I’m Nicole Schuman, Managing Editor of PRNEWS. Welcome to another edition of Single Shot. Go Bills!

After today's AFC and NFC Championship games, the stage will be set. The last two teams standing in the NFL 2024 season will make their way to Super Bowl LIX on Feb. 9.

Also after today will begin the flood of Super Bowl-related articles, content and advertising. For many brands, it can truly be a high point for creativity, messaging and publicity for the entire year—IF a commercial or activation is done correctly.

However, no amount of money or star power can make a message stand out or resonate. In fact, some of the most expensive Super Bowl commercials have been the most forgettable. See General Motors 2021's "No Way Norway" ad, which cost $22 million and featured Will Ferrell, Kenan Thompson and Awkwafina. Do you remember what it was about? Neither do we.

PRNEWS contributing writer and PR veteran Arthur Solomon worked for many years with sports and sports-related clients. He provides some advice for communicators and their clients on how to assess whether activating for a large-scale event, like the Super Bowl or Olympics. Is spending that amount of money really the best way to connect with your audience?

Read more here, and check out the article’s key takeaways are below.

Communicators handling sports-related accounts should manage the account as if it was a corporate one, and remind clients about the positives and negatives of bankrolling a mega-event campaign, like the Super Bowl or Olympics, while suggesting other PR strategy options that might better help the client. These may include:

Being a Big Fish in a Smaller Pond: Advise a client to split the budget on some of the fastest-growing sports in the U.S.—pickleball, volleyball, soccer, rugby and lacrosse, with the bulk of the budget being earmarked for a WNBA relationship.

Avoiding the Negative Coverage: Pre-Super Bowl coverage is largely dominated by articles about players’ health and gambling odds, and non-athletic Olympic articles tend to focus on controversies and event preparation.

Differentiating the Approach:A major problem with Super Bowl and Olympic publicity programs is that they all look alike. PR people should develop programs that stand out from the pack. (See the Pop-Tarts Bowl, which featured an edible mascot.)

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