Neil Hughes
Apple is among the Silicon Valley tech giants who have raised millions of dollars to support the upcoming Super Bowl 50 at Levi's Stadium in California, though the iPhone maker has apparently requested that its logo and name not be associated with any of the NFL's marketing materials.
Apple's role in the Super Bowl Host Committee was detailed in a new report on Tuesday by The Wall Street Journal, in which the committee's CEO, Keith Bruce, revealed that Apple did not want to actively publicize its participation. Still, behind the scenes, Apple has provided the host committee with products and equipment, and is publicly identified as a supporter.
Officials from Apple simply requested that the committee not mention the company in any promotions for the upcoming event. That's a different approach from other high-profile partners like Alphabet, Yahoo, Intel and more.
But behind the scenes, Apple has made it clear they believe hosting the Super Bowl in Santa Clara, Calif., will be a huge benefit to the local community. The company was among the first to pledge $2 million in cash and services to offset taxpayer dollars associated with bringing the NFL's championship game to the home of the San Francisco 49ers.
Official sponsors of the Super Bowl gain the right to use the NFL's Super Bowl logo on products. But Bruce told Yahoo Finance that he doesn't think Apple cares much about that ability.
"Their opinion is that the NFL should pay them for the right to use their mark," Bruce said. "Because their mark is more valuable than the NFL shield."
Apple helped foster the trend of "blockbuster" Super Bowl television commercials with its iconic "1984" Mac spot, but the company has been silent since 1999. Its final Super Bowl ad featured HAL 9000, the sentient supercomputer from the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, taking jabs at the Windows Y2K bug.
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11 Comments
Another case where Tim and Jony are concerned about their backyard; which is great---if you live in Northern California.
Interesting that Apple wants to keep something like this on the down low. Considering its in their back yard I'm not sure why. Especially when they're sponsoring something like the Met Gala which will be incredibly high profile. Yahoo's sponsorship of the Met Gala reportedly cost $3M. I wonder how much Apple is spending.
This makes sense to me... Apple likes the background product placements type of advertising (unlike M$ which puts it's tablets on the NFL news desks each weekend and are obviously mostly unused except in the contrived instances where the hosts are forced to use them in scripted instances to show people that they are actually usable...). Apple would never do the "Superbowl 50! brought to you by Apple!" That places Apple subservient the NFL. Apple's perception is that they are above the NFL... and rightly so!
Weird. It's so strange to think of the workers at Apple being the same kind of people who like sports. Especially the NFL.
This is a smart move on Apple's marketing, in my opinion. People will see Apple products being used everywhere, displays, iPads, etc. And that creates a subliminal message of choice… that the stadium choses to use Apple products, and not as a blatant branded marketing "Sponsored By Apple" expectation. That looks a lot more attractive than having the Apple logo everywhere with "Sponsored By Apple" - that stuff always looks desperate and obnoxious.