This coming February 6^th, Super Bowl XLV will be held at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, TX. Everyone knows that every year the Super Bowl is a marketing field day, featuring multi-million dollar commercials, viewed by millions who sit through hours of boring football to enjoy.

 While television is a fine, albeit a low-bang-per-buck medium, what many people don’t know is that the insider track for this year’s Super Bowl advertising will be the Fort Worth skyline. Seven long days before kickoff, ESPN coverage for the game begins in Sundance Square deep in the heart of Fort Worth. With the Fort Worth skyscrapers and buildings in the background, tens of thousands of fans will converge on Sundance Square as millions tune in from all over the country. Here at Thomas Reprographics, we can’t imagine a better time to take advantage of our large-format printing abilities.

 Thomas is one of the few companies in the world with the ability to print the photograph-quality sheets of vinyl necessary to wrap the side of a building with your advertisement. We can take any graphic or design and turn it into a Godzilla-sized moneymaker. We can even help you design something new and amazing. This Super Bowl could be a game-changing moment for your brand and chance to communicate your message to one of the largest audiences in the world. This may not be the right move for every business owner out there – mainly because there aren’t enough buildings in Texas. But don’t be afraid to dream big for some Fort Worth Super Bowl advertising, because Thomas can definitely deliver.

Sports bars and burger joints will always be jam-packed on Super Bowl Sunday, but according to a recent survey by The Neilson Company, 9 out of 10 households will be staying home for this year’s big game.

“ ‘Staying in is the new ‘night out’ and we see this trend continue to play out with the Super Bowl,’ said Nick Lake, vice president, group client director, Beverage Alcohol at Nielsen. ‘Consumers continue to rein in spending and while this ‘new normal’ provides challenges for restaurant and bar owners, it presents opportunities for consumer packaged goods (CPG) retailers and manufacturers.’ “

Super Bowl season has traditionally been a busy time here at Thomas as well – printing window clings, building banners and freestanding cutouts for restaurants vying to become the local Super Bowl headquarters. But with consumers tightening their belts, we thought we’d offer few suggestions to help you take advantage of what may become the new normal.

1.) Branded Take Home Snack Packages

If people aren’t going to come to you, you can just go to them. Consumers want convenience just as much as value. So put together a unique offering of your top appetizers and drinks packaged in an interesting way. Make special boxes and to-go cups and market this package deal as a tailgate party for the living room. Put some flyers in your menus and position your restaurant to be the one-stop shop for any watch party snacks.

2.) Throw a Bigger, Better Party

The only thing better than a living room watch party is a blown out, weekend long football festival. Go big or they’ll go home. Live outdoor music, eating contests with a decent reward, flag football tournaments – anything to get people excited and talking. This could even be a great way to generate free publicity. Local TV news, radio stations and newspapers love to cover interesting events. It could easily become something people look forward to year after year.

3.) Push Catering

Everybody loves to attend a great party, but it’s usually a huge pain to throw one. If you can take care of as many annoying details as possible, you’re restaurant will quickly become the go to place for party throwers all over. Even if catering isn’t normally something you offer, rent a few chaffing dishes and truck or two – it will be worth the effort. They key will be informing your customers beforehand so they have a chance to make all their plans.

4.) Discounts on Appetizers and Drinks

Besides huge amazing prizes (see #5), nothing brings in a crowd better than a really good deal. Offer cheap beer or half-price appetizers during the game or for anyone who has a table of more than a certain number of people. Another favorite is to give free food based on the game itself. Customers will love the risky nature of it (Vegas makes a killing off this) and they will show up just to see what happens. A free pizza for every touchdown or a round of drinks for an interception. Again, your customers have to know about it before but if you make the deal sweet enough they’ll definitely show up.

5.) Give Away Something Expensive

The only thing better than getting something for free is getting something really awesome for free. If you offer something that people definitely want, you’ll have watch out for a maximum occupancy violation. The trick here is to partner with the provider of the item to be given away. If it’s a massive flat screen, make a deal with a local electronics company and give them some free menu advertising. If it’s a free car, offer to cater the next few liquidation sales at the car lot. But the most important thing is to make it something amazing. A free dinner isn’t going to cut it, you’re going to have to come up with something people will go crazy for.

7.) Do a stunt just to get attention

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/lancashire/8030766.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/lancashire/8030766.stm

The above pictures of an art student and her graduation project got international press. The car was donated to her by a local junk yard and their name on the windshield launched them into world-wide notoriety, not to mention a huge spike in local business and sight-seer traffic. It might as well have been for a vehicle wrap installer. The hard part is coming up with an idea that will get noticed, but don’t try to make it happen all by yourself. Always be ready to jump on a good idea when it comes to you. This car was already junk and not a huge loss for the junk yard, but a short-sighted owner might have only seen the profit they were losing in parts and scrap sales. Don’t be guided by fear – build funding for some small, low-risk stunts into your budget and listen to people who ask for help with a project (especially hippie-looking art students).

8.) Don’t take yourself too seriously

http://thebsreport.wordpress.com/2009/11/28/black-friday-busiest-day-for-plumbers/

Professionalism and understated elegance are essential if you’re a funeral home or law firm. But a little silliness goes a long way, especially in a saturated or highly competitive industry where it’s difficult to stand out. Great advertising gets maximum bang for every buck and a magnet with your logo/phone/website could be a total waste of time and resources. Take advantage of vehicle wrap technology and do something a little wacky.

9.) Execution can make or break your campaign

http://www.gatorwraps.com/gallery/vehicle_wraps.html/title/carriage-shoppe

This vehicle wrap for a body shop was a very risky move that easily could’ve backfired. Instead, it looks impossibly perfect (and in fact won several industry awards). Potential customers will unconsciously equate the quality of your advertising with the quality of your service. If you can impress their socks off with a well-carried out vehicle wrap, they’ll expect the same when they call you. And they will call. The inverse is also true – if the Carriage Shoppe had stuck one of those half-baseball-stuck-in-the-window things or some fake gun shot holes on their PT Cruiser, they could have seriously hurt their business. An obviously lazy ad campaign, especially one with as much exposure as vehicle wrapping, communicates that your service will be lazy as well.

10.) Tap into your history

http://www.sdgmag.com/article/2010-auto-art-contest

Take a cue from all the throw-back jerseys in professional sports. These are not just for fun – there’s real strategy behind it. People need to feel like they’re a part of a bigger story, we all want to be involved in history and join with something that started long before us and will continue long after us. Maybe it’s some quest for immortality, maybe it’s to help us know who we are and where we’re from. Whatever the reason, it makes for great marketing. If you can convince a potential customer that your brand has a story or is a part of history in some way, capitalize on that. Did your great grandfather do the same thing you’re doing now? Use his original logo on your trucks. Do you make your product the same way they did a hundred years ago? Highlight that connection to the past. Anything you can do to help your customers connect to a tradition and a legacy will get them emotionally involved in your product and turn them into evangelists for your brand.

Check out our deals on vehicle wrap printing.