find it at all amusing?
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- Baron von Robber, 29 Jan 2014 @ 7:55am
  
  Re: boring
  What about wasting your time commenting on wasting your time on the post and the video?
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
John Nemesh, 29 Jan 2014 @ 9:18am

"Super Bowl"
Anyone find it interesting that the two states that legalized marijuana are getting together for a "Super Bowl"? :)
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- Anonymous Coward, 29 Jan 2014 @ 12:15pm
  
  Re: "Super Bowl"
  Perhaps snack food companies like Frito Lay paid enough to get it rigged so that it would turn out that way.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
opxyz2, 29 Jan 2014 @ 10:10am

Some semi famous actress (I forget who) was on The Daily Show the other night showing off her commercial. Hers is the best one I've seen yet. You should find that vid and link to it.
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Anonymous Coward, 29 Jan 2014 @ 12:05pm

"S**** B***"

I don't understand. That isn't enough asterisks to be "Stupor Bowl" so it must be something else.
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btrussell (profile), 30 Jan 2014 @ 9:54am

The Too-Big Game
http://nowiknow.com/the-too-big-game/
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